Senior Data Engineer

Collectors; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 136,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance: Medical, Dental, and

401(K) Matching Plan

Vacation: flexible time-off

Holiday Pay

Employee Discounts on services

Flexible Hours

Fun Working Environment

Fertility benefits

Commuter benefits

Educational assistance

Job summary

Collectors is building the data foundations powering analytics, reporting, and AI agents. This senior IC role owns platform pipelines, reliability practices, and end-to-end data workflows that span ingestion, warehouse, and transformation layers.

You will work with cloud data warehousing, dbt, and modern ingestion tools to deliver scalable, secure systems, while shaping technical direction and governance across teams. Hybrid work from Los Angeles, CA with on-site and remote options available.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building production data platforms and pipelines.
• Experience with cloud data warehousing (BigQuery or equivalent).
• Strong design communication, writing and in-person discussion of trade-offs.
• Fluency in AI-assisted development with Claude Code or similar.
• Reliability-first mindset with testing and observability experience.
• Governance-aware execution with access controls and data-quality safeguards.
• Technical collaboration through mentoring, code reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Comfort with version control, CI/CD and testing workflows.
• Experience with cloud infra beyond the warehouse (serverless compute, storage, secrets).
• Curiosity about lakehouse patterns and new query engines.

Responsibilities

• Build and own core data platform components across ingestion, warehouse, and transformation layers.
• Shape technical direction through architecture discussions and design docs.
• Design and maintain batch and CDC ingestion pipelines for operational databases and SaaS apps.
• Develop end-to-end workflows with AI coding agents (Claude Code and similar).
• Improve reliability and observability with testing, monitoring, and on-call practices.
• Apply governance and controls to pipelines and datasets you own.
• Deliver well-modeled, well-governed data for agents and MCP connections.
• Collaborate with analytics engineers, analysts, and stakeholders to translate data needs into platform capabilities.
• Build tooling and services beyond the warehouse, including APIs and internal Python tools.
• Support team quality through code review, pairing, and knowledge sharing.
• Explore lakehouse patterns and alternative engines through hands-on PoCs.

Skills

SQL

Python

CI/CD

BigQuery

dbt

Claude Code

GCP

AWS

Tools

Hevo

Estuary

Google BigQuery

dbt

Job description

Collectors is building the data foundations that power analytics, reporting, and AI agents, and this role sits at the center of that effort. As a hands-on senior individual contributor, you will design, build, and take ownership of platform pipelines and reliability practices that go well beyond the warehouse.

What you’ll do

• Build and own core data platform components across ingestion (Hevo, Estuary), the Google BigQuery warehouse, and the dbt transformation layer, delivering systems that are scalable, reliable, and secure.
• Shape technical direction by contributing to architecture, writing design documents, participating in design reviews, and collaborating with senior technical leaders.
• Design and maintain batch and CDC ingestion pipelines for operational databases, SaaS applications, and ERP systems, and evaluate tooling trade-offs with a clear point of view.
• Develop end-to-end workflows with AI coding agents, using Claude Code and similar tools daily while helping refine practices and guardrails for fast, safe, high-quality delivery.
• Improve reliability and observability through testing, monitoring, alerting, and on-call practices so data arrives on time, remains trusted, and failures are detected early.
• Apply governance and controls, including access models, auditability, and operational rigor across the pipelines and datasets you own.
• Help establish agentic analytics foundations by delivering well-modeled, well-governed data that agents and MCP connections can rely on.
• Partner with analytics engineers, analysts, and stakeholders to translate data needs into durable platform capabilities and unblock high-value use cases.
• Build tooling and services beyond the warehouse, including APIs, automated jobs, and internal Python tools that extend access to data beyond SQL.
• Support team quality through thoughtful code review, pairing, and knowledge sharing to improve consistency across the engineering organization.
• Explore next-generation warehouse approaches through hands-on proofs of concept, including lakehouse patterns, open table formats, and alternative query engines.

Key skills and experience

• 5+ years building production data platforms and pipelines, with experience independently owning and delivering complex projects.
• Deep hands-on experience in the modern data stack, including cloud data warehousing (BigQuery or equivalent), dbt, and modern ingestion tooling, with the ability to weigh buy versus build decisions.
• Strong design communication through writing and in-person discussions, including clear explanations of trade-offs.
• Fluency in AI-assisted development, with real experience building using Claude Code or a similar coding agent.
• A reliability-first mindset, with experience establishing testing, observability, and practices that keep pipelines dependable.
• Governance-aware execution, applying access controls, auditability, and data-quality safeguards to build trust.
• Technical collaboration through mentoring, code review, and sharing knowledge with engineers across levels.
• Strong SQL and Python, comfort with version control, CI/CD, and testing workflows, and the ability to explain technical work to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Comfort managing cloud infrastructure components beyond the warehouse, including serverless compute, storage, and secrets on major clouds such as GCP or AWS.
• Curiosity about where the data stack is heading, including tracking lakehouse patterns and query engine developments and evaluating new ideas through hands-on work.

Tools you’ll work with

• Hevo, Estuary, Google BigQuery, dbt, Claude Code
• Python, SQL, CI/CD
• lakehouse patterns, open table formats, MCP, GCP, AWS

Compensation

• Salary range: $135,549 - $220,067 per year.
• Actual compensation within this range varies based on location, job level, experience, and skill set.
• This role may be eligible for bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation; ask your recruiter for details.

Benefits

• Health Insurance: Medical, Dental, and Vision for full-time employees.
• Additional Benefits: fertility, commuter, and educational assistance benefits for full-time employees.
• 401(K) Matching Plan.
• Vacation: flexible time-off for salaried employees.
• Holiday Pay: ten company paid holidays for regular, full-time employees.
• Employee Discounts: discounts on select grading services for approved submissions.
• Flexible Hours: teams may offer flexible schedules with varying shifts.
• Fun Working Environment: participation in celebrations, holiday events, and team building activities.

Location and interview expectations

• Los Angeles, CA (hybrid)
• During video interviews, candidates are requested to have cameras on.
• Certain interview steps may be conducted by phone.
• Remote candidates may be asked to participate in an on-site interview as part of final stages, at the company’s discretion.
• Candidates within a 1-hour commute distance to one of the offices will be required to be onsite most of the time.
• Hybrid or remote candidates are considered, and accommodations can be discussed as needed.

Employment and compliance notes

• Collectors uses e-Verify to validate eligibility to work legally in the United States.
• Collectors states it never asks for personal information such as bank account details, Social Security numbers, or National IDs, and does not request payments for business equipment purchases.
• New York residents: Collectors Universe, Inc. uses an automated employment decision tool (Brighthire) beginning in September 2026, and a summary of the most recent independent bias audit is available from Brighthire.
• For questions about data collected and retention policy, contact [e-mail].