Data Platform Engineer

Greystar•Columbia, SC

3d•$125,000 - $150,000•Remote

About The Position

Greystar is seeking a Platform Engineer to join the Data team. This is a senior, deeply technical platform operations role responsible for the reliability, governance, and cost efficiency of Greystar’s enterprise data infrastructure — a Databricks-native medallion architecture (Bronze → Silver → Gold) running entirely on Microsoft Azure. You will work within the DataOps pod under the Analytics Engineering umbrella, owning Databricks workspace administration, Unity Catalog governance, Azure infrastructure operations, and multi-system platform support. This role is platform-engineering-heavy. Most of your day lives inside Databricks workspace administration and the full Azure data services stack: ADLS Gen2, Azure Data Factory, Azure Monitor, Key Vault, Log Analytics, and beyond. You will enforce platform standards, govern identity and access, optimize compute and storage spend, and provide platform support for EDP, DALDW, ADF, Synapse, Cosmos DB, and SQL Server. Deep mastery of Databricks administration and the Azure platform is a baseline expectation.

Requirements

5+ years of platform engineering, infrastructure engineering, or data operations experience in a production environment
Expert-level Databricks administration: Unity Catalog, cluster policies, workspace management, compute configuration, and Delta Lake internals
Strong command of the Azure data services ecosystem: ADLS Gen2, ADF, Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Key Vault, Cost Management, and Event Hub
Identity and access management: Azure Active Directory, service principals, RBAC, and Unity Catalog governance policies
Hands-on experience with ADF pipeline design and orchestration at scale
Spark performance tuning: partitioning, Z-ordering, compute spend optimization, and bottleneck profiling
Proven CI/CD experience using GitHub Enterprise: environment promotion, rollback, and release management for data pipelines
Python and/or SQL for automation scripts, compliance validation, and platform tooling
Knowledge of medallion / lakehouse architecture patterns and multi-environment deployment discipline
Terraform / Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC): provisioning and managing Databricks workspaces, Azure resources, Unity Catalog configurations, and environment-specific infrastructure through version-controlled IaC
Azure DevOps Pipelines: build and release pipeline configuration, YAML pipeline authoring, and integration with GitHub Enterprise for end-to-end deployment automation
Azure networking: VNet configuration, private endpoints for Databricks and ADLS Gen2, NSG rules, firewall policies, and DNS resolution for secure data platform connectivity
Azure Monitor & Log Analytics: KQL query authoring, alert rule configuration, diagnostic settings, workbook creation, and cluster event monitoring for proactive platform health management
Delta Lake internals: VACUUM, OPTIMIZE, ZORDER, time travel, table statistics, and transaction log management for production-grade Delta table lifecycle governance

Nice To Haves

Experience with Synapse Analytics, Cosmos DB, or Azure SQL Server in production data environments
Familiarity with Databricks Mosaic AI, Genie, or AI-native platform observability capabilities
Background in data lineage tooling, metadata management, and Unity Catalog governance frameworks
Experience with ERP system integrations: Yardi, Entrata, or RealPage in multi-tenant environments
Background in legacy BI migration or platform modernization programs
Linear for engineering sprint and release management

Responsibilities

Own Databricks workspace administration: upgrades, cluster policies, compute configurations, and Delta table lifecycle management
Administer Unity Catalog: access controls, service principal (SP), group, and user provisioning, governance policies, and data lineage
Tune Spark jobs for performance, reliability, and cost — profiling bottlenecks, optimizing partitioning, managing Z-ordering, and controlling compute spend
Architect and enforce DMP platform standards: naming conventions, schema evolution policies, SLA tiers, and medallion layer contracts
Leverage Databricks Mosaic AI and Genie to build AI-native DataOps capabilities including intelligent pipeline monitoring and anomaly detection
Operate the full Azure data services stack: ADLS Gen2, Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure Monitor, Log Analytics, Key Vault, and Event Hub
Collaborate with Azure infrastructure and cloud engineering teams on networking, identity, security, and resource provisioning
Drive cost governance through Azure Cost Management, Databricks DBU optimization, and storage lifecycle policies
Provide platform support for various systems and platforms including access management, storage optimization, and compliance
Support additional platforms including ADF, Synapse Analytics, Cosmos DB, and Azure SQL Server
Manage storage allocation, cluster optimization, and resource provisioning across all supported platforms
Support compliance, audit readiness, and Key Vault secret rotation and management
Own the full deployment pipeline for DMP data workflows — promoting changes from development through staging to production
Build and maintain CI/CD workflows using GitHub Enterprise: branch strategies, PR automation, environment-specific configuration management, and release gating
Enforce deployment standards: automated testing gates, rollback procedures, change documentation, and environment parity controls
Use Linear for sprint planning, release tracking, and issue management across deployment cycles
Manage Azure Active Directory (AAD) service principals, RBAC assignments, and Unity Catalog permission policies
Partner with the Data Governance team to enforce data contracts, ownership standards, and quality SLAs within Unity Catalog
Maintain data lineage, metadata management, and governance framework documentation
Ensure platform configurations meet security, compliance, and audit requirements
Own workspace configuration parity across Dev, Staging, and Production Databricks environments — cluster policies, Unity Catalog hierarchy, access controls, and compute configurations
Define and enforce environment promotion hygiene: configuration drift detection, environment-specific secret management, and pre-production validation gates
Maintain infrastructure-as-code (IaC) scripts and configuration templates to ensure reproducible, auditable environment provisioning across all tiers
Produce thorough technical documentation: runbooks, deployment playbooks, incident post-mortems, ADRs, and platform specs
Partner with analytics engineers, data governance, and product stakeholders on platform design and capacity planning
Participate in on-call rotation and support SLA commitments for business-critical DMP data domains
Build and maintain AI-powered platform observability infrastructure — using LLMs and ML models to detect pipeline drift, classify anomalies, predict SLA risk, and generate automated incident summaries at the platform layer
Architect and deploy self-healing pipeline capabilities — automated retry logic, circuit breakers, and remediation triggers — as production-grade platform features, not experiments
Integrate Databricks Mosaic AI and Genie into operational platform workflows for intelligent cluster management, anomaly detection, and natural language platform diagnostics
Contribute to Greystar’s 18-month agentic AI roadmap, leading near-term delivery of platform-level self-healing and proactive alerting capabilities
Own DMP pipeline architecture patterns from an infrastructure standpoint — Delta Live Tables (DLT) design standards, schema evolution enforcement, and medallion layer contracts
Define and enforce platform-wide naming conventions, partitioning strategies, Z-ordering policies, and Delta table optimization schedules (VACUUM, OPTIMIZE)
Partner with analytics engineers to ensure pipeline designs conform to platform infrastructure standards, SLA tiers, and compute budget constraints
Design and maintain DR strategies for the DMP platform — including Delta table backup policies, ADLS Gen2 geo-redundancy configuration, and Databricks workspace recovery runbooks
Define RTO and RPO targets for business-critical DMP data domains; test and validate recovery procedures on a recurring basis
Maintain business continuity plans aligned with Azure region failover capabilities and Greystar’s enterprise SLA commitments
Participate in on-call rotation coverage across assigned shift window
Manage ServiceNow / Asana ticket queues per team SLA commitments
Track and close Linear / DevOps work items as part of sprint cycles
Contribute to team knowledge base, runbook library, and post-incident documentation

Benefits

Competitive Medical, Dental, Vision, and Disability & Life insurance benefits.
Low (free basic) employee Medical costs for employee-only coverage; costs discounted after 3 and 5 years of service.
Generous Paid Time off. All new hires start with 15 days of vacation, 4 personal days, 10 sick days, and 11 paid holidays. Plus your birthday off after 1 year of service! Additional vacation accrued with tenure.
For onsite team members, onsite housing discount at Greystar-managed communities are available subject to discount and unit availability.
6-Week Paid Sabbatical after 10 years of service (and every 5 years thereafter).
401(k) with Company Match up to 6% of pay after 6 months of service.
Paid Parental Leave and lifetime Fertility Benefit reimbursement up to $10,000 (includes adoption or surrogacy).
Employee Assistance Program.
Critical Illness, Accident, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance and Legal Plans.
Charitable giving program and benefits.