Senior Data Engineer, Ads

Discord Inc.; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 220,500 - 245,000; Full time

Job summary

Discord seeks a seasoned Data Engineer focused on advertising product data. You will lead data engineering strategy for ML initiatives, build pipelines and data sets, and mentor engineers to drive scalable, data‑driven ads innovations.

You will collaborate with Data Science, ML, and product teams to deliver canonical pipelines, robust data quality, and reliable attribution across measurement surfaces. This role emphasizes architecture decisions and cross‑functional alignment.

Qualifications

• Expert‑level SQL and Python with production data pipelines.
• Deep expertise in digital advertising data engineering including measurement and ML pipelines.
• Experience building data models in greenfield environments with evolving requirements.
• Strong data quality, monitoring, and anomaly detection for large datasets.
• Excellent technical communication to align Data Science, ML, Ads, and Product teams.

Responsibilities

• Design and own core ads data models powering delivery, measurement, targeting, attribution, and ML use cases.
• Build and maintain ML data enabling ads ranking and feature development, with observability for data quality.
• Develop batch and near real‑time pipeline infrastructure across the ads ecosystem for low latency.
• Create data quality frameworks, monitoring, and SLA infrastructure for massive scale pipelines.
• Mentor engineers, lead code/design reviews, and raise engineering standards.

Skills

SQL

Python

Data modeling

Data pipelines

Data quality

Mentoring

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Kafka

Spark Streaming

Looker

Tableau

Job description

Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.

Discord seeks a seasoned Data Engineer, focusing on our advertising product data. In this role, you will drive technical vision and strategy for ads data engineering in support of our ML initiatives while building and maintaining sophisticated data pipelines, datasets, and analytical tools. You will lead cross-functional initiatives to transform our advertising products through data-driven insights and mentor fellow engineers to deliver exceptional results.

This role works heavily with Data Science, Machine Learning, and product. If leading technical innovation, architecting scalable solutions, and empowering teams through data excites you, we encourage you to make a move!

What You'll Be Doing

• Design and own core ads data models: fact/dim tables, canonical datasets, and aggregation layers that power delivery, measurement, targeting, attribution, and ML use cases.
• Build and maintain the ML data that enables ads ranking, delivery, and targeting - including feature development, label generation workflows, intra-day training, and ML input observability to catch data quality issues before they degrade model performance.
• Build conversion measurement pipelines and integrate third‑party attribution data - including Conversion Attribution and Mobile Measurement Partner (MMP) integrations (Adjust, AppsFlyer, Singular) - ensuring attribution accuracy and data parity across measurement surfaces.
• Build batch and near real‑time pipeline infrastructure across the ads ecosystem - pushing toward lower‑latency data for ML and reporting use cases on our BigQuery + dbt + Dagster stack. Partnering with Data Platform on launch and success of new data processing engines to support low latency requirements.
• Develop data quality frameworks, monitoring systems, automated anomaly detection, and SLA infrastructure for critical ads pipelines at massive scale.
• Proactively identify foundational data infrastructure gaps - including those with broad implications across ML, measurement, and reporting - and design scalable, canonical solutions that multiple teams can depend on.
• Build systems from scratch in a rapidly evolving, greenfield advertising data environment - making sound architectural decisions with incomplete information and balancing short‑term delivery with long‑term infrastructure investment.
• Drive alignment across Data Science, ML Engineering, Ads Product, and GTM teams through clear narratives that connect data infrastructure decisions to business outcomes and revenue impact.
• Mentor engineers through technical challenges, code and design reviews, and ownership of complex projects - contributing to the culture and engineering standards of the Data Engineering team team.

What you should have

• 5+ years of hands‑on experience writing production code and architecting data pipelines with high‑volume consumer data in advertising technology domains (ad delivery, ranking, targeting, identity, conversion measurement).
• Deep expertise in digital advertising data engineering - specifically in ads delivery, conversion measurement, attribution pipelines, or ML feature data infrastructure. Experience with Conversion Data and APIs, MMP integrations, or identity graph infrastructure is strongly valued.
• Demonstrated experience building data models in a greenfield or 0‑to‑1 environment where requirements change frequently, documentation is sparse, and architectural decisions are made with incomplete information.
• Expert‑level SQL and Python. Strong ability to design performant, maintainable data models and write production‑quality pipeline code.
• Proven hands‑on experience with data quality audits, monitoring systems, and automated anomaly detection for massive‑scale datasets (billions+ rows) - including quality frameworks designed for ML inputs.
• Strong technical communication skills with the ability to drive alignment, influence prioritization, and earn adoption from technical stakeholders.
• Collaborative mindset and strong cross‑functional instincts with experience building trusted working relationships with Data Science, ML Engineering, and Product teams.

Bonus Points

• Passion for Discord or gaming communities
• Experience with data visualization and dashboarding technologies (Looker, Tableau, or similar)
• Experience with designing data architecture to power a variety of use cases, including reporting (internal and external), adhoc analysis, experimentation.
• Working with Data AI tools to establish greater self service utility for your customers.
• Experience building near real‑time or streaming pipeline infrastructure (e.g., Kafka, Spark Streaming, or equivalent) in addition to batch processing is preferred.

The US base salary range for this full‑time position is $220,500 to $245,000 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job‑related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.

Why Discord?

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank.

Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know.

Please see our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy for details regarding Discord’s collection and usage of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking HERE.