Data Platform Architect & Lead Data Pipelines Engineer

Samba; Warszawa; Hybrid; PLN 180,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

Samba in Warsaw seeks a senior data engineering leader to design and scale our data pipelines, collaborate with Data Science, Analytics, and Product, and mentor a team of engineers. You will drive architecture improvements, advocate best practices, and deliver production-ready data solutions with impact.

You will own production datasets, schema evolution, and cost optimization while ensuring security and observability across the data stack, partnering with cloud and data teams.

Qualifications

• Typically 8+ years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree (6+ with a Master's, or 3+ with a PhD), or equivalent practical experience.
• Advanced Python and a deep understanding of distributed data processing frameworks like Apache Spark or PySpark.
• Must-have expertise in Apache Airflow and Databricks for orchestration and scalable data processing.
• Extensive experience with cloud-based data infrastructure (AWS, GCP) and modern data lake architectures.
• Strong knowledge of data modeling, database design, and query optimization for relational and non-relational databases.
• A proven track record of driving best practices for code quality, testing, and software design in data engineering.
• Able to adapt your communication style and use persuasion when delivering messages that relate to the wider business.

Responsibilities

• Lead Architecture: Lead the design and development of scalable, high-performance data pipelines and infrastructure that power Samba's analytics, and resolve complex technical issues in creative and effective ways.
• Manage Production Datasets: Lead the design, build, and maintenance of high-scale production datasets, delivering versioned outputs and reliable customer-facing reports.
• Evolve Schemas Safely: Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of data features, adding attributes, updating business logic, and executing safe rollouts (staging, performance check, production), including complex backfills and reprocessing.
• Engineer Performance and Cost: Architect efficient solutions for data ingestion, transformation, and storage, ensuring performance, reliability, and security, and proactively drive down compute and storage costs.
• Lead Incident Response: Serve as technical lead for production incidents: investigate root causes, implement permanent fixes, and validate data recovery across the ecosystem.
• Improve Observability: Enhance monitoring and observability of data processes, improving debugging, error detection, and system reliability at scale.
• Influence and Mentor: Network with key contacts outside your area and advise others on complex matters, guide new policies and ideas, and mentor engineers to foster a culture of technical excellence.

Skills

Python

PySpark

Airflow

Databricks

AWS/GCP

Spark

SQL

Data modeling

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Tools

Apache Airflow

Databricks

AWS

GCP

Job description

Samba in Warsaw seeks a senior data engineering leader to design and scale our data pipelines, collaborate with Data Science, Analytics, and Product, and mentor a team of engineers. You will drive architecture improvements, advocate best practices, and deliver production-ready data solutions with impact.

You will own production datasets, schema evolution, and cost optimization while ensuring security and observability across the data stack, partnering with cloud and data teams.