Founding Engineer (Platform)

Terminal; Toronto; On-site; CAD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity packages

MacBook provided

Health benefits

PTO 4 weeks

Job summary

Terminal is seeking an engineer to build a scalable data platform powering our API. You will tackle backend challenges across data streaming, storage and analytics at terabyte scale, using Java and Node.js as core languages.

You will design and optimize streaming and batch pipelines, storage for IoT and time-series data, and contribute to core product development with a strong emphasis on reliability and observability, collaborating across teams in downtown Toronto.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of commercial experience in platform or data engineering.
• 2+ years designing and optimizing data pipelines at TB to PB scale.
• Strong system design skills focused on data workflows.
• Experience with lake-house architectures (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi, Snowflake).
• Experience with real-time data processing tools like Kafka, Spark and Flink.
• Knowledge of distributed systems and large-scale data challenges.
• Proficiency in Java, with emphasis on clean, maintainable code.

Responsibilities

• Own projects to enhance data replication, storage, enrichment, and reporting capabilities.
• Build and optimize streaming and batch data pipelines for core product and API.
• Design scalable storage for terabytes of IoT and time-series data.
• Develop and maintain real-time data systems for growing data volumes.
• Implement distributed tracing and observability for monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Write clean, maintainable Java and Node.js code for platform components.
• Shape architectural decisions to ensure scalability and reliability of the data platform.

Skills

Platform engineering

Data pipelines

Java

Node.js

Kafka

Flink

Iceberg

Tools

AWS CDK

SST

AWS Lambda

S3

DynamoDB

EventBridge

GitHub Actions

Job description

About The RoleWe’re looking for an engineer who thrives on building scalable data platforms and enjoys tackling complex backend challenges. This isn’t just a data engineering role—you’ll be designing and optimizing the data platform that powers Terminal’s API, managing everything from data streaming and storage to analytics features at terabyte scale and beyond.You should be comfortable navigating both data and backend engineering, with a solid foundation in software development. You’ll work with advanced data architectures, including Iceberg, Flink, and Kafka, tackling large-scale challenges and contributing to core product development using Java and Node.js. If you’re excited by the opportunity to shape a high-impact platform and tackle diverse engineering problems, we’d love to hear from you.

What You Will Do

• Own projects aimed at enhancing data replication, storage, enrichment, and reporting capabilities.
• Build and optimize efficient streaming and batch data pipelines that support our core product and API.
• Design scalable storage solutions for handling terabytes of IoT and time-series data.
• Develop and maintain real-time data systems to ingest growing data volumes.
• Implement distributed tracing and observability patterns to improve monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Write clean, maintainable code in Java and Node.js for various platform components.
• Shape architectural decisions to ensure scalability and reliability throughout the data platform.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have

• 3+ years of experience in platform engineering or data engineering.
• 2+ years of experience designing and optimizing data pipelines at TB to PB scale.
• Strong system design skills with a focus on data workflows.
• Familiarity with lake-house architectures (e.g., Iceberg, Delta, Hudi, Snowflake).
• Experience with real-time data processing tools like Kafka, Spark and Flink.
• Knowledge of distributed systems and large-scale data challenges.
• Proficient in Java, with a focus on clean, maintainable code.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a collaborative mindset.

Tech Stack

• Languages: JavaScript / TypeScript, Java
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): SST, AWS CDK
• Cloud Services:- Compute and Orchestration: AWS Lambda, AWS Step Functions
• Storage: Amazon S3, Amazon DynamoDB
• Messaging and Events: Amazon SQS, Amazon EventBridge
• Data Processing: AWS Glue, Apache Flink, Kafka, Iceberg, DuckDB
• CI/CD: GitHub Actions

Benefits

• Strong compensation and equity packages
• Brand new MacBook and computer equipment
• Top-tier health/dental benefits and a flexible healthcare spending account
• Personal spending account for professional development, fitness and wellness
• Four weeks paid time off + statutory holidays
• In-person culture with an office located in downtown Toronto

Responsibilities

• Own projects aimed at enhancing data replication, storage, enrichment, and reporting capabilities.
• Build and optimize efficient streaming and batch data pipelines that support our core product and API.
• Design scalable storage solutions for handling terabytes of IoT and time-series data.
• Develop and maintain real-time data systems to ingest growing data volumes.
• Implement distributed tracing and observability patterns to improve monitoring and troubleshooting.
• Write clean, maintainable code in Java and Node.js for various platform components.
• Shape architectural decisions to ensure scalability and reliability throughout the data platform.

Requirements

• 3+ years of commercial experience

Tech stack

• GitHub Actions
• Java
• TypeScript
• JavaScript
• Infrastructure
• Cloud Functions