Staff Backend Engineer - Data Platform
Staff-level engineer leading backend services and data-platform architecture, including large-scale ingestion, distributed systems, and trustworthy BigQuery/dbt warehouse models. Requires 10+ years of software engineering experience, expert Python, deep SQL/dbt expertise, and strong technical leadership.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Architect and build backend services for a data platform, including high-throughput ingestion from third-party APIs, normalization services, data contracts, and orchestration control planes.
- Solve distributed-systems challenges including exactly-once semantics, idempotent reprocessing and backfills, schema evolution, and resilient handling of third-party APIs.
- Own lakehouse and warehouse architecture, including schema and data-model design, dbt architecture, data quality, lineage, and BigQuery cost and performance.
- Set engineering standards for testing, API design, code review, observability, and CI/CD.
- Drive architectural decisions across the GCP, BigQuery, dbt, and Python stack.
- Partner with engineering leadership, product engineering, and data science teams.
- Mentor senior engineers and influence the broader data strategy.
Requirements
- 10+ years of software engineering experience with deep backend and data expertise.
- Hands-on experience with a cloud data warehouse or lakehouse; BigQuery preferred, with Snowflake, Databricks, or Iceberg-based stacks also relevant.
- Deep SQL and dbt experience, including schema evolution and complex analytical query correctness and performance.
- Expert Python experience building production services.
- Staff-level technical leadership, including setting direction across workstreams and producing design documents.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, including communication with engineering, product, and executive stakeholders.
- Significant production backend service development experience in addition to data expertise.
Nice-to-haves
- Contributions to open-source data frameworks or tooling such as Apache Spark, Beam, Iceberg, or Arrow.
Compensation and Benefits
- $240,000–$260,000 salary.
- Equity.
- Flexible PTO.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance with multiple plan options.
- Work-from-home stipend.
- Events and offsites.
- Free lunch when working from a hub office.
- New parent leave.
Skills
Python, SQL, dbt, BigQuery, GCP, Snowflake, Databricks, Apache Iceberg, Spark, Apache Beam, Apache Arrow, Distributed Systems, Data Warehousing, CI/CD
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