Software Engineer - Data Platform

Vercel is an agentic infrastructure company that helps people and agents ship and run software. The Staff-level Software Engineer will lead the design and development of a next-generation data platform, defining its technical vision and building scalable, reliable systems for analytics and AI/ML initiatives. The role also involves cross-functional architecture, data governance, mentorship, and strategic technology planning.

Responsibilities:

• Design and implement a next-generation data platform that supports diverse requirements, including batch and real-time integrations, advanced analytics, and multiple data types, leveraging Kafka, Kafka-based tooling, and additional streaming technologies to power real-time data movement and processing
• Work with engineering, product, and senior leadership teams across Vercel to architect solutions that address business needs, aligning technical strategies with product goals and ensuring seamless data availability and usability
• Define and maintain guidelines for data ingestion, creation, enrichment, and storage, while overseeing data modeling, ETL processes, and data warehousing (ClickHouse, Tinybird, Snowflake) to achieve low-latency analytics and scalable storage
• Develop end-to-end solutions across the tech stack, setting the example for engineering excellence, and provide mentorship and direction that fosters continuous improvement and innovation in the team
• Partner with Security, Compliance, and Legal teams to ensure adherence to data protection standards, and champion high availability and fault tolerance through comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and incident response practices
• Drive architectural decisions and roadmap planning that ensure efficiency, scalability, and high performance, and evaluate build-vs-buy trade-offs, integrating vendor solutions where appropriate
• Collaborate with data scientists and machine learning teams to evolve infrastructure that supports advanced analytics and AI initiatives, serving as a key contributor to strategy, tooling, and platform enhancements for ML-related workloads
• Act as a key decision-maker for discovering, vetting, and selecting data architectures and technologies critical to Vercel's success, and establish multi-phase strategic roadmaps that align with overall business objectives and drive data platform maturity

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience in data engineering, data architecture, or related roles, with at least 5 years at the Principal Engineer level
• Proven track record designing and operating large-scale data infrastructures at high scale in a complex, fast-paced environment, with experience across Kafka and its ecosystem (e.g., Kafka Streams, Confluent Platform), ClickHouse, Tinybird, Snowflake, and broader big data frameworks
• Proficiency in cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and associated big data services
• Strong background in data governance and security, and adept at ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and protecting sensitive information
• Outstanding communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical stakeholders across varying organizational levels
• A leadership mindset, with demonstrated ability to mentor teams, drive consensus, and advocate for best practices across the organization
• A Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is preferred
• Industry recognition or notable contributions in data engineering (e.g., published works, open-source contributions) is a plus