Staff Data Engineer

Realtor; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Rx, dental, and vision

401(k) with company match

Tuition Reimbursement

Flexible Time Off

Volunteer Time Off

Snacks in offices

Job summary

Realtor.com is seeking a Staff Software Engineer - Platform Administration to lead Snowflake administration and drive optimization across a data-driven organization. You will secure the data platform, mentor engineers, and implement best practices for enterprise-grade data governance and cost management.

You will partner with Data Engineers, Analytics, and Product teams to design scalable schemas and ensure compliance, while developing monitoring and automation tools to improve reliability and

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in data platform engineering or database administration.
• 4+ years administering and optimizing Snowflake in production environments.
• Strong knowledge of Snowflake architecture, compute/storage, clustering, and time travel.
• Proficiency in SQL and data modeling best practices.
• Experience with Python for automation and tooling.

Responsibilities

• Own Snowflake Data Warehouse infrastructure for 900+ users and large-scale analytics.
• Lead incident response and root cause analysis for data pipeline issues.
• Triage platform requests and balance urgent operational needs with strategic improvements.
• Maintain internal documentation, runbooks, and architecture records.
• Design and implement Snowflake security (RBAC, masking, encryption) and compliance controls.
• Build monitoring/observability tools and Streamlit apps for warehouse health and cost tracking.
• Automate routine administration tasks and enable self-service.
• Manage schema migrations across dev, staging, production with review/rollback procedures.
• Collaborate with Data Engineers and Analytics to optimize data models and integration patterns.

Skills

Snowflake Admin

SQL Proficiency

Python Scripting

Data Warehousing

DevOps Practices

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Tools

Terraform

Streamlit

Cloud Platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure)

Job description

Description

Recognized as the No. 1 site trusted by real estate professionals, Realtor.com® has been at the forefront of online real estate for over 25 years, connecting buyers, sellers, and renters with trusted insights and expert guidance to find their perfect home. Through its robust suite of tools, Realtor.com® not only makes a significant impact on the real estate industry at large, but for consumers, navigating the biggest purchase they will make in their life, by providing a user experience that is easy to use, easy to understand, and most of all, easy to make decisions.

Join us on our mission to empower more people to find their way home by breaking barriers to entry, making the right connections, and building confidence through expert guidance.

About The Role

We have an exciting and unique opportunity for a motivated and energetic Staff Software Engineer - Platform Administration to join the Realtor.com Data Operations team. In this position, you will lead the administration, optimization, and strategic evolution of our enterprise Snowflake Platform to support data-driven decisions across the organization. You will develop and maintain best practices for data warehouse management, build sophisticated monitoring and optimization tools, ensure enterprise-grade security and compliance, and mentor engineers on Snowflake administration. You will incorporate DevOps practices, learn about and leverage new technologies, work with an experienced team of engineers, and be part of a team that has a lot of fun along the way!

What You'll Do:

• Own the delivery, quality, reliability, and strategic evolution of the Snowflake Data Warehouse infrastructure supporting 900+ unique users and petabyte-scale analytics
• Lead incident response and root cause analysis for production data pipeline failures; maintain and improve operational runbooks and SLA tracking
• Prioritize and triage platform requests from a large user base; balance urgent operational needs against strategic platform improvements
• Maintain comprehensive internal documentation including onboarding guides, runbooks, and architecture decision records for the Snowflake platform
• Design and implement comprehensive Snowflake administration best practices including security frameworks (RBAC, masking, encryption), access control, and compliance requirements
• Build and maintain advanced monitoring, alerting, and observability tools for Snowflake; develop Streamlit apps to track warehouse health, performance, and costs
• Automate routine administration tasks (user provisioning, warehouse scheduling, access reviews) to reduce manual toil and enable self-service
• Manage schema migration and configuration change processes across dev, staging, and production environments with appropriate review and rollback procedures
• Develop optimization strategies and tools to reduce Snowflake infrastructure costs while maintaining or improving performance; lead continuous optimization initiatives
• Partner with data engineering and analytics teams to design optimal data warehouse schemas and integration patterns that support business requirements
• Establish and enforce data governance policies, data quality standards, and compliance controls; ensure regulatory requirements (CCPA) are met
• Mentor and guide team members on Snowflake DBA activities, best practices, and emerging technologies; serve as subject matter expert for data warehouse architecture
• Work collaboratively with cross-functional teams including Product Managers, Data Engineers, and Analytics teams to understand requirements and deliver solutions
• Actively evaluate new technologies and approaches; make recommendations to evolve and modernize our data platform capabilities
• Perform technical presentations and architecture reviews with internal stakeholders and leadership
• Work in a primarily Agile/Scrum product development process

What You'll Bring:

• 8+ years of experience in data platform engineering or database administration roles
• 4+ years of hands-on experience administering and optimizing Snowflake in production environments
• Deep technical knowledge of Snowflake architecture, including compute/storage separation, query optimization, clustering, materialized views, and time travel
• Strong proficiency in SQL; expertise in data structures, data integrity, schema design, and dimensional modeling best practices
• Proficiency in Python or other scripting languages for automation, tooling, and operational workflows
• Demonstrated ability to manage and prioritize competing requests across a large, diverse user base
• Demonstrated experience driving technical initiatives as a technical lead and subject matter expert in data warehouse administration
• Experience with cloud-based architectures (AWS, GCP, or Azure); familiarity with development, testing, and deployment automation practices
• Experience using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, such as Terraform, to provision, manage, and automate cloud infrastructure.
• Experience building or designing monitoring, alerting, and observability tools/platforms
• Strong understanding of data security, governance, and compliance frameworks (RBAC, data masking, encryption, audit logging)
• Ability to mentor and guide other engineers; strong communication and presentation skills
• A driven engineer motivated to build great solutions and codebases in a fast-paced environment
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Nice to Have Experience:

• Experience with SOX compliance implementation
• Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools (Airflow, Dataform, dbt)
• Experience building internal self-service portals or tooling for data platform consumers
• Familiarity with IT service management practices (change management, capacity planning)
• Experience managing or optimizing Snowflake commercial agreements and credit commitments
• Knowledge of FinOps or cloud cost optimization best practices
• Experience implementing data mesh or lakehouse architectures
• Certifications related to Snowflake or cloud platforms
• Open source contributions or published research in data engineering/analytics

How We Work

We balance creativity and innovation on a foundation of in-person collaboration. For most roles, our employees work four or more days in our offices, where they have the opportunity to collaborate in-person, adding richness to our culture and knitting us closer together.

How We Reward You

Realtor.com is committed to investing in the health and wellbeing of our employees and their families. Our benefits programs include, but are not limited to:

• Inclusive and Competitive medical, Rx, dental, and vision coverage
• Family forming benefits
• 13 Paid Holidays
• Flexible Time Off
• 8 hours of paid Volunteer Time off
• Immediate eligibility into Company 401(k) plan with 3.5% company match
• Tuition Reimbursement program for degreed and non-degreed programs
• 1:1 personalized Financial Planning Sessions
• Student Debt Retirement Savings Match program
• Free snacks and refreshments in each office location

Do the best work of your life at Realtor.com®

Here, you’ll partner with a diverse team of experts as you use leading-edge tech to empower everyone to meet a crucial goal: finding their way home. And you’ll find your way home too. At Realtor.com®, you’ll bring your full self to work as you innovate with speed, serve our consumers, and champion your teammates. In return, we’ll provide you with a warm, welcoming, and inclusive culture; intellectual challenges; and the development opportunities you need to grow.

Diversity is important to us, therefore, Realtor.com® is an Equal Opportunity Employer regardless of age, color, national origin, race, religion, creed, gender, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital status, status as a disabled veteran and/or veteran of the Vietnam Era or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local law. In addition, Realtor.com® will provide reasonable accommodations for otherwise qualified disabled individuals.