Senior / Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform

📋 Description

• • AirOps is at the forefront of the AI era, pioneering the first end-to-end content engineering platform designed to help brands thrive in a landscape increasingly dominated by AI-driven discovery. We are experiencing hyper-growth, having achieved a 5x revenue increase in the past year by empowering marketing teams at leading companies like Ramp, Chime, Carta, and Rippling to transform content quality into a sustainable competitive advantage. Our innovative platform enables marketers to navigate the evolving discovery ecosystem, identify high-impact opportunities, and produce accurate, on-brand content that garners citations from AI and builds trust with human audiences. With significant backing from prominent investors including Greylock, Unusual Ventures, Wing VC, and Founder Collective, we are building the intelligent systems that will define the future for the next generation of marketing leaders. AirOps is headquartered in San Francisco, New York, and Montevideo, fostering a global and dynamic work environment.
• • This pivotal role emerges from the critical need to scale our data infrastructure as our product becomes increasingly data-intensive. Customers such as Webflow, Ramp, and Carta depend on AirOps for precise insights into their AI search presence, demanding data that is not only fast and accurate but also highly trusted. Historically, data engineering functions have been integrated within the broader engineering team. However, our rapid expansion and the growing complexity of our data offerings necessitate a dedicated individual to own this crucial layer end-to-end. This is not merely a job description; it's an opportunity for a passionate individual to establish and lead the foundational data infrastructure at AirOps, making it one of the most significant hires for the company this year.
• • As the Senior / Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform, you will be instrumental in shaping the future of our data capabilities. Your primary responsibility will be to own and evolve the data pipelines that are the bedrock of our customer-facing analytics. This involves defining what 'done' truly means for data solutions, ensuring robust implementation, and maintaining unwavering accountability for their performance and reliability. You will architect, build, and maintain the serving layer responsible for delivering critical metrics such as citation rates, share of voice, and mention trends to our diverse customer base across platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini. A key focus will be on upholding stringent guarantees regarding data accuracy, freshness, and low latency, ensuring our customers receive timely and dependable insights.
• • Collaboration will be central to your success. You will work intimately with product and engineering teams to conceptualize and launch data-powered features, demonstrating a seamless transition from product specifications to optimized query plans. Your proactive approach will ensure continuous momentum, eliminating the need for constant direction. Furthermore, you will develop sophisticated enrichment pipelines designed to transform raw data into the derived entities that are essential for our product's functionality. This role encourages going beyond the immediate requirements, proactively identifying and implementing superior data processing paths.
• • As the inaugural dedicated data engineering hire, you will establish the foundational data engineering practices and architecture for AirOps. Working in close partnership with our VP of Engineering, you will be responsible for building a scalable and robust data infrastructure that anticipates the future needs of the team, rather than merely addressing current demands. This strategic foresight is crucial for sustaining our growth trajectory and maintaining our competitive edge in the AI content engineering space.
• • You possess a backend engineering mindset with a deep affinity for the data layer. Your understanding of users extends beyond internal analysts to encompass external customers, and you take immense pride in ensuring the data they interact with is both accurate and performant. You have a proven track record of shipping systems where the output directly impacts external user experiences, moving beyond internal dashboards or BI reports. Your technical proficiency includes strong command of Python and SQL, coupled with hands-on experience managing OLAP systems like ClickHouse or Redshift at product scale, understanding the nuances of query optimization under heavy customer load.
• • This role demands a high degree of ownership and initiative. You are driven to take on responsibilities without explicit instruction and see them through to successful completion. Your focus is on achieving outcomes, unconstrained by predefined scope. You possess the technical depth and breadth to engage in sophisticated architectural discussions and the practical ability to rapidly implement solutions. With over 5 years of hands-on engineering experience, you can clearly demonstrate a history of owning and delivering data-powered product surfaces that have a direct impact on users.
• • Experience in environments where data is the core product, such as Propel, Tinybird, Hex, Amplitude, or Mixpanel, is highly desirable. Familiarity with the AWS-native stack, including services like Glue, S3, and Redshift, will be advantageous. Additionally, experience integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into data pipelines for tasks such as enrichment, classification, or tagging would be a significant asset, aligning with our focus on AI-driven solutions.