Technical Lead – Data Platform

Technical Lead – Data PlatformLocation: San Francisco, CAEmployment Type: Full-TimeWork Arrangement: Onsite, five days per weekBase Salary: $240,000–$270,000, plus equity and benefitsNote: No C2C arrangements will be considered.Any attempt to use personal or household contact information for solicitation, candidate submission, or vendor outreach is strictly prohibited and will be reported to LinkedIn.About the CompanyWe are partnering with a well-funded, rapidly scaling technology company building advanced AI-powered data and analytics systems for major global enterprises.The company operates a highly sophisticated data and computing environment and is solving difficult problems across distributed systems, large-scale data processing, performance engineering, and production AI infrastructure.This role sits within an independent, product-focused data division that operates with significant technical autonomy while sharing infrastructure, engineering standards, and operational resources with the broader organization.About the RoleWe are seeking a Technical Lead – Data Platform to set the technical direction and architecture for a high-scale data platform and its underlying processing systems.This is a hands-on technical leadership role for someone who wants staff- or principal-level influence while remaining deeply involved in production engineering. You will serve as the engineering anchor for the team: defining architecture, guiding technical execution, reducing roadmap risk, raising engineering standards, mentoring experienced engineers, and personally building the most difficult components.Your influence will come from the quality of your technical judgment, architecture, code, and ability to bring the team with you.What You’ll DoOwn the technical direction and architecture of the data platform and processing systemsLead technical execution across system design, sequencing, standards, and tradeoffsBuild the most complex, high-risk, and performance-sensitive platform componentsPrototype, benchmark, and validate technical approaches before broader implementationIdentify and reduce architectural and delivery risksEstablish standards for system design, implementation, testing, observability, and documentationLead architecture reviews, design reviews, and code reviewsMentor senior engineers and raise the technical bar across the teamCollaborate with product, data science, machine learning, infrastructure, and SRE teamsImprove platform scalability, resilience, performance, and observabilityClearly communicate complex engineering decisions and tradeoffs to technical and nontechnical stakeholdersWhat We’re Looking For10+ years of experience building production data platforms, distributed systems, infrastructure, or systems softwareDemonstrated success as the technical anchor on complex, high-scale engineering projectsDeep experience designing and operating distributed systemsStrong experience with event-driven architectures and asynchronous processingHands-on experience with large-scale data technologies such as Kafka, Spark, Flink, or comparable frameworksExperience with workflow orchestration and complex data-processing pipelinesExperience with modern lakehouse or analytical-storage technologies such as Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, or similarAdvanced Python development experienceProfessional experience with at least one systems-oriented programming languageStrong performance-engineering instincts, including profiling, concurrency, throughput, and latency optimizationExperience setting technical direction through architecture, design reviews, code reviews, and mentorshipExcellent technical communication and sound engineering judgmentAbility to work onsite in San Francisco five days per weekNice to HaveRustCUDA or GPU-computing experienceKernel-level or low-level systems optimizationHigh-performance computingCloud-based data servicesMLOps or production machine-learning infrastructureExperience productionizing complex ML workloadsExperience building a new platform or major architectural component from the ground upWhy JoinOwn the technical direction of a sophisticated data platform operating at significant scaleRemain deeply hands-on while influencing an experienced engineering teamSolve challenging problems across distributed systems, data processing, performance, and AI infrastructureWork closely with senior engineers, scientists, product leaders, and infrastructure specialistsJoin a well-capitalized organization with strong enterprise traction and meaningful growthReceive a highly competitive salary, meaningful equity, and comprehensive benefitsWork Authorization: Candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States. This position is not eligible for new or future employer-sponsored work authorization.