Senior AI-First Data Engineer

About the role

Smartcat is looking for a Senior AI‑First Data Engineer to help build the intelligence layer that powers decision‑making, AI agents, automation and business operations. You will work on a greenfield cloud data platform, transitioning legacy batch pipelines to cloud‑native, streaming‑first architecture.

Key responsibilities

• Evolve the data architecture into a scalable, AI‑first, cloud‑native platform.
• Lead the shift from batch‑oriented pipelines to near‑real‑time and streaming systems.
• Improve reliability, observability, governance and performance across the data stack.
• Create AI‑ready data products with semantic layers and metadata management.
• Leverage AI to accelerate development, testing, documentation and monitoring workflows.
• Enhance business intelligence and self‑service analytics for non‑technical stakeholders.
• Mentor junior engineers and raise engineering standards through code reviews.

Required profile

• Proven experience designing and operating large‑scale data platforms.
• Strong background in cloud‑native data engineering and streaming technologies.
• Ability to collaborate across Data, Product, Engineering, GTM and AI teams.
• Passion for building AI‑ready data assets and improving data accessibility.

Required skills

• Experience with cloud data platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Knowledge of streaming frameworks (e.g., Kafka, Flink, Spark Structured Streaming).
• Familiarity with data governance, observability and performance monitoring tools.
• Understanding of AI/ML data requirements and semantic modeling.

What we offer

• Opportunity to shape a fast‑growing AI‑native platform.
• Collaborative environment with cross‑functional teams.
• Competitive compensation and equity in a Series C company.