Principal Platform Data Engineer (US)

PRINCIPAL PLATFORM DATA ENGINEER (US REMOTE)

Who We Are

We are 8th Light, a remote-first software consultancy, we consider software design and development a craft. We’re driven by our deep commitment to excellence, and powered by our collective depth of knowledge and experience. Our team of expert developers and designers hold the title of "Crafter" to reflect our dedication to quality, our emphasis on continual learning, and our belief that software is truly a craft — something we take pride in, and value highly. We value colleagues who enjoy learning and teaching, which creates our collaborative organization.

We take a human-centered design (HCD) approach to crafting digital solutions, collaborating with the people writing code as well as those using it. We enjoy working with empathetic, passionate collaborators who value the work they do. As a team of polyglot generalists — thinkers and doers ready to take on most any challenge that we encounter, we remain positioned to help an ever growing portfolio of client partners. If this approach to product and software development resonates with you, we'd love to talk.

Who You Are

You are an experienced, curious, results-driven principal-level engineer with deep data infrastructure and experimentation experience. You are ready to jump into a consulting environment to lead engagements focused on experimentation, pipelines, and reproducibility.  In your experience, you have:

• Designed and maintained scalable systems with strong attention to performance, security, and reliability.
• Advanced Python skills for statistical computation and building reusable libraries.
• Proficiency in Java (Spring Boot) for backend service collaboration and API integration. 
• Experience building and monitoring Apache Airflow DAGs.
• Deep familiarity with AWS S3, especially using Parquet, partitioning, and cost-effective storage patterns. 
• Shaped data and analytics capabilities, including advanced SQL optimization and Snowflake modeling.
• Enabled insights through dashboards and Business Intelligence (BI) platforms like Tableau and Power BI. 
• Applied experimentation frameworks or data analysis to guide product decisions.
• Led teams or projects and helped resolve ambiguity through clear decision-making.
• Communicated effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A curiosity-driven approach to evaluating and refining experimentation logic.  

What You’ll Do

As a principal technologist you’ll take ownership of platform-level data systems that drive experimentation and trusted metrics.. You’ll work in a highly collaborative environment across engineering, data, and product teams to deliver end-to-end pipelines and statistical insights that enable smarter decision making.Your responsibilities will include:

• Design, implement, and maintain robust data pipelines using Apache Airflow, managing both scheduled and on-demand compute workflows.  
• Building BI dashboards and experimentation frameworks that generate insights and business value.
• Define and manage data contracts and schemas aligned with experimentation configurations and variant metadata. 
• Transform raw event data in AWS S3 into performant datasets in Snowflake and Athena, using efficient partitioning and modeling practices. 

Strongly Preferred: 

We strongly encourage candidates with the following experience to apply: 

• Support or lead efforts in advanced experimentation techniques such as Bayesian inference, regression modeling, or simulation frameworks. 
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Machine Learning (ML).

Compensation

At 8th Light,  we are committed to a compensation philosophy that is transparent, fair, and helps us attract and retain top talent in alignment with our company’s strategic growth goals and clients’ needs.

We benchmark our salaries using Geographic Structures to establish competitive pay ranges within the regions where 8th Lights live. Our pay ranges for our principal  position within our four US structures are as follows:

• Structure 1 (Tampa Metro, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin)
  • RANGE: $151,535-$189,418 USD
• Structure 2 (Chicago Metro, Miami Metro, Philadelphia Metro, Raleigh Metro ) 
  • RANGE: $159,240-$199,050 USD
• Structure 3 (Austin Metro, Boston Metro , DC Metro)
  • RANGE: $169,513-$211,892 USD
• Structure 4 (Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City)
  • RANGE: $176,705- $220,881 USD

How You’ll be Supported

We want our people to feel supported and encouraged to embrace their most authentic selves. Our wellness package at 8th Light is centered around the Whole YOU. Offerings that include:

• An L&D Program which includes: Learning budget, and in-person learning opportunities
• Coworking Access to support our remote-first team
• Wellness days
• 12 weeks of new parent leave available for eligible employees
• Semi-annual promotion panel

See our full list of Benefits. 

Join Us — 8th Light Is Fully Remote

We recognize that creating a truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization is an ongoing journey, and we’re excited to share our journey with you. We have a proud tradition of hiring talented colleagues with unusual career experiences. We're more interested in your experiences, results, and impact than brand names, degrees, or keywords that may appear on your resume.

8th Light currently recruits and supports a distributed team of employees in various states who work remotely.In this new workplace landscape, it is rare that our consulting engagements require travel for current roles. 

We are committed to supporting, onboarding, growth, and engagement of employees who choose to work remotely on a permanent basis. For team members who seek to work in-office, where local regulations allow, we can provide an experience that supports in-person social interaction and collaboration in our hub cities of Chicago, New York, London and Los Angeles.

View our Privacy Notice for California-Based Residents.

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