Staff Data Engineer

Description

SPS Commerce is a leading provider of cloud-based supply chain management solutions, serving a global network of retail trading partners. We foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment where innovation and continuous improvement are highly valued. Join SPS Commerce and be part of a dynamic team that's transforming the global retail supply chain!

Position Summary

The Staff Data Engineer is a senior individual contributor who provides technical leadership across teams, drives complex data initiatives, and raises the engineering bar through architecture, influence, and mentorship. This role operates with high autonomy, focusing on systems thinking, cross-team alignment, and long-term data platform health — not day-to-day delivery alone.

Essential Responsibilities

• Lead the design and architecture of complex, business-critical data systems, pipelines, and platforms

• Drive cross-team data initiatives that span products, domains, and infrastructure layers

• Translate business strategy into scalable, reliable data solutions

• Identify and proactively address technical risk, pipeline debt, and data quality

• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers through design reviews, pairing, and guidance

• Influence data engineering standards, best practices, and patterns across the organization

• Partner closely with Data Science, Analytics, Product, Architect, and Engineering leadership to shape data platform roadmap decisions

• Operate as a trusted technical advisor in ambiguous or high-stakes data architecture decisions, in collaboration with the Solution Architect

What Success Looks Like

• Other engineers seek this person out for guidance on data modeling, pipeline design, and platform decisions

• Teams build faster and with more confidence because of clear direction against a north star architecture

• Fewer data incidents and surprises due to proactive technical thinking

• Data systems scale smoothly as business needs grow

• Leadership trusts this role's technical judgment on build vs. buy, tooling, and platform strategy

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, MIS, Mathematics, a related field, or equivalent experience

• 8+ years of data engineering experience, including complex pipeline development and data platform ownership

• Expert-level SQL; experience with structured and unstructured data across relational databases, data lakes, and/or data warehouses

• Proficiency in Python and/or Scala for data pipeline development

• Hands-on experience with Snowflake, including data modeling, performance optimization, and cost-aware design

• Hands-on experience with Databricks for large-scale data processing and pipeline orchestration using Apache Spark

• Experience architecting and maintaining a data lakehouse environment (Snowflake + Databricks or equivalent)

• Strong understanding of data governance, observability, and quality practices

Additional Desirable Qualifications

• dbt: experience with data transformation and modeling workflows

• Apache Airflow: familiarity with pipeline orchestration and DAG-based scheduling

• Context engineering for AI/ML use cases: experience designing and structuring data contexts, prompts, or retrieval pipelines to support LLM or ML model workflows

Location: 

This role follows a hybrid work model, with regular in-office presence required at our Minneapolis office.

What We Offer

At SPS Commerce, we are committed to ensuring that each employee's compensation reflects their unique experiences, performance, and skills in their role. The salary range for this role considers several factors, including education, relevant skills, work history, certifications, location, and more.

The annual salary range for this role is: $112,000 to $160,000. The actual salary offered will be determined based on the factors listed above and may fall anywhere within the range.

Additionally, you may also be eligible to participate in an annual incentive program. An incentive award, if granted, is based on individual and/or organizational performance.

SPS Commerce offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees’ health, well-being, and financial security. Benefits are country-specific and aligned with local laws and market practices.

Commitment To Our Employees

At SPS we power connections that drive the world of commerce forward, and our success depends on making strong decisions, fostering innovation, delivering unparalleled customer solutions, and driving outstanding business performance. We achieve this by creating an environment where every employee feels a true sense of belonging. We embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion, ensuring everyone feels accepted, valued, and empowered to make a meaningful impact.

We are committed to affirmative action and equal opportunity in all aspects of employment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.