Senior Data Engineer

Nonprofits do some of the most important work in the world, and most of them are still managing grants in spreadsheets. We’re fixing that. 
Instrumentl is a profitable, hypergrowth, YC-backed SaaS platform building the operating system for grant-funded organizations. More than 5,500 nonprofits use Instrumentl to discover, track, and win grant funding, from local community organizations to the San Diego Zoo and the University of Alaska. Collectively they’ve moved over $1 billion through our platform.
We’re doubling year over year, customers love us (NPS 65+, Ellis PMF 60+), and we’re hiring people who want to build something that matters.

About the role:

You'll be our Senior Data Engineer, reporting to engineering leadership and taking ownership of a data platform that is still in its early stages. This is a high-ownership, build-from-the-foundation seat: you'll shape the architecture, stand up reliable pipelines and trusted data models, and set the engineering standards that let our data scale with the company. If you want real ownership over foundational infrastructure at a profitable, fast-growing company, rather than maintaining someone else's system at a larger one, this is that role.

What you'll do:

Platform & Architecture

Design and scale our data platform across pipelines, models, and orchestration

Define and implement systems for data ingestion, storage, processing, and transformation

Optimize systems for performance, scalability, and cost from the start

Pipelines & Engineering Practices

Build scalable ETL/ELT pipelines that ingest from APIs, databases, and event streams

Apply software engineering principles such as testing, CI/CD, and modular design to data infrastructure

Establish best practices for data modeling, testing, and quality

Data Enablement & Partnership

Build the semantic layer and dashboards that make data usable across the company

Partner with engineering, product, and business teams to shape data requirements

Enable trusted, accessible data for BI and analytics decision-making

What you bring:

Required

5+ years building production software, with at least 2 to 3 of those focused on data engineering

Strong programming skills in Python and advanced proficiency in SQL

Proven experience building ETL/ELT pipelines end to end, from ingestion through serving

Hands-on experience with a cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and a modern data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift)

Nice to have

Experience with workflow orchestration tools like Airflow

Experience supporting BI tools such as Looker or Tableau, and building semantic layers and dashboards

Deep fluency across the full data lifecycle: ingestion, storage, processing, transformation, and serving

Experience in early-stage or 0-to-1 environments

Experience with streaming pipelines such as Kafka or Kinesis

Exposure to ML/AI data pipelines, data analytics, or data science concepts

Familiarity with Ruby and Rails

Compensation & Benefits:

For US-based candidates, the target salary range for this role is $170,000 – $190,000 USD, plus equity. Final compensation is determined based on experience, skillset, scope of responsibility, interview performance, and geographic location. We’re committed to paying competitively and equitably.

For candidates based in Canada, compensation varies by province and will be shared by your recruiter early in the process.

Benefits

100% covered health, dental, and vision insurance for employees (50% for dependents)

Generous PTO, including parental leave

401(k)

Company laptop and home-office stipend

Bi-annual company retreats

Instrumentl is evolving rapidly. You’ll always have new challenges and opportunities to grow here.

What to expect:

Instrumentl is evolving rapidly. You’ll always have new challenges and opportunities to grow in your role - you won’t be bored! You’ll be an early member of our small but mighty team, playing a huge part in shaping our culture for the years and teammates to come. At Instrumentl:
We’re customer-focused. We routinely seek feedback from our customers to improve the Instrumentl experience for everyone. Our first company value is "The customer is the hero" and we mean it.
We love to experiment. We are constantly generating new concepts and iterating to see what works - ideation and experimentation are essential here. "Bend the curve" is another key company value.
We appreciate authenticity. We have a diverse range of life experiences, and we encourage open, clear communication with each other about the things that matter most to us.
We’re approachable and collaborative. Everyone has a voice, and we’re all building Instrumentl together.
We kick it every day with some of the nicest people in the world. No joke, our customers are often on the front lines educating kids, saving endangered species, and restoring watersheds. In helping them take advantage of Instrumentl’s technology, you’re helping them move the world forward.