About Northern

Headquartered in London, Ontario, Canada, Northern is an integrated digital solutions agency specializing in helping leading commercial and public service brands navigate digital change. By leveraging our expertise and deep understanding of our clients’ businesses, we collaborate to design, create, and enable tailored digital experiences that drive growth.

Since our founding in 2015, Northern has grown into a team of 200+ digital experts, receiving multiple recognitions in employee engagement from Great Place to Work® Canada, including Best Workplaces™ for Inclusion, Women, Mental Health, Hybrid Work, and more.

What We’re Looking For

Northern is seeking a Senior Data Engineer (Contractor) to work on client projects finding, extracting, loading, and transforming data foundational to analysis and marketing decisions. The selected contractor will be responsible for collaborating with other key team members to provide an end-to-end view of measurement and performance for clients.

While this is a contractor role, you’ll have the opportunity to collaborate with a talented, supportive team, work on diverse projects, and make a tangible impact. We value flexibility, autonomy, and innovation, and we strive to create an environment where contractors can thrive while delivering exceptional results.

Note: This request is for a 3-6 month contract, with the possibility of extension

Benefits of Becoming a Northern Contractor

In exchange for your talent, Northern offers:

• Competitive Rates
• Flexible work to promote work-life integration
• Remote-first or hybrid flexibility
• Asynchronous work
• Supportive Operations Team
• 40 hours a week
• Opportunity to collaborate with top industry talent!

What You’ll Be Doing

• Automate reporting pipelines with speed, accuracy, and scalability
• Demonstrate best practices in data engineering and account for considerations specific to media and site data in every step of the automation process
• Write and optimize SQL views, Python/R scripts, and API connectors as needed
• Continually optimize data cleaning and anomaly detection processes
• Help manage and advance GCP infrastructure, particularly with BigQuery and GCP integrations
• Enforce naming conventions, dataset groupings, versioning, and access standards
• Maintain rigorous QA practices to ensure clean, reliable, and consistent data
• Continuously seek opportunities to improve processes and infrastructure
• Proactively catch and investigate issues, finding root causes and going beyond surface solutions
• Work with analysts to anticipate needs and ensure data is easy to find and use
• Demonstrate situational awareness, knowing when to escalate, push or pull back, or execute
• Communicate effectively with less technical stakeholders to address challenges and keep them updated on progress
• Help shape the roadmap for our data architecture and processes
• Identify opportunities to simplify, improve, and standardize workflows
• Occasionally support client conversations with technical expertise

What We’re Looking For

• 4+ years of experience in data engineering, devops, data science or similar
• Experience in marketing/advertising agency preferred
• Fluency in SQL and Python
• Experience in R, C/C++, C#, JAva, Go, or Rust preferred
• Deep experience with GCP/GBQ or similar cloud platforms and data warehouses
• Knowledge of ad tech and understanding of core media and site platforms (CM360, TTD, Google Ads, GA4, Adobe Analytics)
• Experience with dashboard tools such as Tableau, Looker, PowerBI preferred
• Strong ability to work independently and problem solve
• Adaptable to rapidly changing needs, situations, and priorities
• Results-driven, adaptable and resourceful
• Experience in ownership of data quality and availability within projects
• History of balancing speed and accuracy in client-driven environments

Compensation & Tools

We’re looking for independent contractors to join our team and contribute to exciting, high-impact projects. Compensation will be based on your proposed rate, relevant skills, experience, and market alignment. Contractors are responsible for providing their own tools and equipment needed to perform the work. Payment will be issued within 30 days of receiving a valid invoice.

Equity and Diversity

Northern welcomes applications from all qualified individuals and is dedicated to fostering a culture of inclusivity, employment equity, and diversity in the workplace. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, including but not limited to members of visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, individuals with diverse abilities, and those of all gender identities and expressions.

We are also committed to ensuring an inclusive and accessible recruitment process. Accommodations are available at every stage of the hiring process. If you require support or adjustments to participate fully, please let us know when you apply, and we will work with you to meet your needs.

AI Use & Interview Transparency

Northern uses AI tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as drafting interview questions and organizing candidate information. We may also record and transcribe interviews to ensure accuracy and consistency in our evaluations. Rest assured, you will be speaking with real live human beings!

If you prefer not to be recorded or require an accommodation, please let us know in advance. This will not affect your candidacy. All interview information is used solely for recruitment purposes and managed in accordance with Ontario privacy requirements.

Why Join Northern?

You’ll work alongside a team of 200+ digital experts at one of Canada’s Best Workplaces™ for Inclusion, Women, Mental Health, Hybrid Work, and more. We’re intentional about growth, collaboration, and creating meaningful digital experiences that move our clients forward.