# Staff Software Engineer, Foundations

**Company:** [Vanta](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/vanta)
**Location:** Remote
**Role:** Data Engineering
**Salary:** $260k – $306k/yr
**Experience:** 7+ years
**Skills:** Kafka, Postgres, MongoDB, Redis, AWS, TypeScript, Node.js, S3, Distributed Systems, Data Pipelines, Eventual Consistency, Schema Versioning, Query Planning, Connection Pooling
**Posted:** 2026-08-24

> Leads the re-platforming of Vanta’s compliance data layer from MongoDB to schema-aware PostgreSQL across high-throughput Kafka and S3 pipelines. The role requires staff-level distributed systems expertise, migration leadership, and strong experience with relational and document data modeling.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Lead migration of the resource data model from MongoDB to a schema-aware, PostgreSQL-backed architecture while preserving public API contracts and customer data.
- Drive cross-team technical solutions for a shared data platform.
- Design for correctness under eventual consistency using idempotent session handling, conditional writes, reconciliation, and explicit backpressure.
- Design and evolve high-throughput ingestion and pipeline architecture for terabyte-scale distributed data streams.
- Productionize the Query API with schema versioning, joins, exports, tenant isolation, and predictable latency.
- Build auditable data infrastructure for compliance evidence.
- Diagnose production issues including hot partitions, unbounded fan-out, and online rewrites of continuously written tables.
- Set architectural direction for Kafka, event queuing, Redis, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.
- Mentor senior engineers through design reviews, architectural guidance, and hands-on contributions.
- Champion reliability, observability, and operational hygiene.
- Use AI tools responsibly to accelerate engineering work and improve systems.

## Requirements
- Proven experience leading platform migrations while maintaining backward compatibility and availability.
- Strong command of Kafka or equivalent streaming and queuing infrastructure, including partitioning, consumer groups, redelivery, and idempotency.
- Deep experience with distributed systems and data pipeline engineering at enterprise scale.
- Fluency in relational and document data modeling at scale, including query planning, connection pooling, and online schema changes.
- Experience defining multi-quarter technical roadmaps and delivering them with engineering leadership.
- Solid AWS fundamentals and proficiency with TypeScript and Node.js.
- Ability to explain complex systems tradeoffs to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Curiosity and sound judgment in applying AI responsibly.

## Compensation & Benefits
- Salary and equity.
- Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage; employee-only premiums are fully covered for most medical plans.
- 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
- Health and wellness stipend.
- Remote workspace, internet, and cellphone stipends.
- Commuter benefits for employees reporting to the San Francisco and New York City offices.
- Family planning benefits.
- Matching 401(k) contribution with immediate vesting.
- Flexible paid time off and 80 hours of sick time.
- 11 company-paid holidays.
- Virtual team-building activities, lunch-and-learns, and company-wide events.

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