Principal Data Engineer

We are seeking a Principal Data Engineer with over 10 years of experience. In this high-impact role, you will be responsible for defining and driving the data architecture strategy, guiding technical teams, and ensuring robust, scalable, and secure database systems that support business-critical applications. You will work autonomously and directly with stakeholders across engineering, infrastructure, and product leadership, influencing decisions related to GCP Cloud SQL, GKE, relational and non-relational databases (including Cassandra and Couchbase), while also managing complex database challenges.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and lead the overall data architecture strategy across cloud and hybrid environments, in alignment with business and technical goals.
• Collaborate directly with leadership to drive key architectural decisions.
• Provide deep, hands-on expertise in GCP Cloud SQL and containerized database deployment using Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• Architect and optimize relational database solutions using PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MS SQL Server.
• Design and implement NoSQL data solutions including Cassandra, Couchbase, and other scalable data stores.
• Lead end-to-end planning and execution of complex data engineering tasks, including schema design, performance tuning, high availability, and disaster recovery.
• Handle and coordinate P1 incident responses, conducting root cause analysis and designing long-term mitigation plans.
• Guide and mentor internal database teams, fostering technical quality and architectural consistency.
• Automate database provisioning, scaling, and maintenance using modern DevOps and infrastructure-as-code tools.
• Provide architectural documentation and recommendations for scalability, security, compliance, and cost efficiency.

Skills

• 10+ years of experience in data engineering and architecture, including hands-on cloud and database infrastructure leadership.
• Proven expertise in Google Cloud Platform (GCP) especially Cloud SQL and GKE.
• Strong hands-on background in relational databases: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MS SQL Server
• Deep knowledge and implementation experience with NoSQL technologies: Cassandra, Couchbase, [optionally MongoDB, Redis, etc.]
• Experience in independent or consulting roles, capable of working with minimal supervision and maximum ownership.
• Proven ability to manage and resolve high-severity and communicate resolution paths to leadership.
• Strong scripting and automation skills (e.g., Python, Terraform, Bash).
• Familiarity with CI/CD, container orchestration, and observability practices for modern data infrastructure.
• Background in supporting data compliance, governance, and cost optimization in cloud environments.

Why Join Us

• Work with a team that actually values deep security thinking not checkbox compliance.
• Experiment with tools, techniques, and platforms to continuously simulate, validate, and improve.
• Collaborate across teams that respect security as a partner, not a blocker.
• Build scalable security strategies in a growing, tech-driven organization.

Experience

• 10 + Years