Starburst Engineer/SME

Citi; New York (NY); On-site; USD 114,000 - 171,000; Full time

Job summary

Citi is seeking a Starburst Engineer/SME to lead federation and data virtualization initiatives across our global data platforms. You will collaborate with upstream data stewards and analytics teams to ensure scalable, secure access, governance, and high-performance query federation using Starburst and Iceberg formats.

Responsibilities include onboarding data catalogs, implementing policy controls, and guiding data product design with cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a related field.
• Minimum 6+ years in application development or software engineering.
• Experience with Starburst Data Federation and data virtualization.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems and software architecture.
• Experience with SQL for both relational and NoSQL databases.
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD and cloud platforms.

Responsibilities

• Be the primary technical interface between analytical consumers and data owners.
• Lead end-to-end onboarding of new data catalogs in Starburst using connectors.
• Set operational guidelines to prevent performance degradation on transactional DBs.
• Collaborate with data stewards on glossaries, data dictionaries, and lineage.
• Implement RBAC and Row-Level Filters in Apache Ranger for security.
• Define onboarding standards for Hive/Iceberg formats and partitions.
• Tune pushdown capabilities for federation queries to improve performance.
• Forecast capacity, analyze costs, and optimize using materialization.
• Work with data architects to publish standardized Data Products with Starburst.
• Integrate data products with catalogs, governance marketplaces, and BI tools.

Skills

Starburst Data Federation

Trino architecture

Apache Ranger policies

Iceberg table format

Application Development

Distributed systems

Oracle/MongoDB

CI/CD

Unix/Linux

Cloud platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Docker

Kubernetes

RESTful APIs

Git

AI tools (Copilot etc.)

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree preferred

Tools

Jenkins

GitHub Actions

Bitbucket Pipelines

Starburst connectors (Hive/Iceberg/Oracle/S3)

Hive

Iceberg

S3

Job description

Starburst Engineer/SME

Location(s):

Tampa, Florida, United States, Irving, Texas, United States, Jacksonville, Florida, United States

Job Type:

On-Site/Resident

Discover your future at Citi

Working at Citi is far more than just a job. A career with us means joining a team of approximately 219,000 dedicated people from around the globe. At Citi, you’ll have the opportunity to grow your career, give back to your community and make a real impact.

Job Overview

Seeking an Application Development Lead with deep knowledge and hands‑on experience with the Starburst Data Federation and Virtualization platform for a key initiative in the organization’s Data Strategy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary technical interface between downstream analytical consumers and upstream data source owners.
• Lead the end-to-end technical onboarding of new data catalogs in Starburst using native Starburst connectors (Hive/Iceberg, Oracle, S3).
• Establish operational guidelines with resource and query limits to prevent federated queries from causing performance degradation on critical transactional databases.
• Partner with upstream data stewards to ensure accuracy of business glossaries, data dictionaries, lineage mappings, and data classification tags.
• Implement and govern centralized authorization policies using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) and Row-Level Filters in Apache Ranger.
• Define data onboarding standards for Hive/Iceberg table formats, including partitioning schemes, sorting keys, file formats (Parquet/ORC), and statistics collection strategies.
• Validate and tune pushdown capabilities (predicate pushdown, projection pushdown, join pushdown) for newly onboarded data sources to ensure query federation performance.
• Conduct capacity forecasting, analyze query cost efficiency, and implement optimization strategies such as materialization to maximize cluster throughput.
• Partner closely with enterprise technology enablement teams, data architects, and domain engineers to design, build, and publish standardized, reusable Data Products using Starburst and open data formats.
• Integrate data products with enterprise data catalogs, governance marketplaces, and BI consumption tools, ensuring end-to-end discoverability, automated lineage, and governed access.

Required Qualifications:

• 2+ years of hands‑on experience with the Starburst Data Federation and Virtualization platform.
• Deep understanding of Trino architecture, Apache Ranger policies, Starburst Data Products, and the Iceberg table format.
• 6+ years of hands‑on experience in Application Development.
• Strong understanding of software architecture principles and distributed system design (Microservices, Event‑Driven Architecture).
• Extensive experience with relational (Oracle) and NoSQL databases (MongoDB), including advanced SQL.
• Experience with Big Data technologies (Apache Spark, Hadoop, Kafka) and data warehousing.
• Proven expertise in designing, developing, and securing RESTful APIs and integration patterns.
• Hands‑on experience with CI/CD systems (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, Bitbucket Pipelines) for automated deployment.
• Highly experienced with Unix‑based operating systems and shell scripting.
• Strong background in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), including containerization (Docker) and contributing to Kubernetes orchestration.
• Advanced troubleshooting, debugging, and performance optimization for distributed systems.
• Proficiency in automated testing frameworks (Pytest, unittest) and TDD methodologies.
• Solid understanding of secure coding practices and application security principles (OWASP Top 10).
• Expertise in Git (Bitbucket, GitHub) for advanced branching and pull request workflows.
• Proven ability to lead and mentor a global data engineering and platform operations team across multiple time zones.
• Practical experience with AI tools (Copilot, Devin, Claude/Gemini/GPT) for development workflows.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Deep understanding and practical experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies.
• Exceptional ability to manage priorities and tasks effectively.
• Strong analytical, logical, systems thinking, and critical analysis skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication for diverse audiences.
• Ability to work independently, take ownership, and collaborate effectively in global teams.
• Polyglot programming exposure (e.g., Java).
• Relevant cloud or industry Certifications.
• Experience with banking domains (Finance, Forecasting, Treasury).

Education:

• Bachelor's degree/University degree or equivalent experience
• Master's degree preferred

This job description provides a high‑level review of the types of work performed. Other job‑related duties may be assigned as required.

Job Family Group:

Technology

Job Family:

Applications Development

Time Type:

Full time

Primary Location:

Tampa Florida United States

Primary Location Full Time Salary Range:

$113,840.00 - $170,760.00
In addition to salary, Citi’s offerings may also include, for eligible employees, discretionary and formulaic incentive and retention awards. Citi offers competitive employee benefits, including: medical, dental & vision coverage; 401(k); life, accident, and disability insurance; and wellness programs. Citi also offers paid time off packages, including planned time off (vacation), unplanned time off (sick leave), and paid holidays. For additional information regarding Citi employee benefits, please visit citibenefits.com. Available offerings may vary by jurisdiction, job level, and date of hire.

Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

Anticipated Posting Close Date:

Oct 13, 2026

Automated Processing and AI

We use automated processing, including artificial intelligence, for our legitimate business interests (or our reasonable and appropriate business purposes) to identify and align the candidate's skills and abilities with a specific job opening. Additionally, if you so choose, or consent, we can match your skills and abilities to other suitable roles at Citi.

Importantly, all our hiring processes and decisions, including determining your suitability for a role, are conducted, checked, and decided by individuals. Our automated processing and AI do not involve relying on automatic or autonomous decision-making. Please refer to any Jurisdictional Considerations, with specific provisions for your country (where relevant) for further details.

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