Principal Software Engineer, Data
Leads architecture and implementation for Cloudflare’s company-wide data infrastructure, including pipelines, data products, governance, and access services. Requires 8+ years building data infrastructure at scale, strong backend programming skills, and experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Define, design, and execute strategic technical architecture for highly visible, critical data infrastructure.
- Lead the design and development of tools and infrastructure to improve and scale data infrastructure.
- Lead the design and development of data pipelines and data products for teams across the company, including tools to automate service delivery.
- Become a subject matter expert in data platforms, tools, infrastructure, and data usage to guide stakeholders.
- Work across Kubernetes, Trino, Iceberg, ClickHouse, PostgreSQL, Go, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, and related technologies.
- Mentor and support junior engineers while reinforcing exceptional delivery and accountability.
Requirements
- 8+ years of experience as a software engineer focused on designing, building, and scaling data infrastructure.
- Experience leading technical initiatives cross-functionally, working with multiple stakeholders, and driving value delivery.
- Extensive experience with data infrastructure at scale, including Trino, Spark, Iceberg or Delta Lake, Kafka, ClickHouse, and PostgreSQL.
- Experience designing, building, and debugging data pipelines at scale.
- Proficiency with Go, Python, TypeScript, Rust, and SQL.
- Excellent analytical and communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts to technical and non-technical audiences.
- Experience creating and using agentic development workflows and an AI-first mentality.
Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with Airflow, dbt, and data orchestration or infrastructure platforms.
- Experience deploying and managing infrastructure in Kubernetes.
- Experience with data governance platforms and processes, especially privacy and auditability.
- Knowledge of machine learning models and MLOps.
Compensation and Benefits
- Applicants who reach the offer stage may be asked to attend an in-person interview at a Cloudflare office or hub.
- Offers may be conditioned on authorization to access technology controlled under U.S. export control laws.
Skills
Kubernetes, Trino, Apache Iceberg, Spark, Delta Lake, Apache Kafka, ClickHouse, Postgres, Go, Python, TypeScript, Rust, SQL, Apache Airflow, dbt
Similar jobs
Data Engineering jobs
Orum
Austin, TX
Own the architecture, reliability, and evolution of a modern data platform spanning data engineering and analytics/BI. The role requires 8+ years of experience plus deep expertise in SQL, dbt, ClickHouse, BigQuery, Looker, streaming systems, and distributed data platforms.
ZoomInfo
United States
Architects and builds ZoomInfo’s distributed data-platform infrastructure, including federated GraphQL access, real-time pipelines, indexing, and observability. The role requires 10+ years of software engineering experience, cloud-native expertise, and strong distributed-systems design skills.
United States
Leads the strategy, architecture, and scaling of Pinterest’s big data and AI infrastructure across petabyte-scale workloads. Requires principal-level technical leadership, extensive Kubernetes or big data platform experience, and proficiency in modern data and cloud technologies.
Octus
United States
Leads the strategy, architecture, and hands-on development of scalable AWS data ingestion and transformation platforms. Requires expert Python and SQL skills, Terraform and cloud-native pipeline experience, and 8+ years in data engineering or backend development, with technical leadership responsibilities.
SmithRx
United States
Leads enterprise data engineering strategy, architecture, delivery, governance, and technical leadership across the organization. Requires extensive data engineering experience, advanced data modeling and warehouse expertise, and strong PySpark, SQL, and Python skills.