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We are looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture and development of Vercel’s next-generation Data Platform. You will design the systems that power data across our products and internal teams, enabling real-time analytics, observability, and future AI/ML capabilities. This role combines hands-on engineering with technical leadership. You will set the vision for our data ecosystem, build scalable distributed systems using technologies like Kafka, ClickHouse, Tinybird, and Snowflake, and work across the company to align data strategy with product and engineering goals.
Job Responsibility:
Architect and build a scalable data platform for batch and real-time workloads
Design streaming and event-driven systems using Kafka and related tooling
Implement modern lakehouse foundations, including Iceberg-based storage and governance
Partner with engineering, product, and leadership to define data strategy and technical direction
Establish best practices for ingestion, modeling, storage, quality, and security
Write production-grade code and set engineering standards across the team
Improve reliability through strong observability, monitoring, and fault tolerance
Drive long-term architectural decisions and evaluate build-vs-buy tradeoffs
Support analytics and ML teams by delivering high-quality data systems and tooling
Requirements:
8+ years in data engineering or data architecture, including senior/principal-level work
Deep experience designing and operating large-scale distributed data systems
Strong expertise with Kafka and analytics/lakehouse technologies (ClickHouse, Tinybird, Snowflake, Iceberg)
Strong cloud experience (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
Experience with data governance, reliability, and secure data operations
Excellent communication skills and ability to influence across engineering and product teams
Demonstrated leadership through mentorship, design ownership, or technical direction
What we offer:
Competitive compensation package, including equity
Inclusive Healthcare Package
Learn and Grow - we provide mentorship and send you to events that help you build your network and skills
Flexible Time Off
We will provide you the gear you need to do your role, and a WFH budget for you to outfit your space as needed