Staff Software Engineer, Data Systems (Python)

Northbeam; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity package

Healthcare (medical, dental, vision)

401(k) plan

PTO: paid time off

Holidays

Parental leave

Work-from-home stipend

Job summary

Northbeam is seeking a Staff Software Engineer, Data Systems to own the architecture of the ingestion and integration platform that powers our data-driven product. You will shape how we onboard data sources, define abstractions, and ensure reliability across complex pipelines, spanning multiple ad platforms and enterprise tools.

As a senior data systems engineer, you will set direction for event-driven and batch processing, enforce observability and data freshness standards, and mentor engineers

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software or data engineering experience with architecture ownership of large-scale ingestion, ETL, or integration platforms.
• Deep proficiency in Python and strong SQL plus cloud data warehouse experience.
• Track record designing API-based ETL systems at scale (REST, GraphQL, webhooks) and multi-tenancy concerns.
• Production depth with orchestration and containerized infrastructure (Airflow, Docker, Kubernetes).

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of the ingestion and integration platform and decide onboarding patterns for new data sources.
• Define technical direction for event-driven and batch processing and guide build/buy decisions.
• Establish standards for observability, data freshness, and failure handling.
• Lead cross-team design with data engineering, infrastructure, and product to keep platform decisions coherent.
• Mentor engineers and elevate engineering practice across the team.
• Identify unscoped platform problems and drive them to completion.

Skills

Python

SQL

BigQuery

ETL

APIs

Event-driven

Leadership

Mentoring

Tools

Airflow

Docker

Kubernetes

BigQuery

REST APIs

GraphQL

Job description

Staff Software Engineer, Data Systems (Python)

Remote - USA

About Northbeam

Northbeam is building the world's most advanced marketing intelligence platform, providing top eCommerce brands a unified view of their business data through powerful attribution modeling and customizable dashboards. Our technology helps customers accurately track ad spend, understand the full customer journey, and drive profitable growth. Machine learning has been at the heart of Northbeam since day one: our full suite of measurement, spanning multi-touch attribution, MMM+, and incrementality, is built on it, along with laser-accurate first-party data. Now we're taking that foundation further, using AI to help brands operationalize their data and turn Northbeam insights into automated decisions.

We're experiencing rapid growth, have strong product-market fit, and are looking for the right people to help us scale. This is a rare chance to make a meaningful impact at a fast-moving, high-growth company. At Northbeam, you'll join a team of driven, collaborative, and talented individuals who value personal growth and excellence. We'd love for you to be part of our journey.

We're a remote-friendly company with physical offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

About the Role

Northbeam is fundamentally a data product - the whole company. We don’t sell shoes, ads, or games. We sell data: quality integrations with a variety of platforms, fresh and reliable data pulls, robust data ingest APIs, correct aggregations, and algorithmic insights on top of that data, all packaged up in a user-facing application.

What this means for you is that high-quality, robust data integration is at the core of what we do, and your work will have a direct connection to the company’s success.

Our data systems team is foundational and load-bearing, and this role sets its technical direction. As a Staff engineer, you'll own the architecture of the integration and ingestion platform that the rest of the company builds on — deciding how we onboard new sources, where the abstractions live, and what "reliable" means in practice. You'll work across product, engineering, and with business leaders, and your judgment will shape what the team builds long after any individual project ships.

The work involves a labyrinth of integrations and transformations across a complex network of touchpoints, powered by data spanning numerous ad platforms, order management systems (Shopify, Amazon, and others), and our own real-time event collection.

Your Impact

• Own the architecture of our ingestion and integration platform, setting the patterns that determine how quickly and safely we onboard new data sources.
• Define technical direction for event-driven and batch processing across the company, and make the build/buy and migration calls that go with it.
• Establish the standards for observability, data freshness, and failure handling that the data systems team works to — and hold the bar on them.
• Lead design across team boundaries, working with data engineering, infrastructure, and product to keep platform decisions coherent.
• Raise the ceiling of the engineers around you through design review, mentorship, and the code you write.
• Identify the platform problems nobody has scoped yet, make the case for solving them, and drive them to completion.

What You Bring

• 8+ years of software or data engineering experience, including significant time owning the architecture of large-scale ingestion, ETL, or integration platforms.
• Deep proficiency in Python, and strong SQL and cloud data warehouse experience (BigQuery or equivalent).
• A track record of designing API-based ETL systems at scale — REST, GraphQL, webhooks, and the authentication and multi-tenancy concerns that come with them.
• Production depth with orchestration (Airflow or similar) and containerized infrastructure (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Demonstrated technical leadership: setting direction, aligning engineers who don't report to you, and improving how a team builds, not just what it ships.
• Experience mentoring engineers and elevating engineering practice across a team or org.
• Sound judgment about when to invest in platform durability and when to ship and move on.

Bonus Skills & Experience

• Detailed understanding of authentication mechanisms (OAuth 2.0, API keys, secrets management) and secure multi-tenant architectures.
• Experience working with ERP systems, CRMs, CDPs, or complex other enterprise data tools and their APIs.
• Exposure to event-driven architectures and real-time data processing tools
• Knowledge of data governance, compliance (GDPR, SOC2), and security best practices for handling sensitive data.
• Experience working in a multi-tenant SaaS or large-scale data-intensive environment.

Base Salary Range

$190,000 - $220,000 USD

Actual compensation may vary based on experience, skills, and location.

In addition to your base salary, we offer an equity package, comprehensive healthcare benefits (medical, dental, and vision), and a 401(k) plan. Our team enjoys a flexible PTO policy, 12 company-paid holidays, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. We also provide a $500 work-from-home stipend to support your remote setup.

Interview Process
The interview process varies by role but typically begins with a 30-minute interview with a Northbeam recruiter, followed by a video interview with the hiring manager. Next, candidates complete a role-specific video interview followed by video or onsite interviews with several team members. The final step is a video interview with our CEO/Co-founder. The entire interview process is usually 5-7 interviews total and requires around 5-8 hours of your time.

We accept applications on an ongoing basis.

This is a role that must be performed in the US or Canada.

We are an equal opportunity employer and consider all work-authorized candidates. This question is asked solely to assess operational planning needs.

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 Northbeam’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.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.