Principal Software Engineer – Data Platform
Harnham
San Francisco, CA · Posted October 27, 2026
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About the job
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Principal Software Engineer – Data Platform
San Francisco, CA (Remote Eligible – US Only)
$230K-$280K base + equity
Are you ready to lead the design and build of a world-class data platform from the ground up?
A high-growth, product-led tech company is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to lead the build-out of a modern, scalable data platform from the ground up. If you’re excited about solving massive data challenges and shaping the infrastructure that supports real-time analytics and AI/ML at scale, this role is for you.
As the most senior technical IC on the Data Platform team, you’ll partner with leadership across Engineering, Product, Security, and Compliance to design a low-latency, cloud-native data architecture using best-in-class tools like Kafka, Iceberg, ClickHouse, Tinybird, and Snowflake.
Why this role?
Join a growing Data Platform team
Own the technical vision and architecture end-to-end
Tackle petabyte-scale data challenges and real-time streaming use cases
Work with a cutting-edge tech stack (Kafka, Iceberg, ClickHouse, Snowflake, etc.)
Drive platform evolution to support AI/ML and company-wide analytics
What You’ll Do
Design and build a next-gen data platform to power product and internal use cases
Architect for batch + streaming, scalability, fault tolerance, and low latency
Lead data modeling, warehousing, governance, and ingestion best practices
Champion engineering excellence and mentor senior engineers
Align technical decisions with long-term business strategy
Optimize for performance, cost, and resiliency in a modern cloud environment
What We’re Looking For
8+ years of experience in data engineering or platform architecture
5+ years at the Principal Engineer level or equivalent
Deep expertise with Kafka (and its ecosystem), streaming data systems
Strong experience with ClickHouse, Iceberg, Snowflake, or similar tools
Cloud-native architecture expertise (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
Track record of designing data systems for compliance and governance
Experience scaling systems to support petabyte-level workloads
Excellent communication, collaboration, and leadership skills
Bonus: Experience enabling AI/ML platforms or preparing for IPO-scale growth
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