Director, Data Products & Semantics

Job Description

What is the opportunity?

We are building a governed consumption layer on our Snowflake data platform, a curated set of business-aligned data products and semantic definitions that make enterprise data trustworthy, discoverable, and usable at scale. We are looking for a director to own this capability end to end.

This role sits at the boundary between data engineering and business consumption. You will define what "ready to use" means for our data, lead the team that builds it, and work closely with our Data Platform & Engineering team who owns the underlying data models, platform services, and production deployment. Together, you will ensure that what gets built is both technically sound and business relevant.

You bring hands-on experience with the modern data stack, have built or led semantic/consumption layers before, and have evolved into a leader who can translate business needs into governed data products. You understand that the future of analytics is self-serve and increasingly AI-assisted, and that a well-defined semantic layer is what makes that future reliable.

What you will do

• Own the consumption layer: Design, deliver, and govern business-ready views and data products on Snowflake, defining entities, metrics, and datasets that serve BI, operational systems, and AI applications with consistent, trusted definitions.

• Build and lead a team: Hire, develop, and manage analytics engineers focused on consumption-layer design and delivery.

• Partner with Data Platform & Engineering: Work daily with the team that owns data modeling and platform infrastructure. They own the contracted data models and production deployment; you own what gets built on top and how it's presented to consumers. This is a tight collaboration, not a handoff.

• Partner with Analytics & Insights: Work with BI analysts and data consumers to identify needs, prioritize data product development, and ensure the layer evolves based on real usage.

• Define standards: Establish governance criteria for the consumption layer, naming conventions, metric definitions, testing, documentation, lineage, access policies, and maintain them as the platform scales.

• Coordinate across teams: Work with IT partners on security, compliance, and infrastructure; engage business domain owners as stakeholders; align with AI programs on data requirements.

• Enable self-serve and AI-readiness: Position the semantic layer as the foundation for self-serve analytics and generative AI use cases (text-to-SQL, contextual retrieval), where correctness depends on embedded business context rather than user expertise.

What do you need to succeed?

Must have

• Technical depth: Hands-on SQL experience and fluency with modern transformation tools (dbt or equivalent) on cloud data warehouses (Snowflake required). You can review code, contribute to designs, and hold engineering standards.

• Consumption layer experience: You have built or led a semantic layer, data products function, or governed mart/reporting layer before. You know the difference between a data model and a data product, and you've navigated that boundary in practice.

• Collaboration with platform teams: Experience working alongside (not above) data engineering or platform teams, shared standards, code review across team boundaries, joint delivery accountability. You respect the infrastructure that makes your layer possible.

• Leadership: Proven experience managing analytics engineers or similar technical roles. Track record of building small teams that deliver disproportionate impact through standards and leverage, not headcount.

• Business fluency: Ability to prioritize based on business value, communicate trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders, and drive adoption of governed data products over ad-hoc alternatives.

• Governance in complex environments: Experience establishing data governance, quality, and access standards in large or regulated organizations.

• Pragmatism: Ability to define long-term direction while delivering incrementally. Comfortable with ambiguity and competing priorities.

Nice to have

• Financial services or insurance domain knowledge.

• Experience with knowledge graphs or formal ontology frameworks.

• Familiarity with AI/ML feature stores or LLM context layers.

• Experience defining RBAC or row/column-level security policies on Snowflake.

What’s in it for you?

RBC Insurance is an organization that succeeds by bringing out the best in its people. You’ll be part of a supportive, inclusive team that shares common values – including a fundamental respect for each other. At the heart of this is a commitment to diversity. RBC respects and responds to the many competing and evolving priorities in our lives – so you can focus on what you can do best – putting clients first.

• A Total Rewards program that includes flexible benefits, work/life balance and career development programs and investment and retirement savings plans

• Competitive pay and high-earning potential

• All the tools, training, and team support you need to grow your business and career

• Flexible work/life balance options

• RBCI software tools to boost your productivity and grow your business

Job Skills

Agile Product Development, Communication, Customer Service, Customer Success, Decision Making, Group Problem Solving, Leadership, Long Term Planning, Teamwork, Time Management

Additional Job Details

Address:

MEADOWVALE BUSINESS PARK, 6880 FINANCIAL DR:MISSISSAUGA

City:

Mississauga

Country:

Canada

Work hours/week:

37.5

Employment Type:

Full time

Platform:

INSURANCE

Job Type:

Regular

Pay Type:

Salaried

Posted Date:

2026-08-20

Application Deadline:

2026-09-06

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the day prior to the application deadline date above

Compensation for this position (including salary and discretionary/variable payments) will be determined by factors, including but not limited to candidate's experience, skills, registration status, performance, individual goals, market conditions, and business needs.

Pay Range

The expected pay range for this position is:

$90,000.00 - $140,000.00

The pay range provided is for the primary work location referenced in the Additional Job Details section of this job posting. Pay ranges may differ based on location. If the posting lists multiple job locations, a recruiter can confirm availability of the role and the relevant pay rage for the additional locations listed. RBC supports pay transparency and we strive to ensure all pay ranges are competitive, fair, and equitable.

You have the potential to earn RBC's discretionary variable compensation program which gives you an opportunity to increase your total compensation, provided that business meets its performance targets and you meet your individual goals.

Our Employment Opportunities

At RBC, we are guided by living shared values of Client First, Integrity, Collaboration, Respect and Excellence and winning together as One RBC. We believe an inclusive workplace that has diverse perspectives is core to our continued growth as one of the largest and most successful banks in the world. Maintaining a workplace where our employees feel supported to perform at their best, effectively collaborate, drive innovation, and grow professionally helps to bring our Purpose to life and create value for our clients and communities. RBC strives to deliver this through policies and programs intended to foster a workplace based on respect, belonging and opportunity for all.

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RBC is presently inviting candidates to apply for this existing vacancy. Applying to this posting allows you to express your interest in this current career opportunity at RBC. Qualified applicants may be contacted to review their resume in more detail.