# Senior Data Engineer

**Company:** [Alpaca](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/alpaca)
**Location:** Remote
**Role:** Data Engineering
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Kubernetes, Docker, Helm, Terraform, Ansible, Argo CD, Trino, Apache Iceberg, Kafka, Debezium, Airflow, Python, SQL, GCP
**Posted:** 2026-09-09

> Build and operate scalable lakehouse infrastructure, streaming and CDC pipelines, query systems, and self-serve BI capabilities. Requires 5+ years of data engineering experience, strong Kubernetes and infrastructure-as-code expertise, and hands-on experience with distributed data platforms.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Design, build, and evolve core data platform infrastructure, including distributed query engines, orchestration, warehousing, and cataloging.
- Own lakehouse infrastructure as code, managing deployments through Terraform and Ansible on Kubernetes.
- Build and maintain low-latency streaming and CDC ingestion pipelines, plus batch ingestion paths landing in Apache Iceberg.
- Develop and scale the BI landscape to provide performant, self-serve access to lakehouse data.
- Enforce platform reliability practices, including monitoring, alerting, on-call rotations, incident response, maintenance windows, runbooks, and SLAs.
- Partner with DevOps, Analytics Engineering, and other stakeholders to close infrastructure gaps and support new data requirements.

## Requirements
- 5+ years of data engineering experience, including 2+ years building and operating scalable, low-latency data platforms handling more than 100 million events per day.
- Hands-on experience running data infrastructure on Kubernetes with cloud-native tooling such as Docker and Helm.
- Production experience with infrastructure as code using Terraform, Ansible, and ArgoCD or equivalent tools.
- Deep knowledge of distributed systems, including storage, transactions, and query processing, with experience operating open-source query engines such as Trino or Presto.
- Experience with object storage and open table formats, specifically Apache Iceberg.
- Experience with streaming and CDC systems including Kafka, Redpanda, and Debezium.
- Experience with orchestration frameworks and ELT tools, including Airflow and Airbyte.
- Strong Python and SQL skills for building pipelines and platform tooling.
- Experience with Google Cloud Platform and data services such as GCS, Cloud Build, Cloud SQL, and Dataproc, or equivalent cloud services.
- Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced startup environment and adapt infrastructure to changing needs.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with semantic or metrics layers such as Cube, dbt, or Looker.
- Familiarity with transformation frameworks, including dbt.
- Familiarity with reverse ETL tooling such as Hightouch.
- Familiarity with data catalog and lineage tooling such as OpenMetadata or DataHub.
- Experience with data access control and governance frameworks such as Apache Ranger.

## Compensation and Benefits
- Competitive salary and stock options.
- Health benefits.
- One-time USD $500 home-office setup allowance for new hires.
- USD $150 monthly stipend via a Brex Card.

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