Staff Data Engineer Remote - United States

Cribl; United States; Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, vision insurance

Short-term disability

Life insurance

Paid holidays and PTO

Fertility benefits

401(k)

Equity

Job summary

Cribl is seeking a Staff Data Engineer to lead the Data Engineering team and shape the platform that powers analytics, data science, and operational decisions. You will own critical data systems, drive architectural decisions, and mentor engineers across the org.

Responsibilities include owning the Snowflake environment, self-hosted orchestration (Prefect), and the data stack, while advancing dbt and IaC practices on AWS. This remote-first role offers a competitive base salary and equity.

Qualifications

• Deep expertise in Snowflake: data modeling, performance tuning, cost management, RBAC design.
• Demonstrated technical leadership as a tech lead or staff-level engineer.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration across data, engineering, and business teams.
• Track record of mentoring engineers through coaching, review, and pairing.
• Strong Python and SQL fundamentals with ELT patterns and data modeling experience.
• Hands-on experience operating self-hosted/orchestrated platforms (Prefect preferred; Airflow/Dagster acceptable).
• Hands-on AWS and infrastructure-as-code experience building cloud infrastructure with Terraform.
• Experience building cloud applications or backend services (APIs, ingestion, event-driven workflows).
• Fluency with AI-assisted development platforms like Claude Code.

Responsibilities

• Serve as a technical lead for the Data Engineering team and own architecture decisions.
• Partner with stakeholders across functions to clarify requirements and communicate risks.
• Own and operate the self-hosted orchestration platform (Prefect) and manage upgrades and footprint.
• Own Cribl's Snowflake environment including RBAC and governance.
• Build, operate, and monitor data pipelines, ingestion services, and the data warehouse with observability.
• Advance the modern data stack with dbt Fusion and cost/performance optimization.
• Develop cloud-native services on AWS and related APIs/backends.
• Advance IaC practices with Terraform and reusable deployment modules.
• Collaborate with the Data Engineering manager to set technical direction and roadmap.
• Mentor and grow data engineers through code review and coaching.
• Support data science and AI/agentic initiatives with model-ready data.

Skills

Snowflake

Data modeling

Query performance tuning

Cost management

RBAC design

Technical leadership

Python

SQL

ELT patterns

Airflow

Dagster

Prefect

AWS

Infrastructure as code

Terraform

APIs & backend services

AI-assisted development

Tools

Prefect

Airflow

Dagster

Terraform

Job description

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!

• 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.
• 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.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Cribl’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection. As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A \"disabled veteran\" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

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