Senior Staff Data Engineer (Ad Tech Team - AWS experience required)

Z1 Discovery Communications LLC; Silver Spring (MD); Hybrid; USD 161,000 - 299,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Wellness program

Retirement plan

Paid holidays

Job summary

Warner Bros. Discovery in the United States is seeking a Senior Staff Data Engineer to design and deliver data pipelines processing billions of ad events daily across our global ecosystem.

You will modernize legacy workflows into cloud-native lakehouse architectures, embed observability, and partner with Data Science to operationalize models for forecasting and personalization. This role requires deep expertise in distributed systems, streaming, and enterprise-grade data platforms, plus

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering or related field; PhD preferred for advanced expertise in distributed systems or statistical optimization.
• Data engineering expertise: 12+ years designing and operating enterprise-scale data platforms with high-throughput pipelines.
• Cloud & lakehouse architectures: Hands-on with AWS/GCP/Azure, open table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi), and distributed compute (Spark, Flink, Presto).
• Streaming & real-time systems: Deep knowledge of Kafka, Kinesis, or Pub/Sub for low-latency ingestion and activation.
• Operational excellence: CI/CD, automation, observability, governance for enterprise data engineering.
• AdTech domain knowledge: Familiarity with advertising workflows including forecasting, yield optimization, identity and campaign execution.

Responsibilities

• High-Scale Data Pipeline Engineering: Design and maintain ingestion, ETL, and activation pipelines for real-time and batch processing of multi-billion events.
• Platform Modernization & Lakehouse Development: Modernize legacy ad-tech systems into lakehouse architectures for unified analytics and monetization.
• Cross-Functional Data Delivery: Partner with Data Science to operationalize ML models and ensure low-latency, privacy-compliant data delivery.
• Architectural Leadership & Mentorship: Serve as domain expert in distributed systems, streaming, and big data; mentor engineers and raise standards.

Skills

Data engineering

Distributed systems

Cloud architectures

Spark/Flink

Kafka

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Engineering

PhD preferred

Tools

AWS

GCP

Azure

Iceberg

Delta Lake

Hudi

Spark

Flink

Presto

Job description

Welcome to Warner Bros. Discovery… the stuff dreams are made of. Who We Are… When we say, “the stuff dreams are made of,” we’re not just referring to the world of wizards, dragons and superheroes, or even to the wonders of Planet Earth. Behind WBD’s vast portfolio of iconic content and beloved brands, are the storytellers bringing our characters to life, the creators bringing them to your living rooms and the dreamers creating what’s next… From brilliant creatives, to technology trailblazers, across the globe, WBD offers career defining opportunities, thoughtfully curated benefits, and the tools to explore and grow into your best selves. Here you are supported, here you are celebrated, here you can thrive.

Your New Role:

The Senior Staff Data Engineer is accountable for designing and delivering data pipelines that process billions of ad events daily across WBD’s global ecosystem. This role sets technical standards for distributed data engineering, drives modernization of legacy workflows into modular cloud‑native systems, and ensures mission‑critical data is delivered reliably, securely, and cost‑efficiently for monetization and decisioning.

Your Role Accountabilities:

High-Scale Data Pipeline Engineering

• Design and maintain ingestion, ETL, and activation pipelines supporting real‑time and batch processing of multi‑billion event datasets.
• Optimize data workflows for latency, reliability, and scalability in cloud‑native environments.

Platform Modernization & Lakehouse Development

• Modernize legacy ad‑tech systems into open, lakehouse‑based architectures (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi) for unified analytics and monetization.
• Embed observability, data lineage, and automation frameworks to reduce technical debt and improve resiliency.

Cross‑Functional Data Delivery

• Partner with Data Science to operationalize ML models for forecasting, optimization, and personalization.
• Ensure downstream data delivery into ad servers, identity systems, and activation platforms is low‑latency and privacy‑compliant.

Architectural Leadership & Mentorship

• Act as a domain expert in distributed systems, streaming, and big data engineering.
• Mentor junior engineers, share best practices, and elevate engineering standards across global teams.

Qualifications & Experience:

• Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. PhD preferred for advanced expertise in distributed systems or statistical optimization.
• Data Engineering Expertise: 12+ years of experience designing and operating enterprise‑scale data platforms with high‑throughput pipelines.
• Cloud & Lakehouse Architectures: Hands‑on expertise with AWS/GCP/Azure, open table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi), and distributed compute (Spark, Flink, Presto).
• Streaming & Real‑Time Systems: Deep knowledge of Kafka, Kinesis, or Pub/Sub for powering low‑latency ingestion and activation.
• Operational Excellence: Skilled in CI/CD, automation, observability, and governance frameworks for enterprise‑grade data engineering.
• AdTech Domain Knowledge: Familiarity with advertising workflows including forecasting, yield optimization, identity and campaign execution.
• Collaboration & Mentorship: Demonstrated ability to partner with data scientists, product, and platform engineering, while mentoring junior engineers.

#LI-Hybrid

How We Get Things Done…

This last bit is probably the most important! Here at WBD, our guiding principles are the core values by which we operate and are central to how we get things done. You can find them at www.wbd.com/guiding-principles/ along with some insights from the team on what they mean and how they show up in their day to day. We hope they resonate with you and look forward to discussing them during your interview.

Championing Inclusion at WBD

Warner Bros. Discovery embraces the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, mental or physical disability, and genetic information, marital status, citizenship status, military status, protected veteran status or any other category protected by law. If you’re a qualified candidate with a disability and you require adjustments or accommodations during the job application and/or recruitment process, please visit our accessibility page for instructions to submit your request.

Pay Range: $161,070.00 - $299,130.00 salary per year. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program‑specific awards.

In addition, Warner Bros. Discovery provides a variety of benefits to employees, including health insurance coverage, an employee wellness program, life and disability insurance, a retirement savings plan, paid holidays and sick time and vacation.

Warner Bros. Discovery, a premier global media and entertainment company, offers audiences the world's most differentiated and complete portfolio of content, brands and franchises across television, film, streaming and gaming. The new company combines WarnerMedia's premium entertainment, sports and news assets with Discovery's leading non-fiction and international entertainment and sports businesses.