Staff / Principal

Fivetran and dbt Labs are building data pipelines to power the modern data stack. Fivetran is looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join the Platform Engineering Group, focused on building and evolving core systems that power the data movement platform. In this role, you will define and drive the long-term technical vision for critical platform components, operating at the intersection of architecture, execution, and organizational influence. You will solve deeply complex distributed systems challenges while shaping engineering direction across multiple teams.

• Define technical strategy: set the long-term architectural vision for core platform systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, and efficiency.
• Lead complex system design: drive the design and evolution of large-scale distributed systems.
• Drive cross-team initiatives: lead high-impact projects spanning multiple teams, align stakeholders, and ensure successful execution.
• Raise the engineering bar: establish best practices for system design, code quality, and operational excellence.
• Mentor and influence: guide and mentor senior and staff engineers.
• Improve platform performance: identify and lead efforts to optimize system performance, reliability, and cost at scale.
• Champion innovation: evaluate and introduce new technologies to improve developer experience and platform capabilities.

• 12+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in building and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• System design mastery: proven ability to design and evolve complex, scalable, and reliable platform architectures.
• Technical leadership: demonstrated experience leading cross-team technical initiatives and influencing engineering direction.
• Strong programming skills: expertise in backend development (Java preferred) with a solid foundation in data structures and system fundamentals.
• Performance & reliability: experience optimizing system performance, scalability, and cost in high-throughput systems.
• Communication & influence: strong ability to communicate complex technical ideas and influence senior stakeholders.
• Ownership & ambiguity: track record of driving ambiguous, high-impact problems from definition to execution.

• Experience in data processing (ETL, ELT) and/or cloud-based platforms.
• Experience working in startup environments.

Java (JVM, JIT, GC tuning, thread management), JUnit, Claude Code, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Bazel, BuildKite, Observability tools (Datadog, Grafana).

Oakland Pay Range: $225,813—$282,266 USD. Perks include 100% employer-paid medical insurance*, generous paid time away, RSU stock grants, professional development and training opportunities, company virtual happy hours, free food, team-building activities, monthly cell phone stipend, and access to a mental health support platform. *May vary by country and worker type.

Apply through the Fivetran careers page for this role.