Platform Engineering

Job Description: Company Description: McDonald's growth strategy, Accelerating the Arches, encompasses all aspects of our business as the leading global omni-channel restaurant brand. As the consumer landscape shifts we are using our competitive advantages to further strengthen our brand. One of our core growth strategies is to Double Down on the 3Ds (Delivery, Digital and Drive Thru). McDonald's will accelerate technology innovation so 65M+ customers a day will experience a fast, easy experience, whether at one of our 25,000 and growing Drive thrus, through McDelivery, dine-in or takeaway.  McDonald's Global Technology is here to power tomorrow's feel-good moments.   That's why you'll find us at the forefront of transformative technology, exploring new and innovative ways to serve our millions of customers and spread happiness one delicious Hot Fudge Sundae-dipped fry at a time. Using AI, robotics and emerging tech, we're digitizing the Golden Arches. Combine that with our unparalleled global scale, and we're reshaping all areas of the business, industry and every community that is home to a McDonald's restaurant. We face complex tech challenges every day. But that's where our diverse and talented teams come in. They're made up of the best and brightest from all over the globe, and they thrive in the space where feel-good meets fast-paced.   Check out the McDonald's  Global Technology Technical Blog (  to learn how technology and our global team are directly enabling the Accelerating the Arches strategy.  Department Overview We are seeking a highly capable Data Platform Engineer to help design, build, and deliver a modern GCP-based data and analytics platform across data integration, core platform services, and analytics consumption layers. This role focuses on engineering execution, platform solution design, and hands-on delivery of scalable data pipelines and platform capabilities that enable analytics, machine learning, and AI-driven workloads. The ideal candidate has strong technical depth in GCP data services, practical experience in multi-cloud environments, and the ability to collaborate optimally across engineering, architecture, and data product teams. Responsibilities & Accountabilities + Deliver Data Platform Solutions + Contribute to the design and implementation of scalable, secure, and cost-effective GCP-based data platform components. + Build and improve data pipelines, ingestion frameworks, and platform services used across analytics and data product teams. + Support AI-Ready Platform Capabilities + Implement platform features that enable emerging AI technologies (e.g., GenAI, LLMs, agentic AI) in areas such as monitoring, alerting, automation, and infrastructure-as-code. + Collaborate with engineering teams supporting AI/ML solutions to ensure platform readiness for future initiatives. + Implement Data Integration Patterns + Apply established data integration design patterns using ETL/ELT, event streaming, and real-time processing technologies such as Dataflow, Pub/Sub, dbt, or Kafka. + Ensure data pipelines are performant, well-tested, reliable, and aligned to platform standards. + Participate in Design Reviews & Best Practices + Take part in design reviews, ensuring high-quality engineering practices and consistency with defined platform standards. + Contribute to documentation, reusable patterns, and engineering guidelines. + Advance Cloud Engineering Skills + Stay ahead of with new GCP capabilities and apply them to improve platform functionality, performance, and cost efficiency. + Support continuous improvement of cloud infrastructure automation (Terraform, CI/CD, automated testing). + Support Governance, Security, and Compliance + Work with security, governance, and compliance teams to ensure platform components meet required controls and policies. + Participate in vulnerability assessment remediation and operational hardening of platform services. + multi-functional Collaboration + Partner with product managers, architects, data engineers, and analytics teams to deliver platform capabilities that meet business and technical requirements. + Coordinate with cloud, infrastructure, and DevOps teams to ensure cohesive delivery across platform layers. Qualifications Basic Qualifications: + Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field. + 3-5 years of experience in data platform engineering, cloud data engineering, or related roles, with hands-on experience delivering solutions on GCP (with some exposure to AWS). + Proven experience implementing modern cloud-based data platform components supporting analytical and/or AI workloads. + Hands-on experience with ETL/ELT, event streaming, and real-time processing frameworks (e.g., dbt, Kafka, Dataflow, Pub/Sub). + Familiarity with emerging AI concepts as they relate to platform automation and operational efficiency. + Strong implementation skills in CI/CD, Terraform, automated testing, and containerized workloads. + Solid understanding of data governance, security controls, and cloud compliance requirements. + Experience contributing to technical reviews and implementing engineering best practices. + Strong hands-on expertise with core GCP data services (BigQuery, Dataflow, Pub/Sub, GCS, Cloud Run, GKE). Preferred Skills + Experience with AI/ML platforms such as Databricks or Vertex AI. + Familiarity with GenAI, LLM operations, and agentic AI concepts as they apply to platform enablement. + Experience with orchestration tools such as Cloud Composer or Airflow. + Understanding of event-driven architectures and sophisticated Kafka or Pub/Sub implementations. + Experience working within multi-cloud setups and integrating GCP with AWS services. + Exposure to cloud cost optimization techniques for data workloads. + Experience with observability platforms. + Industry certifications such as GCP Professional Data Engineer, GCP Professional Cloud Architect, or equivalent. Compensation Bonus Eligible: Yes Long - Term Incentive: Yes Benefits Eligible: Yes Salary Range The expected salary range for this role is $138,207.00 - $172,758.00 per year The above represents the expected salary range for this job requisition. Ultimately, in determining your pay, we may also consider your experience, and other job-related factors. Additional Information: Benefits eligible: This position offers health and welfare benefits, a 401(k) plan, adoption assistance program, educational assistance program, flexible ways of working, and time off policies (including sick leave, parental leave, and vacation/PTO). Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on job classification and length of employment.  Bonus eligible: This position is eligible for a bonus, calculated based on individual and company performance. Long term Incentive eligible: This position is eligible for stock or other equity grants pursuant to McDonald's long-term incentive plan. McDonald's is an equal opportunity employer committed to the diversity of our workforce. We promote an inclusive work environment that creates feel-good moments for everyone. McDonald's provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities as part of the application or hiring process or to perform the essential functions of their job. If you need assistance accessing or reading this job posting or otherwise feel you need an accommodation during the application or hiring process, please contact View email address on click.appcast.io. Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis. McDonald's provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to sex, sex stereotyping, pregnancy (including pregnancy, childbirth, and medical conditions related to pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding), race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, disability status, medical condition, marital status, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, protected military or veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training. Nothing in this job posting or description should be construed as an offer or guarantee of employment. Requsition ID: 2670