Senior Staff Data Engineer

Afresh, the AI platform for grocery, began by tackling the most complex problem in the industry: fresh, and has evolved into the core AI platform for grocers. By leveraging proprietary AI designed for high-volatility environments, we empower partners like Albertsons, Meijer, and Wakefern to drive smarter decisions across their entire enterprise. Following record-breaking 70% revenue growth in 2025, we have scaled to 6 enterprise-grade solutions, with solutions live in over 10% of the U.S. grocery market. Our platform now orchestrates billions of decisions from the store floor to the distribution center and prevented over 200 million pounds of food waste last year alone. If you're looking for a role where your work directly translates into massive scale and social good, and you want to be part of the team that defines how the world eats, there is no better time to join us. About the Role As a Senior Staff Data Engineer at Afresh, you'll be one of our most senior individual contributors — setting technical direction for how we build, integrate, and scale the data systems that power Afresh's products. Afresh's customer base is growing fast, and the bar for what our data foundations need to do is rising with it. You'll own some of our most complex and ambiguous data problems end to end: from raw data ingestion through transformation and delivery to downstream product and ML teams, across both new and existing customers. Beyond shipping, you'll define the architecture, abstractions, and tooling that make every future integration faster and more reliable — and you'll raise the engineering bar for everyone around you. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role. You'll be deep in the code and the architecture while also influencing direction across teams, mentoring other engineers, and partnering closely with Product, ML, Solutions Engineering, and customer-facing teams. What You'll Do Architect and build core data systems and pipelines that power Afresh products, owning reliability and quality from raw data through to production. Take on our most ambiguous, high-leverage data problems and drive them to a shipped solution — without waiting for a detailed spec. Set technical direction: define the architecture, patterns, and abstractions that make customer integrations and product dataflows faster, cleaner, and more repeatable over time. Drive data quality and pipeline reliability — invest in better alerting, self-healing patterns, and resilience to messy or incomplete real-world customer data. Champion AI-forward engineering: evaluate and adopt AI tools and agentic workflows that accelerate development, automate repetitive work, and push the team to the bleeding edge of modern data engineering. Raise the bar technically — review code and architecture decisions, pair with engineers on hard problems, and mentor across the team. Collaborate deeply with Product, ML, Solutions Engineering, and customer-facing teams to scope work, unblock dependencies, and make sure what we build meets real customer needs. What Makes You a Great Fit We encourage all highly-qualified candidates to apply, even if they don't meet every listed qualification. Extensive experience (typically 8+ years) building data engineering systems, with a track record of operating at a staff or principal level. Deep technical expertise across Python, PySpark, SQL, dbt, Airflow, and modern data platforms (Databricks, Snowflake, or similar). A history of shipping high-quality data integrations or ETL systems at scale, and a deep understanding of what makes data pipelines reliable. Proven ability to own ambiguous, end-to-end problems and set technical direction in a fast-moving environment with no established playbook. Genuine enthusiasm for AI-augmented engineering. You've experimented with AI coding tools, agentic workflows, or similar, and have a vision for how they can transform data engineering. Comfort working with messy, real-world data from enterprise customers, and the pragmatism to ship solutions that work without over-engineering. Strong collaboration and influence skills — you're effective working across engineering, product, and customer-facing teams, and you can move others without formal authority. Nice to Have Experience in grocery, retail, or supply chain data domains. Prior experience at a high-growth startup navigating rapid customer expansion. A history of acting as a technical leader who sets direction across multiple teams or projects. Our Tech Stack Python, PySpark, dbt Databricks (Delta Lake, Unity Catalog) Astronomer (Airflow) for orchestration Claude, GitHub, Shortcut, Notion for development workflows This position is not eligible for company sponsorship. Salary Range in U.S.: $191,000- $287,000 Why You’ll Love Working at Afresh At Afresh, our mission to eliminate food waste starts with investing in our people. We provide a comprehensive support system designed to help you do your best work while maintaining a healthy, balanced life. Comprehensive Health & Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family, with the majority of premiums covered by Afresh. We also provide dedicated mental health support and counseling services. Invested in Your Future: Competitive base salary, meaningful equity (U.S. employees), and a 401(k) program with a generous company match. Flexible & Modern Workspace: Whether you work from home or a local office, we support your setup with a home office stipend and "Coworking Wallets" for flexible workspace access. Growth-Obsessed Culture: We believe in continuous learning. Every employee receives an annual professional development budget to master new skills and grow their career at Afresh. Holistic Monthly Stipends: Beyond your paycheck, we provide monthly stipends for "Betterment" (wellness/lifestyle) and telecommunications to ensure you have what you need to thrive. Time to Recharge: Flexible paid time off to take the time you need to recharge. *Full-time U.S. employees are eligible for these benefits About Afresh Founded in 2017, Afresh is using AI to tackle the #1 solution to curb climate change: reducing food waste. By building AI specifically for the intricacies of grocery—from the fresh perimeter to the center store—we help grocers minimize waste and maximize sales. Afresh sits at an incredible intersection of positive social impact, rocket ship financial growth, and cutting-edge technology. Our best-in-class AI research has been published in top journals, including ICML, and our investors include Al Gore’s Just Climate, former Whole Foods Market CEO Walter Robb, and Eric Schmidt's Innovation Endeavors. Grocery is the past, present, and future of our food system – the waste we create today will impact our planet for years to come. Join us as we continue to build a vibrant, diverse, and inclusive team that embodies our company’s values of proactivity, kindness, candor, and humility. Afresh provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, marital status, pregnancy or related condition, or any other basis protected by law. Here at Afresh, many of our employees work remotely provided that they reside in one of the following states: AL, AR, CA, CO, FL, GA, IL, KY, MA, MI, MT, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OR, PA, TX, WA, UT, VA, WI.