Software Engineer — Pipelines

As a Software Engineer on the Data Stack team at PostHog, you will be responsible for building and iterating on our data import system. This involves developing and maintaining our source library, revamping schema management, and building resilient systems with logging, observability, and testing. You will work with Python, Apache Arrow, object storage, and Temporal.io, debugging stateful data workflows and pushing the boundaries of our Data Stack product.

Must Have

• Strong skills in building resilient systems
• Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and S3 at scale
• Proficiency in Python
• Hands-on experience with batch processing and modern data formats (e.g., Apache Arrow)
• Experience with building data warehousing tooling
• Comfortable creating and maintaining data pipelines
• Ability to debug stateful, async data workflows using k8s pod metrics
• Strong backend skills

Good to Have

• Async-python
• Temporal.io skills
• Experience with Iceberg and/or Delta

Perks & Benefits

• Generous, transparent compensation & equity
• Unlimited vacation (with a minimum!)
• Two meeting-free days per week
• Home office setup
• Coworking credit
• Private health, dental, and vision insurance
• Training budget
• Access to our Hedge House
• Carbon offsetting
• Pension & 401k contributions
• Local hiring and pay
• Company offsites

About PostHog

We equip every developer to build successful products.

We started with open-source product analytics, launched out of Y Combinator's W20 cohort.

We've since shipped more than a dozen products, including a built-in data warehouse, a customer data platform, and PostHog AI, an AI-powered analyst that answers product questions, helps users find useful session recordings, and writes custom SQL queries.

Next on the roadmap are messaging, customer analytics, ai task creation and coding based on customer data, logs and support analytics.

Our values are not a poster on the wall full of aspiration. They’ve come from how we really work, day in day out.

PostHog is Open Source, product led, and a default alive company that is well funded.

What you'll be doing

As a Software Engineer - Pipelines on the Data Stack team, you’ll build and iterate on our data import system.

Our import workers are built in python and we pull in data from APIs and databases in batches, process the data using Apache Arrow in memory, and move the data into object storage in open table formats.

You’ll build and maintain our source library, as we’re looking for creative ways to make our library manageable at scale. You’ll revamp our schema management strategy, and build resilient systems (e.g logging, observability, testing)

You’ll debug stateful data workflows by digging into k8s pod metrics, and schedule jobs using Temporal.io. As you can see, there’s a huge breadth of challenges and opportunities to tackle, and nothing is off-limits.

The PostHog Data Stack is both a core product for our users and a foundational platform for our internal teams. Data is a first-class product at PostHog, not an afterthought.

You will have the chance to push the boundaries of what our Data Stack team can do while ensuring we remain stable and production-ready.

You now know what you’ll be doing, but what about what you’ll need to bring along?

You’ll fit right in if:

• You’re a builder. You bring strong skills in building resilient systems, with experience in Kubernetes, Docker, and S3 at scale. We build in python. Async-python and Temporal.io skills are welcome.
• You have hands-on experience with batch processing and modern data formats. We use Arrow to stream data. Experience with Iceberg and/or Delta is welcome, we don’t expect you to have experience with all three (although that would be great)
• You're more than a connector of things. Building pipelines is more than configuring tools to make them work together, it's about actually building the tooling used in data warehousing pipelines. We need you to have experience with building tools versus using off-the-shelf tools
• You bring experience with creating and maintaining data pipelines. You are comfortable with debugging stateful, async data workflows by digging into k8s pod metrics.
• You bring a mix of skills. It’s not just about the Data Pipeline work. You’ll need strong backend skills as we run a complex system.
• You love getting things done. Engineers at PostHog have an incredible amount of autonomy to decide what to work on, so you’ll need to be proactive and just git it done.
• You’re ready to do the best work of your career. We have incredible distribution, a big financial cushion and an amazing team. There’s probably no better place to see how far you can go.

If this sounds like you, we should talk.

We are committed to ensuring a fair and accessible interview process. If you need any accommodations or adjustments, please let us know

What’s in it for you?

Now that we've told you what you'll be building with us, let's talk about what we'll be building for you.

Meet the Data Stack Team

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Data Stack

We enable all other small teams and users to store and access their data in a way that enables them to get more value out of it easier.

Team members

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67% say YES!

Your team's mission and objectives

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Enable all other small teams and users to store and access their data in a way that enables them to get more value out of it easier.

Objective: Managed data warehouse MVP

• Key Results:
• Validate query engine alternatives to querying columnar data format
• Build and test an MVP of new format on internal team data

Objective: Maturing the data pipeline

• Key Results:
• 10+ more sources shipped
• Self-serve source creation
• Update billing to be user friendly (grace period on initial sync)
• Increased reliability and stability

Objective: Warehouse integration across PostHog

• Key Results:
• Enable warehouse data to be usable within CDP

Interview process

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We do 2-3 short interviews, then pay you to do some real-life (or close to real-life) work.

• 1

##### Application (You are here)

Our talent team will review your application

We're looking to see how your skills and experience align with our needs.

• 2

##### Culture interview

30-min video call

Our goal is to explore your motivations to join our team, learn why you’d be a great fit, and answer questions about us.

• 3

##### Technical interview

45 minutes, varies by role

You'll meet the hiring team who will evaluate skills needed to be successful in your role. No live coding.

• 4

##### Founder interview

30 minutes

You have reached the final boss. It's time to chat with James or Tim.

• 5

##### PostHog SuperDay

Paid day of work

You’ll meet a few more members of the team and work on an independent project. It's challenging, but most people say it's fun, and we'll pay you $1,000 for your efforts!

• 6

##### Offer

Pop the champagne (after you sign)

If everyone is happy, we’ll make you an offer to join us - YAY!