[Hiring] Senior Data Engineer @Robots and Pencils

Role Description

We’re looking for a Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and operate the data pipelines and platforms that power analytics, AI, and product work. This role is ideal for an engineer with several years of experience who can confidently own pipelines end-to-end and bring strong technical judgment to the problems they take on.

In this role, you will work as a key contributor on a cross-functional team, designing scalable pipelines, building and managing data warehouses and data lakes, and integrating data from across systems. You’ll collaborate with experienced engineers to enhance existing systems, deliver new capabilities, and contribute to the technical decisions that shape how our data work scales over time.

What You’ll Do

• Craft & Delivery
  • Design and implement scalable data pipelines, taking ownership of features end-to-end
  • Build and manage data warehouses and data lakes
  • Optimize data processing workflows and integrate data from multiple systems
  • Implement data modeling and schema design that supports analytics and downstream use
  • Implement data validation and monitoring to ensure data quality, reliability, and availability
  • Design and build data pipelines for production AI/ML systems, including embeddings, vector stores, RAG data preparation, feature stores, and training/inference data flows
  • Bring an AI-forward coding mindset to your daily work, using tools like Claude, Cursor, and other modern AI assistants to ship higher-quality work at pace
• Collaboration & Communication
  • Collaborate closely with analytics, AI, and product teams to align data work with broader product and business goals
  • Communicate technical tradeoffs and decisions clearly across functions, translating data architecture and constraints into terms others can act on
  • Participate actively in code reviews and design discussions, raising concerns and offering constructive feedback
• Leadership & Influence
  • Contribute to data architecture decisions, bringing thoughtful perspective on tradeoffs and long-term implications
  • Take ownership of meaningful pieces of work and follow through end-to-end, including the unglamorous parts of operating data systems
  • Support data governance and compliance efforts, helping raise the bar on practices across the team

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of professional data engineering experience
• Strong SQL and Python or Scala skills
• Working knowledge of cloud data platforms and enterprise data warehousing
• Hands-on experience with ETL/ELT frameworks and pipeline orchestration
• Experience with streaming platforms and real-time data processing
• Strong data modeling skills, including warehouse and lake schema design and data transformation
• Working knowledge of distributed systems
• Experience with data validation, quality, and observability
• Experience with CI/CD for data systems and container orchestration
• Experience building data pipelines for production AI/ML systems, including embeddings, vector stores, RAG data preparation, feature stores, and training/inference data flows
• Demonstrable, day-to-day usage of AI-forward coding tools such as Claude and Cursor
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to navigate ambiguous technical challenges with sound judgment
• Exposure to data mesh, data fabric, MLOps, or BI tool integration is a plus

Benefits

• Comprehensive package of benefits including paid time off
• Medical/dental/vision insurance
• 401(k) to eligible employees