Senior Data Engineer

Aircapture; South Carolina; On-site; USD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Aircapture is seeking a data platform leader to own and evolve the end-to-end data stack using Ignition and AWS. You will set the technical direction, standardize workflows, and ensure reliable production data systems for a hardware-driven climate tech startup.

You’ll partner with controls and test engineering to translate sensor and process data into actionable dashboards, while maintaining on-prem infrastructure and driving durable architectural decisions.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on industry experience, Master’s preferred
• 6+ years building and operating production data systems that are mission critical to a hardware or physical product
• Hands-on hardware/physical-product experience required
• Solid experience with AWS and services such as RDS, IAM, VPC, S3
• Strong SQL and Python expertise with Git, CI/CD, and production workflows
• Thorough background in dbt across the full model lifecycle, plus Airflow and Docker for production deployment
• Hands-on experience with industrial historian or DAQ platforms such as Ignition, ibaPDA, Keysight, NI, or similar
• Working intuition for physical systems generating data; ability to sanity-check sensor readings and communicate with engineers
• Strong analytical orientation and ability to navigate ambiguity
• Effective cross-functional collaborator and communicator; ownership mindset

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve Aircapture’s end-to-end data platform, using Ignition and AWS
• Set technical direction for the data stack, define standards and durable architectural decisions
• Standardize and enforce engineering workflows across the data stack (Git, CI/CD, testing, documentation)
• Maintain and support on-prem server systems as part of the data infrastructure
• Partner with controls engineering on Ignition rollout
• Collaborate with test engineering to build data pipelines for telemetry and dashboards

Skills

Production data systems

AWS

SQL

Python

dbt

Airflow

Ignition

Time-series data

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Data Science or related field

Master’s degree preferred

Tools

Ignition

ibaPDA

Keysight

National Instruments

AWS services (RDS, IAM, VPC, S3)

Job description

At Aircapture we’re creating technology to solve what we believe to be our lifetime’s most pressing challenge: the climate crisis. We supply commercial and industrial customers with clean CO₂ captured from our atmosphere to radically improve the environment, our economy, and our lives. We value building a team of people who represent diverse backgrounds—be it through education, gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation—to reach our goals. Thank you for considering us.

You will shape the data foundation that runs our technology by owning the pipelines, models, and analyses that turn operational data from our Direct Air Capture (DAC) systems into the insights that our engineers and scientists rely upon. Partnering with our test and engineering teams, you’ll turn the continuous stream of sensor, process, and test data from the physical equipment in the field and shop into actionable decisions. You have built and run production data systems in a hardware or physical product environment, and are comfortable with the realities of real-world sensor data, making durable architectural choices that hold up over time. If this sounds like you and you are excited to have a major impact at a groundbreaking climate technology startup, we want to hear from you!

This role is onsite at our development and production facility in Berkeley, California.

Salary: $180,000-$220,000 per year

What You’ll Do Here

• Own and evolve Aircapture’s end-to-end data platform, using both Ignition and AWS
• Set technical direction for the data stack, evaluating tools, defining standards, and making durable architectural decisions
• Standardize and enforce engineering workflows across the data stack, such as version control, code review, CI/CD, testing, and documentation
• Maintain and support on-prem server systems as part of the data infrastructure
• Partner closely with controls engineering on Ignition rollout
• Partner with test engineering to build the pipeline that moves test and operational telemetry, including sensor, DAQ, and historian data, into the dashboards and reports engineering relies on

Your Skills and Experience Include

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field, or equivalent hands-on industry experience, Master’s preferred
• 6+ years building and operating production data systems that are mission critical to a hardware or physical product, gained in an industry such as automotive, aerospace, robotics, industrial equipment, energy, or semiconductor manufacturing. Hands-on hardware/physical-product experience required
• Solid experience with AWS and services such as RDS, IAM, VPC, S3
• Strong SQL and Python expertise combined with solid engineering fundamentals across Git, CI/CD, and production workflows
• Thorough background in dbt across the full model lifecycle, plus orchestration tools like Airflow and Docker for production deployment
• Hands-on experience with industrial historian or DAQ platforms such as Ignition, ibaPDA, Keysight, National Instruments, or similar, as well as fluency working with time-series and sensor data
• Working physical intuition for the systems generating your data — thermal, fluid, electrical, or mechanical — sufficient to sanity-check sensor readings, spot anomalies, and communicate credibly with test and controls engineers
• Strong analytical orientation toward data interpretation, with the ability to navigate ambiguity and adjust architectural decisions accordingly
• Effective cross-functional collaborator and communicator; able to translate ambiguity into scoped work and push back when needed
• Self-directed, resourceful, and highly ownership-oriented from scoping through delivery
• Bonus: BI tooling experience, climate/energy domain background, or prior experience partnering directly with a test or reliability engineering function

Aircapture strives to create a safe, inclusive, equitable, and diverse workplace. Every teammate adds to who we are, diversifying our ideas, experiences, and viewpoints and making us stronger. We hope you feel welcome here.