Staff Data Engineer

Cribl; Springfield (IL); Remote; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

Disability and life insurance

Paid holidays and PTO

Fertility treatment benefit

401(k)

Equity

Job summary

Cribl, a remote‑first B2B SAAS data observability company, is seeking a Staff Data Engineer to lead Cribl’s data engineering effort. You will set direction for data systems powering analytics, data science, and operations, mentor engineers, and partner with stakeholders to shape technical strategy and architecture.

This role emphasizes Snowflake mastery, data modeling, performance tuning, and cost optimization, with responsibilities across dbt, Prefect/Airflow, and AWS infrastructure.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Snowflake: advanced data modeling, query and warehouse performance tuning, cost management, and security/RBAC design.
• Demonstrated technical leadership: experience as a tech lead or staff-level engineer setting direction, driving architecture, and delivering complex systems.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration: able to work across data, engineering, and business teams and lead through influence.
• A track record of mentoring engineers: growing junior and mid-level engineers through coaching, review, and pairing.
• Strong Python and SQL fundamentals, with solid ELT patterns and data modeling experience.
• Hands-on experience operating self-hosted / self-managed orchestration. Prefect strongly preferred; equivalent experience running Airflow/Dagster on your own infrastructure is acceptable.
• Hands-on AWS and infrastructure-as-code experience: building cloud infrastructure with Terraform.
• Experience building cloud applications or backend services: APIs, ingestion services, and event-driven workflows.
• Production-grade engineering practices: logging, alerting, versioning, CI/CD.
• Fluency building with AI-assisted development platforms such as Claude Code.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical lead for the Data Engineering team.
• Own architecture and design decisions for core data systems and drive reliable, production-grade outcomes.
• Partner with stakeholders across functions (Data Analysts, SREs, IT Engineers, and business teams).
• Clarify requirements, validate outputs, and communicate risks, tradeoffs, and timelines proactively.
• Own and operate our self-hosted orchestration platform.
• Run and evolve our self-managed Prefect deployment and its build/worker system.
• Own the operational hygiene, upgrade path, and cost/footprint tradeoffs of running orchestration on a hybrid, self-hosted model.
• Own Cribl’s Snowflake environment.
• Serve as the subject-matter expert on data modeling, performance, and cost optimization, and own RBAC/permissions design, permissions tooling, and governance.
• Build, operate, and monitor the core data tech stack. This covers data pipelines, ingestion services, integrations, and the warehouse, ensuring data is accurate, timely, and trusted, with logging, alerting, and observability as first-class concerns.
• Advance the modern data stack. Drive our dbt practice forward, including the in-flight dbt Fusion migration, and own warehouse cost/performance at scale.
• Develop cloud-native services and infrastructure on AWS.
• Advance our infrastructure-as-code practice (Terraform or similar).
• Build reusable modules, clean deployment patterns, CI integration, and strong operational hygiene.
• Partner with the Data Engineering manager to set technical direction.
• Mentor and grow data engineers through code review, pairing, design feedback, and coaching.
• Support Cribl’s growing data science and agentic initiatives.
• Contribute to secure, compliance-minded engineering practices in collaboration with IT/Security.

Skills

Snowflake

Python

SQL

Data modeling

AWS

Terraform

dbt

Prefect/Airflow

Leadership

Cost optimization

Tools

Prefect

Airflow

Terraform

Job description

B2B SAAS data observability software.Join the company that's building the telemetry infrastructure for the AI era. At Cribl, we partner with IT and Security teams at many of the world's biggest enterprises, including half of the Fortune 100, to bridge the gap between AI ambition and infrastructure reality. As the AI Platform for Telemetry, we give customers the choice, control, and flexibility to manage and analyze telemetry for both humans and agents, so they can build what's next. We're one of the fastest‑growing private companies and a leading player in a massive, fast‑moving market. With a global workforce, we're remote‑first and grounded in a simple idea: software is a people business. Cribl is the place where curious, collaborative people can do their best work, grow fast, and bring their full selves to the herd.

Why You'll Love This Role

We’re looking for a Staff Data Engineer to serve as a technical leader on Cribl’s Data Engineering team. You will be someone who can set direction for the systems that power analytics, data science, and operational decision‑making across the company. You’ll operate at the intersection of the modern data stack (Snowflake, SQL, dbt), software and platform engineering (AWS, infrastructure‑as‑code, orchestration, observability), and our fast‑emerging AI/agentic workflows. This is a high‑leverage, hands‑on leadership role. As a Staff engineer you’ll act as a technical lead: partnering with the Data Engineering manager to shape technical strategy and architecture, mentoring and growing junior and mid‑level data engineers, and raising the bar on how the team designs, builds, and operates its platform. The pipelines, services, and standards you establish will directly influence how teams across Cribl understand the business, make better decisions, and experiment with new AI‑driven experiences. We pride ourselves on fostering a collaborative and innovative culture where team members enjoy working together – whether remotely or over a meal at a foodie hot spot. If you’re a seasoned engineer who thrives in an entrepreneurial environment, leads through influence and example, and is eager to help build a company poised for legendary success in the tech industry, we want to hear from you!

As an Active Member Of Our Team, You Will…

• Serve as a technical lead for the Data Engineering team.
• Own architecture and design decisions for core data systems and drive reliable, production‑grade outcomes.
• Partner with stakeholders across functions (Data Analysts, SREs, IT Engineers, and business teams).
• Clarify requirements, validate outputs, and communicate risks, tradeoffs, and timelines proactively.
• Own and operate our self‑hosted orchestration platform.
• Run and evolve our self‑managed Prefect deployment and its build/worker system.
• Own the operational hygiene, upgrade path, and cost/footprint tradeoffs of running orchestration on a hybrid, self‑hosted model.
• Own Cribl’s Snowflake environment.
• Serve as the subject‑matter expert on data modeling, performance, and cost optimization, and own RBAC/permissions design, permissions tooling, and governance.
• Build, operate, and monitor the core data tech stack. This covers data pipelines, ingestion services, integrations, and the warehouse, ensuring data is accurate, timely, and trusted, with logging, alerting, and observability as first‑class concerns.
• Advance the modern data stack. Drive our dbt practice forward, including the in‑flight dbt Fusion migration, and own warehouse cost/performance at scale.
• Develop cloud‑native services and infrastructure on AWS. This includes our ingest/API services (event‑driven ingestion, upsert patterns, package reuse) and the IaC that supports them.
• Advance our infrastructure‑as‑code practice (Terraform or similar). Build reusable modules, clean deployment patterns, CI integration, and strong operational hygiene, including self‑hosted/hybrid deployment patterns.
• Partner with the Data Engineering manager to set technical direction. Shape the platform roadmap, engineering standards, and build‑vs‑buy/architectural tradeoffs.
• Mentor and grow data engineers through code review, pairing, design feedback, and coaching that levels up junior and mid‑level engineers.
• Support Cribl’s growing data science and agentic initiatives. Prepare model‑ready datasets, expose features, and integrate AI/LLM workflows into production.
• Contribute to secure, compliance‑minded engineering practices in collaboration with IT/Security.

We are a remote‑first company and work happens across many time‑zones – you may be required to occasionally perform duties outside your standard working hours.

If You’ve Got It – We Want It

• Deep expertise in Snowflake: advanced data modeling, query and warehouse performance tuning, cost management, and security/RBAC design. This is the most important qualification for the role.
• Demonstrated technical leadership: experience as a tech lead or staff‑level engineer setting direction, driving architecture, and delivering complex systems across a team.
• Excellent communication and cross‑functional collaboration: able to work across data, engineering, and business teams and lead through influence.
• A track record of mentoring engineers: growing junior and mid‑level engineers through coaching, review, and pairing.
• Strong Python and SQL fundamentals, with solid ELT patterns and data modeling experience.
• Hands‑on experience operating self‑hosted / self‑managed orchestration. Prefect strongly preferred; equivalent experience running (not just authoring on) Airflow/Dagster on your own infrastructure is acceptable. Must be comfortable owning upgrades, workers, and the operational footprint, not only writing DAGs/flows.
• Hands‑on AWS and infrastructure‑as‑code experience: building cloud infrastructure with Terraform (or equivalent) using predictable, maintainable patterns.
• Experience building cloud applications or backend services: APIs, ingestion services, and event‑driven workflows.
• Production‑grade engineering practices: logging, alerting, versioning, CI/CD.
• Fluency building with AI‑assisted development platforms such as Claude Code, with a demonstrated ability to use them to accelerate delivery.

The salary for this role is dependent on geographic location and will be based on the individual candidate’s job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition to base salary, for sales and some sales‑adjacent roles, employees are eligible to earn incentive compensation (commission). For all other roles, employees are eligible to participate in the Cribl Corporate Bonus Program. In addition to a competitive salary, Cribl also offers a generous benefits package which includes health, dental, vision, short‑term disability, and life insurance, paid holidays and paid time off, a fertility treatment benefit, 401(k), and equity.

Base Salary Range $170,000 - $220,000 USD

Bring Your Whole Self

Diversity drives innovation, enables better decisions to support our customers, and inspires change for the better. We’re building a culture where differences are valued and welcomed, and we work together to bring out the best in each other.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or any other applicable legally protected characteristics in the location in which the candidate is applying.