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Founding Data Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

As a Founding Engineer , you'll own problems end-to-end, work directly with founders, and make ... Data pipelines that structure large volumes of unstructured web data for novel product experiences

Clera

Founding Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

As a Founding Engineer , you'll own problems end-to-end, work directly with founders, and make ... Data pipelines that structure large volumes of unstructured web data for novel product experiences

Zip

Senior/Staff Data Scientist, EPD

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$180K - $220K/yr

Your Role As a founding Data Scientist for Procure-to-Pay (P2P) at Zip, you'll collaborate ... Strong command of SQL and Python programming languages * Solid foundation in statistical methods ...

C2FO

Senior Data Engineer II

Kansas City, MO · On-site

$155K - $164K/yr

Senior Data Engineer II Pollen, Inc., D/B/A C2FO seeks a Senior Data Engineer II for Kansas City ... our founding. How do we do this? By providing fast, flexible, and equitable access to low-cost ...

C2FO

Senior Data Engineer II

Kansas City, MO · On-site +1

$103K - $140K/yr

Senior Data Engineer II Pollen, Inc., D/B/A C2FO seeks a Senior Data Engineer II for Kansas City ... our founding. How do we do this? By providing fast, flexible, and equitable access to low-cost ...

C2FO

Senior Data Engineer II

Kansas City, MO · On-site +1

$103K - $140K/yr

Senior Data Engineer II Pollen, Inc., D/B/A C2FO seeks a Senior Data Engineer II for Kansas City ... our founding. How do we do this? By providing fast, flexible, and equitable access to low-cost ...

Netflix

Data Scientist 4/5 - Identity DSE

$372K - $600K/yr

... Engineering, and Finance, to inform commerce strategy and data-informed decision-making through ... We are hiring founding data scientists to help define this space from the ground up and develop the ...

Netflix

Data Scientist 4/5 - Identity DSE

$372K - $600K/yr

... Engineering, and Finance, to inform commerce strategy and data-informed decision-making through ... We are hiring founding data scientists to help define this space from the ground up and develop the ...

Gartner

Data Engineer - Production Support

Irving, TX · Hybrid

$106K - $127K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Gartner

Data Engineer - Production Support

Stamford, CT · Hybrid

$122K - $146K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Gartner

Data Engineer - Production Support

Stamford, CT · Hybrid

$122K - $146K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Gartner, Inc.

Data Engineer - Production Support

Irving, TX · On-site

$109K - $132K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Gartner

Data Engineer - Production Support

Irving, TX · Hybrid

$109K - $132K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Gartner

Data Engineer - Production Support

Irving, TX · Hybrid

$109K - $132K/yr

The Data Engineer will provide technical expertise in managing production data quality tasks and ... Since our founding in 1979, we've grown to 20,000 associates globally who support over 13,000 ...

Kai Cyber, Inc.

Senior Data Engineer

San Jose, CA · On-site

$124K - $168K/yr

Our founding team consists of second-time entrepreneurs, each with over 20 years of experience in ... T HE ROLE Kai is hiring a Sr. Data Engineer to join our data infrastructure team. This is a hands ...

Netflix

OR

$372K - $600K/yr

... Engineering, and Finance, to inform commerce strategy and data-informed decision-making through ... We are hiring founding data scientists to help define this space from the ground up and develop the ...

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All JobsFounding Data Engineer Jobs

Founding Data Engineer information

See salary details

$44.5K

$129.7K

$177.5K

How much do founding data engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 20, 2026, the average yearly pay for founding data engineer in the United States is $129,716.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $114,500.00 and $137,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the unique challenges and opportunities of being a Founding Data Engineer at an early-stage startup?

As a Founding Data Engineer, you'll face the challenge of building data infrastructure from scratch, often with limited resources and evolving requirements. You’ll work closely with founders and cross-functional teams to define data strategies, implement pipelines, and ensure data quality. This role offers significant influence over technical decisions and architecture, and you'll likely wear multiple hats, contributing to both backend engineering and data analytics. The fast-paced environment fosters rapid skill development and provides substantial opportunities for career growth as the company scales.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Founding Data Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Founding Data Engineer, you need strong expertise in data architecture, database design, and software engineering, often backed by a degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with cloud platforms (like AWS or GCP), ETL frameworks, programming languages (such as Python or Scala), and data warehousing tools is typically required. Exceptional problem-solving, adaptability, and collaboration skills set standout candidates apart in this role. These abilities are crucial for building scalable data systems and shaping the technical foundation of an early-stage company.

What is the difference between Founding Data Engineer vs Data Engineer?

AspectFounding Data EngineerData Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or higher in CS, experience in startup environmentsBachelor's or higher in CS, relevant data tools experience
Work EnvironmentEarly-stage startups, high flexibility, broad responsibilitiesEstablished companies, specialized roles, structured teams
Employer & Industry UsageFounding teams, startups, tech companiesTech firms, finance, healthcare, large organizations
Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding startup data roles, early-stage responsibilitiesStandard data engineering roles, career progression

The main difference between a Founding Data Engineer and a Data Engineer lies in their work environment and responsibilities. Founding Data Engineers typically work in startups, handling broad tasks and building data infrastructure from scratch, while Data Engineers in established companies focus on specific data pipelines within structured teams. Both roles require similar technical skills and educational backgrounds, but their scope and context differ significantly.

What are Founding Data Engineers?

Founding Data Engineers are among the first technical hires at a startup, responsible for designing, building, and scaling the company's data infrastructure from the ground up. They work closely with founders and early team members to define data architecture, set up data pipelines, and ensure data quality and accessibility for product development and business insights. This role often requires a blend of software engineering, data modeling, and strategic decision-making skills, as well as the flexibility to adapt to rapidly changing priorities in a startup environment.
More about Founding Data Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Founding Data Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Founding Data Engineer job openings:
What states have the most Founding Data Engineer jobs? States with the most job openings for Founding Data Engineer jobs include:
What job categories do people searching Founding Data Engineer jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Founding Data Engineer jobs are:
Founding Data Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Founding Data Engineer job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 12% Full Time, 83% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $129,716 per year, or $62.4 per hour.

Founding Engineer

Clera

San Francisco, CA • On-site

$150K - $250K/yr

Full-time

Posted 28 days ago

Job description

About the Role

Join a well-funded (Series A/B), stealth-stage consumer tech startup building an AI-powered map and social discovery platform. The product helps people figure out where to go and what to do — combining one of the largest structured indices of real-world places and events with a clever, social product experience.

As a Founding Engineer, you'll own problems end-to-end, work directly with founders, and make architectural decisions that shape the core system. This is a high-ownership, high-impact role for someone who thrives in ambiguity and moves fast.

What You'll Work On

  • Search and ranking at massive scale (200M+ places, millions of events)

  • Recommendations and personalization of places and events using embeddings, structured data, and social signals

  • Real-time infrastructure — chat, presence, and location systems that feel instantaneous

  • AI agent pipelines that plan, retrieve, and reason over diverse data sources

  • Map display algorithms that determine what deserves attention

  • Data pipelines that structure large volumes of unstructured web data for novel product experiences

  • Pushing Elasticsearch and vector search to sub-100ms latency across large datasets

Engineering Tracks

You don't need to fit neatly into one area — most people here won't.

Application Engineer (Full-Stack)

  • Build fast, expressive interfaces across mobile and web

  • Own features end-to-end from UI to backend

  • Tools: TypeScript, React, React Native, iOS/Android

Data / AI Engineer

  • Build the intelligence layer — search, ranking, pipelines, and agent systems

  • Design systems that operate over large-scale, messy real-world data

  • Tools: Python, TypeScript, Elasticsearch, Snowflake, LLMs, embeddings, retrieval and recommendation systems

What We're Looking For

  • 0–5 years of professional software engineering experience

  • Proven experience building real-time or low-latency production systems

  • Proficiency in search, ranking algorithms, and related infrastructure

  • Experience with data processing pipelines, ML/AI workflows, or data engineering

  • Track record of infrastructure and performance optimization at scale

  • Prior experience at early-stage startups; comfortable operating with high ambiguity

  • Ability to own features end-to-end with cross-functional collaboration (product, design, engineering)

  • Strong problem-solving and fast decision-making in fast-paced environments

  • You care about how something feels, not just whether it works

Compensation & Benefits

  • Salary: $150,000 – $250,000 USD annually

  • Equity as a founding team member

Location

  • San Francisco, CA — on-site required

  • Candidates must be located in or willing to relocate to San Francisco

  • No visa sponsorship available — must be eligible to work in the United States without sponsorship