Principal Data Platform Engineer

San Francisco, CA (Remote Eligible – US Only) $230K–$280K base + equity Are you ready to lead the design and build of a world-class data platform from the ground up? A high-growth, product-led tech company is looking for a Principal Data Platform Engineer to lead the buildout of a modern, scalable data platform from the ground up. If you’re excited about solving massive data challenges and shaping the infrastructure that supports real-time analytics and AI/ML at scale, this role is for you. As the most senior technical IC on the Data Platform team, you'll partner with leadership across Engineering, Product, Security, and Compliance to design a low-latency, cloud-native data architecture using best-in-class tools like Kafka, Iceberg, ClickHouse, Tinybird, and Snowflake. Why this role? Join a growing Data Platform team Own the technical vision and architecture end-to-end Tackle petabyte-scale data challenges and real-time streaming use cases Work with a cutting-edge tech stack (Kafka, Iceberg, ClickHouse, Snowflake, etc.) Drive platform evolution to support AI/ML and company-wide analytics What You’ll Do Design and build a next-gen data platform to power product and internal use cases Architect for batch + streaming, scalability, fault tolerance, and low latency Lead data modeling, warehousing, governance, and ingestion best practices Champion engineering excellence and mentor senior engineers Align technical decisions with long-term business strategy Optimize for performance, cost, and resiliency in a modern cloud environment What We’re Looking For 8+ years of experience in data engineering or platform architecture 5+ years at the Principal Engineer level or equivalent Deep expertise with Kafka (and its ecosystem), streaming data systems Strong experience with ClickHouse, Iceberg, Snowflake, or similar tools Cloud-native architecture expertise (AWS, GCP, or Azure) Track record of designing data systems for compliance and governance Experience scaling systems to support petabyte-level workloads Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills Bonus: Experience enabling AI/ML platforms or preparing for IPO-scale growth Benefits Medical insurance Vision insurance 401(k) Pension plan #J-18808-Ljbffr Harnham