Staff Data Systems Engineer — Lead, Remote

Highlight (HearstLab)

United States

Remote

USD 170,000 - 210,000

Full time

2 days ago

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Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Unlimited PTO

Remote work

Maternity leave

401k plan

WFH stipend

Job summary

Highlight is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to own the architecture and execution of data-intensive systems powering customer insights. You will balance hands-on leadership with mentorship, set the technical bar for scalable development, and ship features shaping product strategy and value for customers.

The role involves translating ideas into data-centric web apps, leading architecture reviews, and driving distributed systems excellence.

Qualifications

5+ years of experience building data-intensive online applications
Familiar with ETL and/or RAG design and development
Proficient in multiple technologies across the software stack (React, TypeScript, Next.JS, ai-sdk, PostgreSQL, and C#/.NET)
Familiar with design and prototyping tools like Figma and v0
Bonus points for experience operating CI/CD pipelines (Github Actions, Terraform, helm), production systems (AWS, EKS), or observability platforms (Grafana/OTel)

Responsibilities

Translate ideas, wireframes, and detailed designs into data-intensive web applications that deliver value for customers
Use agentic loops throughout the development process to accelerate value delivery
Lead architecture and code reviews to coach, mentor, and raise the bar for both end-user products and software systems
Triage, investigate, and resolve complex issues involving distributed systems and third-party providers
Advance Highlight’s mission through technical expertise and good judgment