Staff Software Engineer - Data Infrastructure

Plaid Inc; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 205,000; Full time

Job summary

Plaid Inc in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Data Platform Engineer to help scale data infrastructure that powers ML, analytics, and product insights.

You will design and implement robust data pipelines using Spark, data warehousing, and orchestration tools, mentor engineers, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams to define technical roadmaps.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience in data infrastructure or platform domains.
• Proven ability to deliver complex data projects and lead engineers.
• Experience with data warehouses, data lakehouses, Spark, streaming infra, and orchestration.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the long‑term technical roadmap for data-driven and ML iteration at Plaid.
• Lead data infrastructure projects such as offline streaming and ETL pipeline infra.
• Collaborate with other teams to define roadmaps for backend systems and abstractions.
• Debug, troubleshoot, and reduce operational burden for the Data Platform.
• Mentor junior engineers and review technical documents.

Skills

Data infrastructure

Leadership

Python

Spark

Cloud AWS

Tools

Databricks

Airflow

AWS EMR

Job description

We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam.

Making data driven decisions is key to Plaid's culture. To support that, we need to scale our data systems while maintaining correct and complete data. We provide tooling and guidance to teams across engineering, product, and business and help them explore our data quickly and safely to get the data insights they need, which ultimately helps Plaid serve our customers more effectively.

Engineers on Data Infrastructure are domain experts in Data Warehouse, Data Lakehouse, Spark, Workflow Orchestration, and Streaming technologies. We scale our existing data pipelines in a performant and cost efficient way while creating the necessary abstractions to make developing on top of this platform extremely simple for other engineers at Plaid.

Responsibilities

• Contribute towards the long‑term technical roadmap for data-driven and machine learning iteration at Plaid
• Leading key data infrastructure projects such as improving ML development golden paths, implementing offline streaming solutions for data freshness, building net new ETL pipeline infrastructure, and evolving data warehouse or data lakehouse capabilities.
• Working with stakeholders in other teams and functions to define technical roadmaps for key backend systems and abstractions across Plaid.
• Debugging, troubleshooting, and reducing operational burden for our Data Platform.
• Growing the team via mentorship and leadership, reviewing technical documents and code changes.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience
• Extensive hands‑on software engineering experience, with a strong track record of delivering successful projects within the Data Infrastructure or Platform domain at similar or larger companies.
• Deep understanding of one of the below:
  • Data Infrastructure systems, including Data Warehouses, Data Lakehouses, Apache Spark, Streaming Infrastructure, Workflow Orchestration.
• Strong cross‑functional collaboration, communication, and project management skills, with proven ability to coordinate effectively.
• Proficiency in coding, testing, and system design, ensuring reliable and scalable solutions.
• Demonstrated leadership abilities, including experience mentoring and guiding junior engineers.
• Nice-to-Have:
  • Experience with Databricks
  • Experience with Airflow
  • Experience with AWS EMR
  • Experience with Python

Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid!

Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at [e-mail].

Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here.

Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.