Foward Deployment Engineer

The Forward Deployment Engineer (FDE) builds and operates NIQ's data connector ecosystem the reusable, versioned connectors that link client data sources (ad platforms, CRM, POS, panel providers) into NIQ's measurement pipelines. You own connector design, lifecycle, and reliability, and work with the Data Strategist, who leads client strategy and insight interpretation.

• **Build the connector ecosystem —**design, build, and version reusable connectors to client data sources, standardizing ingestion across NIQ's client base.
• **Own the connector lifecycle —**track upstream API changes, handle schema drift, and ship backward-compatible updates without breaking live pipelines.
• **Deliver client pipelines —**connect each client's data sources to NIQ's measurement models using the connector library, and keep them production-reliable.
• **Instrument for reliability —**build logs, metrics, and alerts on connector and pipeline health so issues surface before clients do.
• **Keep stakeholders aligned —**translate connector and data-availability status clearly for the Data Strategist and client technical contacts.

Core — Connector & Data Engineering

• Strong Python for connector development and SQL for data validation and transformation.
• REST API integration — OAuth/API-key auth, pagination, rate-limiting, and schema handling across diverse third-party platforms.
• ETL/orchestration experience (Airflow, dbt, or equivalent) at production scale.
• Connector versioning and lifecycle management — Git-based version control, backward compatibility, and structured deprecation handling.
• Observability — logs, metrics, and alerts (Datadog, ELK, Grafana, or equivalent) to catch failures proactively.
• Working familiarity with Docker for packaging and running connectors consistently.

Qualifications

• 5–8 years in data/integration engineering, connector development, or backend engineering with heavy third-party API work.
• Demonstrable experience building and maintaining production data connectors or pipelines against third-party APIs (ad platforms, CRM, POS, or similar).
• Experience with schema evolution and versioning in a multi-tenant or multi-client context.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or equivalent professional experience.

Good to Have

• Working knowledge of a major cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Linux/Unix scripting (Bash) for pipeline operations.
• Kubernetes exposure (Helm, pod debugging) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/Ansible).
• Enterprise security basics — secrets management (Vault or equivalent), SSO/SAML awareness.
• Enterprise IT exposure — change control (ITIL) and InfoSec review processes for client deployments.
• CI/CD authoring (GitHub Actions, Jenkins).
• Awareness of MMM/MTA and retail/CPG data (scan, panel, POS).
• Pre-sales technical scoping or RFP support; industry exposure in CPG, FMCG, pharma, or retail.

Our Benefits

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)