Senior Data Engineer

TLDR

Lead the transition of data platforms by eliminating latency bottlenecks while enabling real-time metrics and data solutions that drive critical business decisions.

About Kasada Join us in stopping bad bots, for good! Kasada protects millions of online users everyday. Founded to stop automated bot attacks, we believe the internet should be a safe place for everyone. Bad bots are highly destructive. They take over accounts, steal content, overload systems and infrastructure and cause billions of dollars in damages every year. Seeking to restore trust in the internet, Kasada stops bots at the very first request including those that have never been seen before. We’ve grown from a few friends working out of a shipping container under the Sydney Harbour Bridge to now operating globally, we’re spread across the world protecting some of the most well-known brands on the face of the earth. We’re an innately curious team that’s not afraid to bring bold ideas to create better ways of solving problems. We’re looking for people who are passionate about solving some of the most difficult and pressing cybersecurity issues, while having fun doing it! In this role, you will be the architect and engine behind the evolution of our data platform, transitioning it from a traditional ETL-based warehouse into a versatile, high-performance data platform. Your mission is to eliminate the latency bottlenecks of our current system, moving us toward a platform capable of fast query performance for real-time portal metrics, developing models for data science and internal troubleshooting. You will act as a key partner to our Data Analytics, Customer Facing Portal and Data Science teams, building the data solutions that empower them to extract deeper insights and drive critical business decisions. This is a highly collaborative role; you will work across the organization to understand diverse stakeholder needs and architect the infrastructure and technologies to be used, any ingestion processes, and data applications required to address them. Whether it’s powering a customer-facing dashboard or an internal diagnostic tool, you will ensure our data is accessible, fast, and reliable while championing engineering excellence and shaping our future technical roadmap. What you will be working with

  • You will operate in a cutting-edge, AWS-native ecosystem designed for performance and massive throughput. We are moving beyond legacy constraints by building a multi-modal platform that treats data as a high-speed product:
  • The Streaming Backbone: We use  Kafka and Kafka Connect as our central nervous system for seamless event streaming and integration across all business domains.
  • Real-Time Intelligence: For low-latency logic, we utilize Apache Flink to handle complex event processing and real-time stateful transformations.
  • High-Velocity Analytics: To achieve sub-second query performance for portal metrics and troubleshooting, we leverage ClickHouse and similar OLAP stores to move past the limitations of traditional warehousing.
  • On-Demand Exploration: We maintain a flexible Data Lake environment using Amazon Athena and serverless discovery tools for ad-hoc analysis and data science experimentation.
  • Resilient Orchestration: Our batch and streaming workflows are currently managed using lightweight, reliable scheduling mechanisms, with plans to adopt modern orchestrators (e.g., Airflow, Dagster) to enable more sophisticated, self-healing DAGs.
  • Engineering First Culture: Your work is backed by a mature "Engineering Excellence" framework - utilizing Docker, Kubernetes, and Pulumi (IAC) all unified by robust CI/CD pipelines and an observability-first mindset.
  • What you’ll bring;

  • You are a seasoned engineer with 5+ years  of professional experience as a Senior Data Engineer building production-grade data systems, with a proven track record of transforming legacy architectures into high-performance, multi-use platforms. You possess:
  • Architectural Evolution: Experience leading the shift from traditional batch-heavy environments to modern stacks that support streaming, real-time analytics, data science, and operational troubleshooting simultaneously.
  • Performance Optimization: A deep understanding of how to optimize data storage, partitioning, and retrieval patterns to transition from latent, slow-loading processes to near-instant query results.
  • Engineering Enablement & Standards: A strong understanding of data engineering tools, frameworks, and best practices used to improve the productivity and quality of output for the entire data engineering team.
  • ML & Data Science Enablement: Experience building the frameworks and tooling necessary to accelerate the Data Science lifecycle, specifically in streamlining feature engineering, model deployment and monitoring models in a production environment.
  • Streaming Mastery: Expertise in real-time processing (Flink/Kafka) and a strong grasp of the complexities involved in event-driven architectures and state management.
  • Cloud Proficiency: Strong experience within the AWS ecosystem, focusing on building systems that are both horizontally scalable and cost-efficient.
  • The "Full-Stack" Data Mindset: Proficiency in Python, Java or Scala, expert-level SQL, and a rigorous approach to data modelling and schema design that prioritizes both flexibility and speed.
  • Pragmatic Leadership: A proactive, "owner" mindset. You are comfortable navigating the trade-offs of a system in transition and have the clarity to make well-reasoned technical decisions in a dynamic environment.
  • We don’t expect you to meet every requirement, but we do look for candidates eager to develop in areas where they have less experience.
    The Benefits of Being a Kasadian
    We’re committed to making Kasada a place where you can do the best work of your career — and feel supported while doing it. We foster an inclusive, highly collaborative environment grounded in our core values, and we’ve built our benefits to help you thrive both inside and outside of work.

    • A stake in Kasada’s global success through equity/stock options
    • Support for growing families, including generous parental leave and resources before, during, and after leave
    • Wellbeing support to help you grow and recharge, including access to our EAP with confidential counselling for you and your loved ones
    • Birthday leave
    • Wellness leave
    • Annual company offsites to connect, collaborate, and celebrate together
    • A dog-friendly HQ in Sydney

    What’s Next?
    If this sounds interesting, hit the Apply button and one of our team will be in touch for an exploratory, confidential conversation. Our hiring process is designed to be thoughtful, efficient, and transparent — so everyone can make an informed decision about whether Kasada is the right next step.

    When applying, you’re welcome to share the pronouns you use and any adjustments you may need during the interview process — we want you to feel set up for success in every conversation.

    One Last Thing…
    Research shows that women and individuals from underrepresented backgrounds are less likely to apply unless they meet every requirement. If this role excites you and you think you could add value, we’d love to hear from you — even if you don’t tick every box. We value diverse perspectives and welcome different paths and experiences.

    Please note: Kasada is an E-Verify employer (US-based applicants only).

    Benefits

    Dog-friendly headquarters

    A dog-friendly HQ in Sydney

    Paid Parental Leave

    Support for growing families, including generous parental leave and resources before, during, and after leave

    Paid Time Off

    Birthday leave

    Wellness Stipend

    Wellness leave

    Kasada builds advanced cybersecurity solutions that protect millions of online users from automated bot attacks. Targeting businesses and brands that rely on their digital presence, Kasada ensures the integrity and security of internet interactions by stopping harmful bots at their first request. What sets us apart is our commitment to restoring trust in the online space, enabling a safer internet for everyone.

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