Principal Engineer, Cloud Data Infrastructure

Jobtailor

California (MO)

On-site

USD 220,000 - 320,000

Full time

44 hours ago

Be an early applicant

Get more replies from employers

Send a job-specific resume in minutes.

Job summary

Venmo is seeking a senior technical leader to architect and scale its data platform and real-time payment infrastructure. You will drive the technology roadmap, mentor engineers, and stay hands-on while guiding strategic decisions.

The role emphasizes AI-first engineering, high reliability, and cross-functional collaboration with executive stakeholders. Ideal candidates bring 15+ years in software or data platforms, deep experience with distributed systems, and strong communication skills to

Qualifications

10+ years experience with a Bachelor’s degree or equivalent.
15+ years in software engineering or data platform roles.
Bachelor’s in computer science, engineering, or equivalent.
5+ years operating large-scale distributed systems in production clouds.
Deep hands-on experience with relational and NoSQL databases, caching, and queues.
Strong DevOps and automation-first operations for data systems.

Responsibilities

Serve as technical authority for Venmo’s data platform infrastructure and performance engineering.
Set the technology vision and define architectural direction for databases, data pipelines, messaging, caching, and performance.
Provide deep technical leadership for teams supporting real-time payments at scale.
Remain hands-on with code while owning technical strategy.
Mentor the data platform engineering community and influence executive decisions.

Skills

Distributed systems

Relational & NoSQL

DevOps & IaC

AI-ML workflows

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's in CS/Engineering

Tools

Vector databases

Feature stores

LLM serving infra

CI/CD for data systems

Job description

Serve as technical authority for Venmo’s data platform infrastructure and performance engineering
Set the technology vision and define architectural direction for mission-critical databases, data pipelines, messaging systems, caching infrastructure, and performance engineering
Provide deep technical leadership for teams powering Venmo’s real-time payment processing at massive scale
Remain hands-on with code and systems while owning technical strategy
Pioneer AI-first engineering practices
Mentor the Venmo data platform engineering community
Serve as the primary technical voice in cross-functional and executive-level conversations
Increase the results and effectiveness of software engineers in a large domain
Set the technology roadmap for a domain
Adapt technical approaches to achieve goals
Advise senior PayPal executives and influence multi-year business strategies
Handle ambiguous and unfamiliar situations and deliver decisive resolutions
Conduct discovery and exploratory research
Identify cross-project and cross-team themes and broadly impactful improvement opportunities
Determine when to adopt industry-standard solutions versus build novel solutions
Mentor others to propagate technical influence and enhance organizational performance

Requirements

10+ years relevant experience and a Bachelor’s degree OR any equivalent combination of education and experience
15+ years of professional experience in software engineering or data platform roles
Bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, or equivalent practical experience
5+ years building and operating large-scale distributed systems in production cloud environments
Deep hands-on expertise across relational and NoSQL databases, distributed caching, and message queue architectures
Strong DevOps engineering background, including infrastructure as code, CI/CD for data systems, and automation-first operational practices
Experience with AI-first development practices and applying AI tooling to accelerate engineering productivity
Track record delivering performance improvements and scalability enhancements for consumer-facing applications serving tens of millions of users
Technical influence across large engineering organizations without direct management authority
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including presenting complex technical trade-offs to executive stakeholders
Background in financial technology, payments processing, or regulated industries preferred
Experience supporting transaction processing systems requiring extreme reliability and millisecond-level response times preferred
Familiarity with resilience engineering, failure injection testing, and business continuity planning preferred
Knowledge of modern data pipeline frameworks and real-time analytics architectures preferred
Experience mentoring and growing senior/staff-level engineers into technical leadership roles preferredExperience integrating AI/ML workflows into data platform infrastructure, including vector databases, feature stores, or LLM serving infrastructure preferred

Core Competencies

Demonstrates deep technical leadership in data platform infrastructure and performance engineering, with expertise in large-scale distributed systems, AI-first engineering practices, and mentoring senior engineers. Proven ability to influence technical strategy and drive performance improvements in high‑stakes environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords