Senior Data Engineer

Airwallex; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary + equity

Open office space with fully stocked k

Team‑building events

Freedom to be creative

Job summary

Airwallex is seeking a Senior Data Engineer in San Francisco to design scalable data models and end‑to‑end ETL pipelines that power BI, ML, and operations. You’ll collaborate with business teams to translate requirements into clean data structures and work with DPE/PMs to resolve data issues quickly.

You should bring 5+ years of ETL and data warehousing experience, plus strong SQL, GCP BigQuery, and Airflow skills. This role emphasizes governance, data quality, and cross‑functional collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Systems, Finance, Maths or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience designing and implementing ETL pipelines using tools such as Informatica, Talend, Apache NiFi, or similar data integration platforms.
• Proficiency in SQL, database management systems (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle), and data warehousing solutions.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically BigQuery and Airflow.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills, with a keen attention to detail and a commitment to producing high‑quality work.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced, team‑oriented environment.
• Outstanding verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with globally distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement robust and scalable data models to support BI, ML, and operations.
• Collaborate with business teams to translate data needs into clean, structured models.
• Build and maintain batch and streaming ETL pipelines end‑to‑end.
• Work with Data Platform Engineers and PMs to diagnose data issues and implement scalable fixes.
• Contribute to data governance strategies and data quality across sources.
• Explore practical AI use cases with data engineering and AI integration.

Skills

ETL pipeline design

SQL proficiency

Communication skills

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Informatica

Talend

Apache NiFi

Airflow

BigQuery

Job description

About Airwallex

Airwallex is the only unified payments and financial platform for global businesses. Powered by our unique combination of proprietary infrastructure and software, we empower over 250,000 businesses worldwide – including Brex, Rippling, Navan, Qantas, SHEIN and many more – with fully integrated solutions to manage everything from business accounts, payments, spend management and treasury, to embedded finance at a global scale.

Proudly founded in Melbourne, we have a team of over 2,300 of the brightest and most innovative people in tech across 27 offices around the globe. Valued at US$11 billion and backed by world-leading investors including T. Rowe Price, Visa, Mastercard, Robinhood Ventures, Sequoia, Salesforce Ventures, DST Global, and Lone Pine Capital, Airwallex is leading the charge in building the global payments and financial platform of the future. If you’re ready to do the most ambitious work of your career, join us.

Attributes We Value

We hire successful builders with founder‑like energy who want real impact, accelerated learning, and true ownership. You bring strong role‑related expertise and sharp thinking, and you’re motivated by our mission and operating principles. You move fast with good judgment, dig deep with curiosity, and make decisions from first principles, balancing speed and rigor.

You're humble and collaborative; turn zero‑to‑one ideas into real products, and you “get stuff done” end‑to‑end. You use AI to work smarter and solve problems faster. Here, you’ll tackle complex, high‑visibility problems with exceptional teammates and grow your career as we build the future of global banking. If that sounds like you, let’s build what’s next.

Senior Data Engineer

Hiring Location: San Francisco

Part 1. Data Modeling

• Design and implement robust and scalable data models that support business intelligence, machine learning, and operational needs.
• Possess a deep understanding of data schemas and be able to select appropriate schema designs (e.g., star schema, snowflake, normalised vs denormalised) based on use cases.
• Collaborate closely with business teams to translate their data needs into clean, structured, and well‑documented models.
• Understand and promote the concept of SSOT (Single Source of Truth) throughout the data layers and pipelines.
• Maintain data consistency, traceability, and quality across multiple data sources and domains.

Part 2. ETL and Data Pipeline Management

• Experience building and maintaining both batch and streaming ETL pipelines, with a strong understanding of end‑to‑end data workflow — from data ingestion to transformation and delivery.
• Able to work closely with Data Platform Engineers (DPEs) and Product Managers (PMs) to quickly identify root causes of data issues and provide efficient, scalable solutions.
• Bonus if you’ve worked with data across distributed or multi‑datacenter systems, including solving challenges related to data migration, duplication, and consistency.

Part 3. Data Governance

• Participate in and contribute to data governance strategies, policies, and standards.
• Be familiar with any of the six key pillars of traditional data governance (e.g., data quality, data stewardship, metadata management, master data management, data privacy/security, data lifecycle).

Part 4. Data + AI

• We hope you have a basic understanding of AI and enjoy thinking about how data engineering and AI can work together in practical and creative ways.

These four areas are the main focuses of the DE team. Ideally, you should be strong in at least one of them — especially data modeling or data ETL. If you also have experience or skills in the other areas, that would be a big plus.

Who you are

We're looking for people who meet the minimum qualifications for this role. The preferred qualifications are great to have, but are not mandatory.

Minimum qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, Information Systems, Finance, Maths or a related field.
• Minimum 5 years of proven of experience designing and implementing ETL pipelines using tools such as Informatica, Talend, Apache NiFi, or similar data integration platforms.
• Proficiency in SQL, database management systems (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle), and data warehousing solutions.
• Familiarity with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), specifically BigQuery and Airflow.
• Excellent problem‑solving skills, with a keen attention to detail and a commitment to producing high‑quality work.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to work effectively in a fast‑paced, team‑oriented environment.
• Outstanding verbal communication skills, with the ability to effectively collaborate with globally distributed teams.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience with financial industries, payment systems, or fintech platforms.
• Knowledge of data governance practices and regulatory requirements in the financial industry.
• Experience with scripting languages (e.g., Python, R) for data analysis and automation.
• Certification in data management or related technologies

At Airwallex, you can make an impact in a rapidly growing, global fintech.

• We want you to share in our success, which is why you’ll be offered a competitive salary plus valuable equity within Airwallex.
• We also like to ensure we create the best environment for our people by providing collaborative open office space with a fully stocked kitchen.
• We organise regular team‑building events and we give our people the freedom to be creative.

Airwallex does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms/recruiters. Airwallex will not pay any fees to search firms/recruiters if a candidate is submitted by a search firm/recruiter unless an agreement has been entered into with respect to specific open position(s). Search firms/recruiters submitting resumes to Airwallex on an unsolicited basis shall be deemed to accept this condition, regardless of any other provision to the contrary.

Equal opportunity

Airwallex is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We value diversity and anyone seeking employment at Airwallex is considered based on merit, qualifications, competence and talent. We don’t regard color, religion, race, national origin, sexual orientation, ancestry, citizenship, sex, marital or family status, disability, gender, or any other legally protected status when making our hiring decisions. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.