Principal Data Engineer — Remote Lakehouse & AI Pipelines

Remote; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 162,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

SERHANT. is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to design lakehouse architectures and build high-performance ClickHouse deployments supporting real-time analytics.

You will develop ETL/ELT pipelines with open-source tools and craft data models connecting Postgres applications to the analytics layer. This remote-friendlyRole collaborates with product and engineering to ensure scalable, observable data solutions.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or related roles
• Deep expertise with ClickHouse - deployment, optimization, schema design, and materialized views
• Strong experience with Postgres and understanding of when to leverage transactional vs. analytical databases
• Strong experience with lakehouse architecture patterns (Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, Apache Hudi)
• Proficiency building ETL/ELT pipelines with open-source tools (Airflow, Dagster, dbt, Prefect, or similar)
• Hands-on experience with streaming and batch processing frameworks (Kafka, Flink, Spark)
• Strong SQL and deep proficiency in Python
• TypeScript proficiency for integration with application services
• Demonstrated fluency with AI coding assistants (Cursor, Copilot, Claude, etc.) as part of your daily workflow
• Experience using LLMs for data transformation, validation, or pipeline generation
• A spec-first mindset - you document what you’re building before you build it
• Experience with real-time analytics and sub-second query requirements
• Familiarity with data contracts, schema registries, and data mesh principles
• Contributions to open-source data projects
• Background working in cross-functional product teams

Responsibilities

• Design lakehouse architecture using open-source technologies
• Build and optimize ClickHouse deployments for high-performance analytics
• Develop ETL/ELT pipelines using open-source tools
• Create data models bridging Postgres apps with ClickHouse analytics
• Partner with product and engineering to define data models for analytical and operational needs
• Write specifications before writing code—define contracts, schemas, and behaviors upfront
• Use AI-assisted coding tools daily to accelerate development
• Establish data quality frameworks and observability across pipelines
• Optimize for performance, cost, and reliability at scale
• The company reserves the right to add or change duties at any time.

Skills

ClickHouse

Postgres

Lakehouse architecture

ETL/ELT pipelines

Airflow

Kafka

Python

TypeScript

SQL

AI coding assistants

Tools

Dagster

dbt

Prefect

Apache Iceberg

Delta Lake

Apache Hudi

Spark

Job description

SERHANT. is seeking a Principal Data Engineer to design lakehouse architectures and build high-performance ClickHouse deployments supporting real-time analytics.

You will develop ETL/ELT pipelines with open-source tools and craft data models connecting Postgres applications to the analytics layer. This remote-friendlyRole collaborates with product and engineering to ensure scalable, observable data solutions.