Senior / Staff Data Platform Engineer

About the Role

We are seeking a talented Senior Data Platform Engineer to join our team. In this critical role, you will be responsible for building and scaling the core data platform that drives our mission-critical hardware and manufacturing operations. This is a highly technical, systems-oriented position focused on real-time data processing, large-scale reliability, and high-impact architectural ownership.

This position is not focused on analytics; instead, you will take ownership of the infrastructure that supports high-throughput hardware systems in real-world applications.

What You'll Work On

This year, you will engage in major initiatives including:

• Establishing a large-scale manufacturing facility in Ohio
• Providing real-time health metrics across production lines
• Delivering telemetry data with sub-minute latency to factory floor displays
• Ensuring high-reliability systems that remain operational

Your scope of work includes:

• Data lake architecture & modernization
• Building real-time streaming pipelines
• Developing orchestration frameworks
• Creating backend services on the data platform
• Implementing secure deployments in constrained or controlled environments

This role requires balancing big-picture architecture with practical engineering trade-offs across multiple environments.

Ownership & Impact

• Lead the architecture and implementation of platform services
• Influence the platform roadmap and long-term strategy
• Own reliability, observability, SLAs, and system performance
• Act as a senior technical partner to facilitate engineering scalability
• At the Staff level: take full ownership and provide technical leadership of the platform

What Day-to-Day Looks Like

• ~60% hands-on development
• ~40% architecture, design reviews, cross-team alignment, and planning

6-12 Month Success Measures

• Reduced bottlenecks in architectural decision-making
• Stronger reliability and scalability across the data platform
• Successful deployment of real-time manufacturing telemetry
• Clear ownership of critical platform components
• Strong technical partnerships across engineering teams

Biggest Technical Challenge

This role will help eliminate key architectural bottlenecks by becoming a trusted technical owner who accelerates decision-making and platform evolution.

Candidate Profile

Experience Level

• Senior: 6+ years
• Staff: 8-10+ years
• Combination of software engineering and data platform development experience
• Experience in evolving and operating data lakes

Technical Skills (Must Have)

• Proficient in Python
• Strong SQL knowledge
• Experience with Java or Scala
• Familiarity with Spark
• Knowledge of Kafka or Flink
• Strong fundamentals in systems and distributed architecture

Nice to Have

• Experience in secure or restricted environments
• Familiarity with Infrastructure-as-Code
• Exposure to hardware or physical system data

Top Signals of Fit

• Experience building internal platforms or tools
• History of owning streaming system design and implementation
• Involvement in making architectural decisions at platform scale
• Proven track record of improving reliability, performance, or scalability

Compensation

• Senior Level: ~$170,000-$180,000 base
• Staff Level: Typically $200k+ base depending on experience
• No bonus
• Equity offered in the form of RSUs (4-year grant, 1-year cliff)
• Relocation support available depending on distance

Interview Process

• SQL Screening (Virtual)
• Optional Culture Conversation (Virtual)
• Onsite Interviews: Data Modeling
• System Design / Horsepower
• Python Pairing
• Cross-functional Technical Partner Interview