Staff+ Engineer - Foundational Data Plane

Data is at the core of modern business, yet many teams struggle with its overwhelming volume and complexity. At Atlan, we’re changing that. As the world’s first active metadata platform, we help organisations transform data chaos into clarity and seamless collaboration.

From Fortune 500 leaders to hyper-growth startups, from automotive innovators redefining mobility to healthcare organisations saving lives, and from Wall Street powerhouses to Silicon Valley trailblazers — we empower ambitious teams across industries to unlock the full potential of their data.

Recognised as leaders by Gartner and Forrester and backed by Insight Partners, Atlan is at the forefront of reimagining how humans and data work together. Joining us means becoming part of a movement to shape a future where data drives extraordinary outcomes.

Atlan is building the context layer for AI agents and applications - transforming how data platforms power the next generation of AI.

Our team works on systems handling billions of assets, serving 100K+ users, with 99.99% availability targets.

We're looking for a Staff, Sr. Staff, or Principal Engineer to help architect and scale the foundational data plane that makes it easy to build apps, agents, and solutions for the AI era.

This is a high-agency role where you'll define technical direction, drive multi-quarter initiatives, and pioneer AI-native development practices.

• Design and build platform services—APIs, infrastructure components, runtime systems, and ingestion frameworks—at enterprise scale

• Architect the context store that transforms lakehouse infrastructure into AI-ready systems with multimodal capabilities (structured, unstructured, vector, graph)

• Solve complex multi-tenant isolation and scaling problems for enterprise SaaS

• Design data contracts governing ingestion, validation, processing, routing, storage, and serving across heterogeneous systems

• Own critical shared infrastructure including lakehouse (Iceberg/Polaris), vector stores, graph databases, and OLTP systems

• Drive technical standards through RFCs, architecture reviews, and documentation

• Mentor senior engineers and influence architecture decisions across teams

• Write production code using AI-assisted development tools (Claude Code, Cursor)

• Debug distributed systems issues across Kubernetes, workflow orchestration, and microservices

Who You Are

• You embrace AI-native development and want to pioneer new engineering workflows

• You have high agency and take ownership of ambiguous problems

• You're a strong async communicator who can influence without authority

• You're comfortable with fast-changing priorities in a scale-up environment

• You act as a force multiplier—elevating the technical bar for those around you

Must Haves

• 8+ years in platform engineering, infrastructure, or backend systems at a SaaS company

• Experience building enterprise-scale distributed systems at scale

• Deep expertise in multi-tenant architectures and tenant isolation strategies

• Strong Kubernetes, containerization, and cloud infrastructure skills (AWS/GCP/Azure)

• Hands-on experience with distributed systems patterns—service mesh, event-driven architecture, orchestration

• Track record of driving multi-quarter technical initiatives from concept through production at scale

Deep Expertise in One or More of the following

• Lakehouse architectures

• Vector stores

• Graph databases

• Streaming systems

Nice to Have

• Experience designing contract-driven or schema-first data platforms

• Familiarity with Temporal or similar workflow orchestration systems

• Data quality frameworks, observability systems, and cost attribution at scale

• Experience supporting enterprise workloads with strict compliance requirements

• CI/CD pipeline design and GitOps practices

Your Roadmap to Success

Your first 30-days

• Get very comfortable with all the modules they work in

• A small PR solution for a Source bug

• Get their permissions, familiarize with CI/CD process, quality analysis, testing process, and monitoring

Your first 90-days

• Gained ownership of a small module

• Contributed to at least 3-4 customer issues

• Workflow monitoring

• Participated in PRD reviews

• You’ve moved from just coding to interacting with Product, CSM, and TAMs

Your first 180-days

• You’ve become a SME at least one or two sources in-depth

• At this stage, their deliverables should be clean and have fewer code smells

• You’re technically influencing the more junior engineers in the following areas:

  • Technical depth, PR reviews, design discussions, ARB (architecture review board)

• You’ve completed interview shadowing and are committed to helping us grow the team

Why Is Atlan for You?

At Atlan, we believe the future belongs to the humans of data. From curing diseases to advancing space exploration, data teams are powering humanity's greatest achievements. Yet, working with data can be chaotic—our mission is to transform that experience. We're reimagining how data teams collaborate by building the home they deserve, enabling them to create winning data cultures and drive meaningful progress.

Joining Atlan means:

1. Ownership from Day One: Whether you're an intern or a full-time teammate, you’ll own impactful projects, chart your growth, and collaborate with some of the best minds in the industry.

2. Limitless Opportunities: At Atlan, your growth has no boundaries. If you’re ready to take initiative, the sky’s the limit.

3. A Global Data Community: We’re deeply embedded in the modern data stack, contributing to open-source projects, sponsoring meet-ups, and empowering team members to grow through conferences and learning opportunities.

As a fast-growing, fully remote company trusted by global leaders like Cisco, Nasdaq, and HubSpot, we’re creating a category-defining platform for data and AI governance. Backed by top investors, we’ve achieved 7X revenue growth in two years and are building a talented team spanning 15+ countries.

If you’re ready to do your life’s best work and help shape the future of data collaboration, join Atlan and become part of a mission to empower the humans of data to achieve more, together.

We are an equal opportunity employer
At Atlan, we’re committed to helping data teams do their lives’ best work. We believe that diversity and authenticity are the cornerstones of innovation, and by embracing varied perspectives and experiences, we can create a workplace where everyone thrives. Atlan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.