Lead Backend Architect - Identity & Data Platforms (Equity)

zetaglobal; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Employee equity

Discounts

Wellness classes

Pet insurance

Job summary

zetaglobal is seeking an experienced backend/data engineer to lead engineering for identity services and large-scale data processing. You will design APIs, build event-driven pipelines, and operate cloud-native services on Kubernetes.

The role emphasizes reliability, speed, and transparent data handling across teams. Candidates should have 5+ years in backend/data engineering, strong Python/Java/Scala skills, and hands-on experience with Kafka, Spark/Hive/Flink, and Airflow/Luigi.

Qualifications

• Five+ years in backend or data engineering at scale.
• Proficiency in Python, Java, or Scala with APIs and distributed systems.
• Hands-on with Kafka or similar event platforms and data processing frameworks.
• Experience deploying on Kubernetes; familiarity with EKS, Helm, service meshes.
• Strong SQL, data modeling, and AWS cloud skills.
• Proven technical leadership, communication, and mentoring capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Design and build APIs and backend services for identity resolution and integrations.
• Develop and optimize high-volume event-driven pipelines and workflows.
• Deploy and operate cloud-native services on Kubernetes with repeatable deployments.
• Improve reliability, observability, scalability, and performance of data pipelines.
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and data teams to deliver end-to-end capabilities.
• Mentor engineers and influence architecture and roadmap decisions.

Skills

Backend engineering

Python/Java/Scala

Distributed systems

Event-driven design

Leadership/mentoring

Tools

Kafka

Spark/Hive/Flink

Airflow/Luigi

Kubernetes (EKS/Helm)

AWS

SQL/NoSQL databases

Job description

zetaglobal is seeking an experienced backend/data engineer to lead engineering for identity services and large-scale data processing. You will design APIs, build event-driven pipelines, and operate cloud-native services on Kubernetes.

The role emphasizes reliability, speed, and transparent data handling across teams. Candidates should have 5+ years in backend/data engineering, strong Python/Java/Scala skills, and hands-on experience with Kafka, Spark/Hive/Flink, and Airflow/Luigi.