Senior Data Engineer

About the Role

1. Building Scalable Data Infrastructure

As our Senior Data Engineer, you will be the foundation of our data team, designing and implementing scalable, secure, and well-structured data infrastructure. You will lead the adoption of best practices in data engineering, ensuring our pipelines—both real-time and incremental streaming—are efficient, resilient, and aligned with the needs of analysts, data scientists, and external customers.

2. Leading Data Governance & Best Practices

You will establish and maintain our data catalogs, governance frameworks, and best practices for managing and transforming data. Your expertise in Databricks, Unity Catalog, Terraform (AWS + Databricks), Docker, Python, and DBT or flypipe will drive the team's success. Your role extends beyond just infrastructure-you will ensure that data accessibility, security, and documentation empower analysts and data scientists to extract maximum value.

3. Hands-On Technical Leadership

We are looking for a hands-on leader who thrives on challenges. As we build our data engineering team, you will mentor and guide engineers in creating high-performance streaming and batch pipelines, optimizing transformations. Your willingness to challenge the status quo, experiment with new technologies, and foster a culture of innovation will be key to our success.

About the Team

1. Small but High-Impact Team

We are a lean, highly technical data team with a strong foundation. As we build our data infrastructure from the ground up, we focus on practical, hands-on execution while ensuring our work aligns with both internal and customer needs. Every team member plays a crucial role in shaping the future of data at the company.

2. Collaborative & Cross-Functional

Our team operates at the intersection of technology, product, and business strategy. The Director of Data is hands-on, ensuring the team has the right toolset and direction. The Product Manager connects data initiatives with business goals, while our Data Scientist is focused on building ML models to enhance our product offerings. We work side by side to ensure data is actionable, scalable, and impactful.

3. Building from Scratch, Together

Right now, we’re in build mode—laying the foundation for a scalable, well-governed data ecosystem. This means a lot of coding, experimentation, and defining best practices. As we grow, we are looking for team players who are eager to shape this infrastructure, challenge assumptions, and help us build a best-in-class data environment.

What You’ll Do

Within 3 months, you will:

• Assess & Prioritize Data Needs – Identify key data sources for ingestion, evaluate infrastructure security, setup, and scalability, and define a roadmap for implementation.

• Improve Data Pipelines & Governance – Ensure pipelines, catalogs, and dictionaries are structured, well-documented, and support both internal and external dashboard accessibility.

• Identify & Solve Technical Challenges – Quickly raise concerns, propose and implement technical solutions to improve data reliability, performance, and security.

• Engage with Key Stakeholders – Build strong relationships with engineering and product teams to align data infrastructure with business needs and ensure smooth collaboration.

Within 6 months, you will:

• Own the Technical Strategy for Data Engineering – Take full ownership of data infrastructure, pipelines, and governance, ensuring they are secure, scalable, and aligned with best practices.

• Lead & Mentor the Data Engineering Team – Guide other data engineers, establish coding standards, and drive technical excellence in pipeline development, modeling, and transformation.

• Adapt Data Systems to Business & Product Needs – Stay informed about product and business changes, proactively adjusting data models and infrastructure to support evolving requirements.

• Optimize Performance & Cost Efficiency – Continuously refine data pipelines and modeling to balance cost, performance, and scalability, ensuring smooth workflows for data scientists and analysts.

Within 9 months, you will:

• Own & Drive Data Engineering Strategy – Oversee the technical direction of data engineering, ensuring infrastructure, pipelines, and models evolve based on how users interact with data.

• Optimize Costs & Performance Continuously – Implement cost-effective solutions while maintaining high-performance pipelines and scalable infrastructure for analytics and ML workloads.

• Ensure Reliable & Well-Structured Data Models – Maintain and refine data models and engineering toolsets to provide data scientists, analysts, and engineers with the right foundation for their work.

• Scale the Team & Maintain Data Operations – Lead onboarding and mentorship of new team members, ensuring smooth development and production operations while adapting to new data sources and evolving business needs.

What You’ll Bring

• 5+ years as data engineer, working in a fast-paced environment, preferably in Fintech

• Expertise in Data Infrastructure & Pipelines – Strong experience in building, optimizing, and maintaining data pipelines (incremental & real-time/streaming) with a focus on scalability, security, and performance.

• Deep Knowledge of Databricks & Unity Catalog – Hands-on experience with Databricks, Unity Catalog, and data governance best practices for secure and organized data access (Databricks Data engineer Professional certificate is a plus!)

• Proficiency in Terraform & Cloud Infrastructure (AWS) – Strong ability to manage Databricks + AWS setup using Terraform, ensuring a scalable and well-managed infrastructure.

• Strong Python & DBT Skills – Extensive experience in Python for data engineering tasks and DBT for transformation and data modeling.

• Data Modeling & Governance Expertise – Proven ability to design efficient data models, implement data dictionaries/catalogs, and ensure high-quality, accessible data for analysts and data scientists.

• Ability to Guide & Mentor Data Engineers – Leadership in setting best practices, reviewing code, and mentoring engineers, ensuring a high technical standard within the team.

• Familiarity with Docker & CI/CD Pipelines – Experience with containerization and CI/CD for managing data engineering workflows.

• Experience with External Data Sharing & Security – Understanding of data security and access management for both internal and external stakeholders.

• ML Pipeline Deployment Knowledge – Understanding of ML models in production and how to optimize pipelines for data scientists.

Please note that this role may evolve as our business needs change, so we appreciate your flexibility and adaptability.

What’s In It For You?

• Remote Flexibility: Enjoy the freedom of remote work from anywhere, balancing life and career seamlessly.

• Unforgettable Off-Sites: Twice a year, bond with colleagues in exciting destinations, fostering teamwork and fresh ideas.

• Paid Time Off and National Holidays: Enjoy 20 PTO days yearly and the National Holidays for relaxation and rejuvenation.

• Stock Options: Joining us means having a stake in our success, so you'll receive stock options as part of your compensation package.

• Home Office Setup: Create your ideal workspace with a dedicated budget for home office essentials.

• Work Trip Budget: Grow personally and professionally with a budget for work-related trips and co-working.

About Us

Clutch is a revolutionary vertical SaaS company, proudly backed by Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), aimed at revolutionizing the way Credit Unions engage and change the lives of their members. As a champion of financial well-being, we address the urgent need for affordable lending solutions in an era where the average American grapples with over $155,000 in household debt.  Unlike traditional financial institutions, Clutch develops software to turn Credit Unions into FinTech lenders and leverage their balance sheets to responsibly lend to over 130M Americans. Our mission extends beyond mere financial transactions; we strive to fundamentally enhance the way credit unions interact with their members. By integrating cutting-edge technologies and user-centric designs, we help credit unions provide seamless digital experiences that are on par with leading tech companies. This approach not only preserves but revitalizes the longstanding tradition of community and member-focused service inherent to credit unions.

Please note: This position is offered on a contractor basis. Applicants must have the necessary documentation and authorization to work in the country where the job is located. Clutch cannot provide sponsorship or assist with obtaining work permits for this role.