Data Platform Tech Lead (Architect)

Instrumental, Inc.•Palo Alto, CA

About The Position

Instrumental technology is used by the world’s most admired AI and electronics brands like Nvidia, Cisco, and Meta to significantly reduce the 20 cents of waste in every dollar spent in manufacturing. We aim to cut that waste in half, and we’re building a fundamentally new product and technology to do so. Our solution consists of the SaaS cloud platform where data, processing and analytics, ML training reside; and the edge that are stations installed on the factory floor. The stations capture images as the units move along the assembly line, apply computer vision algorithms and AI models (trained on the cloud) inference to inspect the units automatically and identify problems in real time. The data platform tech lead / architect is responsible for building a cloud native, highly performing, scalable and reliable data platform to ingest manufacturing data, support AL/ML and analytics.

Requirements

Has played a lead role building a modern data platform on a public cloud infrastructure and have it deployed commercially at scale.
Is technically strong. Well versed in distributed systems, queuing, data pipelines, modern big-data technologies, and hands on with languages like Go, Java, or Scala.
Can drive platform evolution to support AI/ML and company-wide analytics.
Is intelligent and knowledgeable, collaborates well, understands the business side of requirements. Able to articulate engineering decisions and trade offs to both technical and non-technical audiences.
5+ years of experience in building large scale distributed cloud data platforms.
BS/MS/PhD degree in Computer Science or related majors.
Strong proficiency in at least one of the following programming languages: Go (preferred), Java, Rust, or Scala.
Deep understanding of message queuing, batch and stream processing.
Extensive experience in data modeling, data lake, and various database technologies (Postgres, MongoDB, Iceberg, ClickHouse) + indexing/caching (ElasticSearch, Redis).
Cloud-native architecture expertise (AWS preferred).
Experience leading architectural efforts for performance-sensitive systems (latency-critical services, multi-tenancy, large-scale indexing pipelines).
Track record of driving projects from conception to completion by collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders, mentoring and leading engineering teams.
Fast learner. Eager to absorb new emerging technologies.
High energy. Can thrive in a fast-paced environment with a can-do attitude.

Nice To Haves

AI first mindset - Augment your productivity with AI whenever you see fit.
Startup experience building, scaling and evolving data platforms for IPO-scale growth.

Responsibilities

building a cloud native, highly performing, scalable and reliable data platform to ingest manufacturing data
support AL/ML and analytics
drive platform evolution to support AI/ML and company-wide analytics