Principal Software Engineer

Zalando GmbH; Helsinki; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Relocation assistance

International team

Flexible working

Job summary

Zalando GmbH in Helsinki is seeking a Data Products Architect to own ELT pipelines and data contracts, leveraging Delta Lake and Databricks to drive scalable data platforms across campaigns and content systems.

You will collaborate with 50+ engineers and product teams, implement data governance, and translate complex requirements into robust lakehouse models while ensuring data quality and security.

Qualifications

• Extensive hands-on experience with the Databricks ecosystem including Unity Catalog and Delta Live Tables.
• Strong knowledge of Medallion Architecture and Delta Lake internals.
• Proficient in PySpark and Python for large-scale data processing.

Responsibilities

• Take responsibility for Data Products architecture, development and quality.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable ELT pipelines with Databricks DLT.
• Define and align Data Contracts with source system owners.
• Implement Data Governance and security within Unity Catalog.
• Perform root cause analysis to improve data quality and pipeline reliability.
• Collaborate with development teams and Zalando Data Foundation.
• Document current methods and lessons learned to foster a high-performance data culture.

Skills

Python

PySpark

SQL

Data modelling

Data governance

English communication

Tools

Databricks

Unity Catalog

Delta Live Tables

Workflows

Terraform

Docker

Git

AWS

Job description

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, our vision is to be inclusive by design. And this vision starts with our hiring - we do not discriminate on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation, personal expression, ethnicity, religious belief, or disability status. You are welcome to leave out your picture, age, or marital status from your application. We only assess candidates on their qualifications and merit.

We want to provide you with a great candidate experience. Feel free to inform us of any accommodations you may need, so we can best support you throughout the hiring process.

do.BETTER - our diversity & inclusion strategy: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/dobetter-our-diversity-and-inclusion-strategy

Our employee resource groups: https://corporate.zalando.com/en/our-impact/our-employee-resource-groups

ABOUT THE ROLE & TEAM

The Campaign and Content Platforms team is building the technology that delivers inspirational content and retail campaigns for our customers. Content performance data we produce and manage is foundational to steering the business, operations and personalisation and optimisation systems. As a cross-functional domain team of 50+ engineers, product managers, product designers in Helsinki and Berlin, we build platforms that work for all teams, ensuring content goes through the same publishing pipelines and processes.

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• You will take responsibility for our department’s Data Products architecture, development and quality


• You will design, build, and maintain scalable ELT pipelines using Databricks Delta Live Tables (DLT).


• You will liaise with the owners of source systems to define and align Data Contracts.


• You will implement and oversee Data Governance and security standards within the Unity Catalog.


• You will perform technical analysis and root cause analysis to improve data quality and pipeline reliability.


• You will build and maintain strong working relationships with the development teams and the Zalando Data Foundation.


• You will record and share information on current working methods and lessons learned to foster a high-performance data culture.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF

• You have extensive experience with the Databricks ecosystem (Unity Catalog, Delta Live Tables, Workflows).


• You have a deep understanding of the Medallion Architecture (Bronze, Silver, Gold) and Delta Lake internals.


• You are proficient in Apache Spark (PySpark) and Python for large-scale data processing.


• You have several years of experience in building and maintaining scalable Streaming & Batch pipelines, specifically using CDC (Change Data Capture) from RDBMS (e.g., MySQL/BinLogs).


• You are familiar with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform), Docker, Git (trunk-based development), and DevOps principles.


• You bring the ability to translate complex business requirements into robust, de-normalized data models optimized for Lakehouse performance.


• You have a good understanding of Cloud Infrastructure (AWS), REST APIs, and secure data exchange.


• You possess excellent verbal and written communication skills in English and the ability to accurately document designs and processes

OUR OFFER (To be updated)

• Culture of trust, empowerment and constructive feedback, open source commitment, meetups, game nights, 70+ internal technical and fun guilds, knowledge sharing through tech talks, internal tech academy and blogs, product demos, parties & events


• Competitive salary, employee share shop, 40% Zalando shopping discount, discounts from external partners, centrally located offices, public transport discounts, municipality services, flexible working times, additional holidays and volunteering time off, free beverages and fruits, diverse sports and health offerings


• Extensive onboarding, mentoring and personal development opportunities and an international team of experts


• Relocation assistance for internationals

Learn all about Zalando and our values here: https://jobs.zalando.com/en/?gh_src=22377bdd1us . For more information about our office and teams in Helsinki, please visit: https://www.zalandohelsinki.com/