Director, Data Engineering and Data Science

Who We Are:
At KEV, we help school districts eliminate the school finance blind spot. Our platform gives district finance teams real-time visibility and traceability into every dollar collected at the school level; whether it's cash, check, or digital. From field trips to fundraisers, we help them manage every dollar with confidence. More than 26,000 schools across North America trust KEV to manage over $4 billion annually. By unifying payments, accounting, and reporting, KEV simplifies life for bookkeepers, builds trust with parents, and gives finance leaders the oversight their current systems cannot. It's how we help schools stay compliant, reduce risk, and focus on what matters most, student success.

Backed by Five Arrows, the PE arm of Rothschild & Co., KEV is investing more than ever to support K–12 in a world of tighter budgets, rising scrutiny, and fast-changing tech. We're headquartered in Toronto, with offices across North America.

If you're excited by the idea of building tech that protects schools, empowers finance teams, and improves education through better systems, KEV is the place for you.

Why Join KEV?

• Work in an industry that benefits children, parents and schools
• Do meaningful and purpose-driven work, and make a real impact
• Join a quickly growing organization with real opportunity for learning and growth
• Passionate and accessible leadership team that cares about people, personally and professionally
• Hybrid work environment (3 days a week in our North York office)

Job Description:
The Director of Data Engineering will oversee the design, development, and optimization of our cloud-based data infrastructure, supporting both enterprise business intelligence (across Finance, Product, and Revenue) and the data-driven features of our SaaS products. This leader will own the full data lifecycle—from ingestion and transformation to modeling, visualization, and AI-driven solutions—while building and mentoring a high-performing team of data engineers and data scientists.

You will partner cross-functionally with Finance, Product, Revenue Operations, and Customer Success teams to deliver insightful, accurate, and scalable data solutions. You will also collaborate with product development to embed analytics, ML, and AI features into our platform, enhancing our value to customers.

You'll be at the intersection of strategic leadership and deep technical execution, shaping not only how our business runs internally but also how our customers experience data in our products. You'll build the systems, lead the people, and define the vision for data engineering in a company that thrives on innovation in EdTech and FinTech.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute the company's data engineering strategy, aligning with business goals and product vision.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of data engineers and data scientists, fostering technical excellence and collaboration.
• Act as the primary bridge between technical teams and executive stakeholders, ensuring alignment and transparency.
• Partner with Finance, Product, and Revenue teams to define BI and analytics requirements, roadmaps, and priorities.
• Architect and maintain cloud-native data platforms using Azure, Databricks, and related technologies.
• Oversee data ingestion and pipelines, ensuring reliability and scalability.
• Build and maintain data models and semantic layers for business intelligence in Power BI.
• Develop and optimize ETL/ELT workflows, ensuring data quality, governance, and security.
• Lead the integration of AI/ML models into both BI dashboards and customer-facing SaaS products.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers to define analytics and AI product features in the EdTech/FinTech space.
• Work with data scientists to deploy, monitor, and maintain machine learning models in production.
• Ensure data-driven features meet customer needs, regulatory requirements, and performance standards.
• Define and enforce data governance, security, and compliance standards (e.g., GDPR, FERPA, SOC 2).
• Implement data quality frameworks and performance monitoring for pipelines and reports.
• Champion best practices in data engineering, including CI/CD, version control, and automated testing for data pipelines.

Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor or Masters degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field
• 7+ years of experience in data engineering, data science, or analytics, including 5+ years in leadership roles

• Deep technical expertise with the following data tech stack:

• Azure Cloud services including familiarity with Data Lake, Synapse and Functions

• Azure Data Factory for ETL/ELT pipelines
• 5Tran or comparable tools for business data ingestion
• Databricks including Delta Lake, Medallion Architecture, MLFlow

• Power BI or similar for dashboards, reports, and semantic modeling

• Proficiency in the following Databricks technologies:

• PySpark: Core API knowledge (RDD, DataFrame, Dataset) for large-scale data transformations

• Spark SQL: Writing optimized SQL queries in Databricks notebooks and SQL Analytics

• Delta Lake: Understanding ACID transactions, schema evolution, time travel, and optimization commands

• Experience with MLOps using MLFlow including model development, experiment tracking, version control, deployment, monitoring, and retraining automation

• Proven track record of delivering impactful data solutions in a software or SaaS environment
• Strong leadership and management skills, with a demonstrated ability to lead and inspire high-performing teams
• Strong business acumen and the ability to align technical strategies with business objectives
• Outstanding problem-solving skills and a data-driven approach to decision-making
• Exceptional collaboration, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• A passion for continuous learning, self-improvement, and staying updated with the latest advancements in technology

Why You'll Love Working at KEV

• Make a real difference every day – At KEV, your work supports children, parents, and schools across North America. We don't just build software, we create solutions that simplify lives and strengthen communities. Our mission is rooted in impact, and every team member plays a vital role in shaping the future of K-12 education.
• The KEV Way – At KEV, you'll never feel stuck in the status quo. You'll be part of a team that's constantly questioning, improving, and innovating—always with one guiding focus: How does this help our schools and the students they serve? It's a culture that challenges you to do your best work while reminding you why it matters.
• Grow with us – We're scaling fast, and so are our people. At KEV, you'll have real opportunities to learn, develop, and shape your career. Whether advancing in your role or exploring a new path, you'll be supported every step of the way.
• Work alongside excellence – You'll be part of a team with integrity who treat their colleagues with respect. who are accomplished but humble, collaborative but accountable. It's a place where you can do your best work while feeling supported and inspired by the people around you.
• Celebrate Community and Culture – At KEV, we connect, recognize, and celebrate our people. Join Club KEV for team-building fun, hear directly from customers in our Voice of Customer Series, stay aligned with Monthly Townhalls, and be inspired by the KEVite Awards, where top contributors are recognized by their peers.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation – We believe in rewarding great work with fair, competitive pay.
• Meaningful benefits– Because your well-being matters, both at work and at home.
• Professional development – We invest in your growth with ongoing learning, stretch opportunities, and continuing education, including KEV Academy for onboarding and skill-building, plus KEV University, our online platform offering a wide range of courses.
• Hybrid model – 3 days in the office to collaborate and connect, with flexibility the rest of the week.
• Flexible PTO – Take the time you need to recharge with close to 4 weeks of vacation and a company-wide holiday closure
• Office perks – Enjoy a fully stocked snack bar and occasional catered lunches—because we know that great conversations (and ideas) often start around good food.

Visit our website for more information and details about working at KEV.