Staff Data Platform Engineer - Payroll Data

Rippling; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 315,000; Full time

Job summary

Rippling, Seattle, WA, seeks a Staff Software Engineer for Payroll Data to design and build scalable data infrastructure powering global payroll and related workflows. You will own end-to-end data pipelines, define a unified query layer, and mentor engineers while collaborating with product, platform, AI, and payroll teams to deliver reliable, observable systems at scale.

Requirements include 8+ years in software engineering, strong data systems background, experience with Go/Java/Python, and a

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong data infrastructure background with pipelines and ETL/ELT.
• Expertise in distributed systems and real-time vs batch tradeoffs.
• Proficiency in Go, Java, or Python and backend systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build core data systems powering payroll reports and tax integrations.
• Define and evolve a unified data query layer across batch and real-time processing.
• Own end-to-end data pipelines, including ETL/streaming and schema evolution.
• Drive observability, reliability, and data quality through monitoring and logging.
• Tackle interoperability between Payroll Data and other core systems.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship across the team.
• Collaborate with Product, Platform, AI, and Payroll teams to translate needs into platform capabilities.

Skills

Data infrastructure

Distributed systems

Backend development

Communication skills

Ownership and autonomy

Tools

Go

Java

Python

Job description

Rippling, Seattle, WA, seeks a Staff Software Engineer for Payroll Data to design and build scalable data infrastructure powering global payroll and related workflows. You will own end-to-end data pipelines, define a unified query layer, and mentor engineers while collaborating with product, platform, AI, and payroll teams to deliver reliable, observable systems at scale.

Requirements include 8+ years in software engineering, strong data systems background, experience with Go/Java/Python, and a