Staff Software Engineer, Data Governance & Privacy

Plaid Inc; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Plaid Inc. is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Data Governance in San Francisco. You will set technical direction, design distributed backend systems, and ensure auditable controls across dozens of services.

You’ll collaborate with Legal, Privacy, Security, and product teams while keeping hands-on involvement in high-risk code paths. You will influence multi-quarter efforts, decompose hard problems, and drive reliable, scalable governance capabilities that underpin Plaid's data platform and

Qualifications

• Extensive experience (8+ years) building and operating backend distributed systems at scale.
• Track record of leading design of complex systems and cross-team initiatives.
• Strong fundamentals in data stores, consistency, and reliability.
• Ability to turn ambiguous requirements into clear technical plans and align stakeholders.
• Excellent written and verbal communication with non-engineering partners (legal, privacy, compliance).

Responsibilities

• Own the technical architecture for Plaid's data-governance platform.
• Lead the design and delivery of multi-quarter, cross-team initiatives.
• Drive design reviews and set engineering standards for reliability, correctness, and auditability.
• Partner with Legal, Privacy, Security, and product-engineering teams to shape requirements and enable governance adoption company-wide.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar through reviews and guidance.

Skills

Distributed backend systems

Cross-functional leadership

Data stores & reliability

Ambiguity to clear plans

Technical mentorship

Tools

Go

Java

Job description

Plaid Inc. is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for Data Governance in San Francisco. You will set technical direction, design distributed backend systems, and ensure auditable controls across dozens of services.

You’ll collaborate with Legal, Privacy, Security, and product teams while keeping hands-on involvement in high-risk code paths. You will influence multi-quarter efforts, decompose hard problems, and drive reliable, scalable governance capabilities that underpin Plaid's data platform and