Senior Data Engineer, Rakuten Kobo

GCP, 6 Month Contract

Salary not provided

Plus performance based annual bonuses and stock options

SQL

GCP

Python

Airflow

Hadoop

BigQuery

dbt

Senior and Expert level

Toronto

Digital bookseller

Job no longer available

Digital bookseller

501-1000 employees

B2CB2BMarketplaceContentEntertainmenteCommerce

Job no longer available

Salary not provided

Plus performance based annual bonuses and stock options

SQL

GCP

Python

Airflow

Hadoop

BigQuery

dbt

Senior and Expert level

Toronto

501-1000 employees

B2CB2BMarketplaceContentEntertainmenteCommerce

Company mission

To bring the power of reading to the world.

Job

Company

Role

Who you are

5+ years in Data Engineering roles
Strong experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and BigQuery
Advanced SQL and Python skills
Proficiency with Dataform (or dbt), Airflow, and Dataplex
Experience with GitHub CI/CD and Dataplex
Strong communication skills and ability to engage with business stakeholders

Desirable

Experience with metadata management
Prior work in marketing analytics or campaign data
Familiarity with Customer 360 or similar wide-table strategies

What the job involves

Rakuten Kobo is seeking an experienced Senior Data Engineer, GCP (6 month contract) to support a high-priority initiative focused on transforming legacy data infrastructure and implementing a modern data mesh strategy
You will work closely with the marketing team data engineering team to identify missing data and ingest them, build wide analytical tables (e.g., Customer 360), and ensure data is accessible for reporting, analytics and AI/ML use cases
Transform legacy assets from Hadoop and SQL to BigQuery
Build and optimize data pipelines using Google Dataform (dbt) and Airflow
Implement data mesh architecture by combining small tables into wide, analytics-ready datasets
Collaborate with marketing and data engineering teams to understand data needs and deliver high-quality solutions
Ensure data quality and governance using Dataplex

Our take

Long-form content is having a resurgence. That’s great news for the e-reader industry, of which Rakuten’s Kobo battles with Amazon’s Kindle for ownership.

The e-reader giant has changed tack in recent years to pursue growth via integrations and partnerships. A notable example is its native device integration with Pocket, a wishlist app loved by millions of readers.

The company is hoping that these partnerships and product improvements will allow it to finally break the US market where it most struggles for market share with Kindle.

Amazon has consistently shown its willingness to drop prices to protect its position in any market it plays in. That means that Kobo will have to demonstrate true product superiority to make a dent while protecting its margins.

Steph

Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle

Insights

Led by a woman

Glassdoor (3.4)

Trustpilot (4.1)

Company

Company benefits

"Work from anywhere" policy
Flexible hours
Internet/phone/commuting allowance
Daily meal allowance when in the office
$500 CAD flexible spending account
Parental leave top-up
Unlimited sick and mental health days
4-day summer holiday weekends
RRSP matching, bonus and stock options
Free Kobo eReader
Free weekly book of your choice
Volunteer time off

Company HQ

Liberty Village, Toronto, ON

Leadership

Michael Tamblyn

(CEO)

Part of the founding team of Kobo, Michael previously held the role of Chief Content Officer. Michael has also been the founding CEO of the supply chain agency, BookNet Canada and co-founded Canada’s first online bookstore, Bookshelf.ca, purchased by Indigo Books & Music in 1998.

Anna Giagkou

(CFO)

Prior to joining Rakuten Kobo in 2021, Anna was the CFO of Cox Automotive Canada.

Nimod Narayanan

(CTO)

Nimod joined Rakuten Kobo in 2022 as VP of Technology, he then became the SVP of Technology in 2023, and CTO in 2025. Prior to this, he spent nearly 4 years at Rogers Communications joining as a Senior Development Manager before becoming a Director of eCommerce & Personalization and then Senior Director of Digital Platforms & Services.

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