Sr. Data Engineer

Position Purpose 
RLI is seeking a collaborative and driven Data Engineer to join our Data & Analytics team. You will be responsible for designing, building, and delivering scalable, end-to-end data solutions—from ingestion through data product creation and distribution to consumers via self-service and other analytic/reporting applications.

You will partner with team members and business stakeholders to understand use cases and key requirements and translate them into high-value solutions, aligned to our strategy, vision and business priorities. You will deliver work iteratively, refining solutions based on feedback and evolving requirements. You will contribute to solution design within established architectural patterns while taking a product-oriented approach—balancing speed and quality to continuously improve business impact.

In this role, you will design and deliver value-driving decision-support solutions, influence best practices, and contribute to the evolution of our data platform.

If you're passionate about data, embrace new challenges and continuous learning, and thrive in an agile, fast-paced environment, we’d love to hear from you!

Principal Duties & Responsibilities

• Design, build, and optimize end-to-end data pipelines across ingestion, transformation, modeling, and distribution layers 

• Partner closely with team members and stakeholders to ensure solutions address customer needs, deliver measurable business value, and align to product objectives

• Translate business requirements into scalable and maintainable technical solutions  

• Contribute to solution design decisions within established enterprise architectural patterns  

• Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools to accelerate development, automate tasks, and improve documentation (with validation of outputs)  

• Ensure changes to data pipelines and models are validated, documented, and communicated prior to release 

• Ensure data reliability, quality, and accessibility across systems and data products, including monitoring SLAs where appropriate  

• Troubleshoot and resolve complex data and system issues, including root cause analysis  

• Optimize performance, scalability, and cost efficiency of pipelines and data products  

• Collaborate with other engineers through design collaboration and code reviews 

Critical Skills 

• Advanced proficiency in SQL and strong engineering capability in Python 

• Hands-on experience with Snowflake or a similar cloud-native data platform  

• Strong experience with Git-based version control, including branching strategies, pull requests, and code review practices 

• Strong understanding of data modeling, data quality, and governance practices  

• Experience building and optimizing scalable, reliable data pipelines, and curated data products 

• Experience with performance tuning, system optimization, and troubleshooting  

• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and integrating AI-enabled components where appropriate 

• Ability to translate business problems into data solutions  

• Comfortable with unstructured, semi-structured data, and APIs  

Experience in the insurance or financial services industries is a plus 

Experience with Snowflake Intelligence and Row Zero is a plus 

Key Competencies 

• Operates independently while adhering to established engineering standards, driving work forward in complex and evolving environments 

• Applies critical thinking to solve complex challenges and anticipates scalability, performance, and integration risks early 

• Identifies opportunities to improve engineering practices, patterns, and overall solution quality 

• Uses automation and AI-assisted approaches to improve delivery speed, quality, and decision-making 

• Works effectively across engineering, analytics, product and business teams; communicates technical decisions and tradeoffs clearly 

• Supports and mentors other engineers through hands-on collaboration 

Education & Experience 

• Bachelor’s degree in Data Analytics, Data Engineering, Data Science, or related field  

• 4+ years of relevant experience in data engineering or related disciplines  

• Equivalent combination of education and experience will be considered  

Additional Information 

• Authorization: Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. 

• No Visa Sponsorship is provided for this position. 

• Location: This position is available on-site in Peoria, IL or Chicago, IL. 

Why You Should Apply 

• Growth Opportunities: This role offers potential for career growth within the team and across the organization. You’ll have the chance to work on cutting-edge technologies and scale data solutions that directly impact business decision-making. 

• Collaborative Culture: RLI fosters a supportive and team-oriented environment where diverse perspectives are valued. Work alongside talented professionals in an agile, cross-functional environment where your contributions are valued and where collaboration drives success.  

• Annual bonus plans
• Employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)
• 401(k) — automatic 3% company contribution
• Annual 401k and ESOP profit-sharing contributions (Up to 15% of eligible earnings)

• Paid time off (PTO) and holidays
• Paid volunteer time off (VTO) to support our communities
• Parental and family care leave
• Flexible & hybrid work arrangements
• Fitness center discounts and free virtual fitness platform
• Employee assistance program

• Comprehensive medical, dental and vision benefits
• Flexible spending and health savings accounts
• 2x base salary for group life and AD&D insurance
• Voluntary life, critical illness, & accident insurance for purchase
• Short-term and long-term disability benefits

• Training & certification opportunities
• Tuition reimbursement
• Education bonuses