Principal Data Engineer

SERHANT. is hiring a Principal Data Engineer to build data infrastructure that supports its products. The role designs lakehouse architecture and data pipelines, optimizes ClickHouse analytics, and establishes data models, quality, and observability.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement lakehouse architecture using open-source technologies
• Build and optimize ClickHouse deployments for high-performance analytical workloads
• Develop custom data transforms and ETL/ELT pipelines using well-supported open-source tools
• Create data models that bridge our Postgres application databases with ClickHouse analytics layer
• Partner with product and engineering to define data models that serve both analytical and operational needs
• Write specifications before writing code—defining contracts, schemas, and expected behaviors upfront
• Use AI-assisted coding tools daily to accelerate development and reduce toil
• Establish data quality frameworks and observability across the pipeline
• Optimize for performance, cost, and reliability at scale

Requirements:

• 5+ years of experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or related roles
• Deep expertise with ClickHouse - deployment, optimization, schema design, and materialized views
• Strong experience with Postgres and understanding of when to leverage transactional vs. analytical databases
• Strong experience with lakehouse architecture patterns (Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg, Apache Hudi)
• Proficiency building ETL/ELT pipelines with open-source tools (Airflow, Dagster, dbt, Prefect, or similar)
• Hands-on experience with streaming and batch processing frameworks (Kafka, Flink, Spark)
• Strong SQL and deep proficiency in Python
• TypeScript proficiency for integration with application services
• Demonstrated fluency with AI coding assistants (Cursor, Copilot, Claude, etc.) as part of your daily workflow
• Experience using LLMs for data transformation, validation, or pipeline generation
• A spec-first mindset - you document what you're building before you build it
• Experience with real-time analytics and sub-second query requirements
• Familiarity with data contracts, schema registries, and data mesh principles
• Contributions to open-source data projects
• Background working in cross-functional product teams
• Relentlessly curious - you dig into new tools and technologies before they have comprehensive documentation
• High agency - you don't wait for permission or detailed instructions; you figure things out and drive forward
• Comfortable with ambiguity - you can pick up bleeding-edge LLM tools and make them productive without hand-holding
• Self-directed - you identify what needs to be done and do it
• candidates must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for sponsorship now or in the future