Senior Data Engineer - Data Lead

Contribute to backend services where data pipelines meet application logic (APIs, event-driven systems, database layers)

Partner with ML engineers to ensure training and inference pipelines have access to clean, well-prepared datasets

Collaborate with full-stack developers, robotics teams, and operations to translate data needs into reliable infrastructure

Implement observability: metrics, logging, and tracing across data systems

Between 5-7 years of experience in data engineering, with demonstrated work at terabyte-to-petabyte scale

Deep hands-on experience with data pipeline frameworks (Spark, Flink, Kafka, Airflow, dbt, or similar)

Strong proficiency in Python and SQL; backend experience in Go, Java, or TypeScript is a plus

Experience designing data architectures spanning streaming, batch, lakehouse, and warehouse patterns

Solid understanding of distributed systems, storage engines, and data modeling (relational and NoSQL)

Experience with cloud data services (AWS S3/Glue/Redshift, GCP BigQuery/Dataflow, or Azure equivalents)

Comfortable defining roadmaps, making architectural decisions, and driving alignment across teams

Comfortable operating independently and owning complex systems end-to-end

Experience with visual or image data pipelines at scale (video ingestion, frame extraction, annotation workflows)

Background in manufacturing, robotics, or industrial IoT data systems

Familiarity with ML data preparation workflows (feature stores, dataset versioning, labeling pipelines)

Experience with edge-to-cloud data architectures and intermittent connectivity patterns

Exposure to infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) and container orchestration (Kubernetes)

Define the entire data architecture and roadmap for an AI-native factory

Work with petabyte-scale visual, telemetry, and manufacturing data in a real production environment

Grow into a data leadership role as the team and platform scale

Direct influence on how data drives quality, throughput, and cost improvements in physical manufacturing

This is one of the only places where world-class manufacturing operators, mechanical engineers, robotics researchers, and software engineers sit in the same room — building production systems together.

We are committed to being deeply embedded in the U.S. industrial base. Our focus is simple: build adaptive robotic assembly systems that make American manufacturing scalable, resilient, and competitive again.

If you want to run a mature, well-defined commercial org, this may not be the role.

If you want to build the commercial engine that brings AI-driven manufacturing to every industrial and energy customer in America — this is it.

The base salary range for this full-time position in the location of San Francisco is:

Compensation packages at Foundry Robotics for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position, determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Foundry Robotics employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: Comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, and generous PTO.