Data Engineer

About the Staff Data Engineer at Headspace

The Staff Data Engineer at Headspace will play a foundational role in building the data platform that powers personalized, ethical, and scalable mental health support. This person will lead the evolution of our privacy-first data infrastructure, enabling better experimentation, AI-ready capabilities, and smarter decision-making across the company. It’s a high-impact staff-level role for someone who wants to shape technical strategy, mentor others, and help drive how Headspace delivers more personalized care to millions of members.

• Lead the implementation of a resilient, privacy-first data platform architecture that powers personalization, ethical AI, and accelerates data-driven decisions
• Lead the design, infrastructure, and tooling decisions for platform optimization and consolidation efforts, including the deprecation of legacy and redundant tooling such as Appflow, Prefect, Stitch, Redshift, and Looker
• Develop AI-ready architecture by creating semantic layers that define and standardize business logic, enabling data for Agentic AI, and spearheading new support for ML, experimentation, and onboarding to experimentation pipelines like Statsig
• Mentor other members of the DE and broader data team, particularly around dbt architecture and query performance, Foster a data-first culture that prioritizes excellence, innovation, and collaboration across teams
• Act as a technical thought leader, shaping the company’s data strategy and influencing cross-functional roadmaps with data-centric solutions

• 6+ years in data engineering, with extensive experience in data platform development, complex data model designing, and data compliance implementation
• Production experience writing performant Python and PySpark code on distributed compute (Spark 3+, Delta Lake)
• Existing experience with Databricks is preferred or experience with Redshift and/or Snowflake
• Demonstrated expertise in architectural patterns for building high-volume ETL pipelines
• Experience with data modeling, Medallion architecture, pipeline design, metrics calculation and technical documentation
• Exceptional oral and written communication abilities, facilitating effective cross-functional collaboration
• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience

• Experience in developing AI-ready architecture, such as creating semantic layers that standardize business logic for Agentic AI enablement
• Exposure to event streaming (Kafka, Event Hub) and CDC tools.
• Experience in deployment and infrastructure management using Terraform is a plus
• Prior experience implementing governance, privacy, and security frameworks across a data platform
• Familiarity with the complexities of PII/PHI data, HIPAA, and biometrics data
• Experience migrating or working with DBT for transformations, documentation, and lineage tracking

We are currently hiring this role Remotely in the US. Candidates must permanently reside in the US full-time and be based in these cities. For candidates with a primary residence in the greater SF area, this role will follow our hybrid model. You’ll work 3 days per week from our office, allowing for impactful in-office collaboration and connection, while enjoying the flexibility of remote work for the rest of the week.

The anticipated new hire base salary range for this full-time position is $,250 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are based on the job, level, and location, and reflect the lowest to highest geographic markets where we are hiring for this role within the United States. Within this range, individual compensation is determined by a candidate’s location as well as a range of factors including but not limited to: unique relevant experience, job-related skills, and education or training.

At Headspace, base salary is but one component of our Total Rewards package. We’re proud of our robust package inclusive of: base salary, stock awards, comprehensive healthcare coverage, monthly wellness stipend, retirement savings match, lifetime Headspace membership, generous parental…