Staff Data Engineer

About The Company:

At Scribd (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. Join our team as we create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas and information, and empower collective expertise through our four products: Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable.

We support a culture where our employees can be real and be bold; where we debate and commit as we embrace plot twists; and where every employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer.

When it comes to workplace structure, we believe in balancing individual flexibility and community connections.  It’s through our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, that employees – in partnership with their manager – can choose the daily work-style that best suits their individual needs. A key tenet of Scribd Flex is our prioritization of intentional in-person moments to build collaboration, culture, and connection. For this reason, occasional in-person attendance is required for all Scribd employees, regardless of their location.

So what are we looking for in new team members? Well, we hire for “GRIT”. The textbook definition of GRIT is demonstrating the intersection of passion and perseverance towards long term goals. At Scribd, we are inspired by the potential that this can unlock, and ask each of our employees to pursue a GRIT-ty approach to their work. In a tactical sense, GRIT is also a handy acronym that outlines the standards we hold ourselves and each other to.  Here’s what that means for you: we’re looking for someone who showcases the ability to set and achieve Goals, achieve Results within their job responsibilities, contribute Innovative ideas and solutions, and positively influence the broader Team through collaboration and attitude.

About the Team:

Scribd’s Data Platform team builds the data pipelines, storage layers and developer tooling that power analytics, experimentation, ML and product features across Scribd, Everand and Slideshare. We’re midway through a multi-year investment to modernize our data architecture for fully governed, properly-modeled data that every team can trust and build upon.

At Scribd, we leverage deep data insights to inform every aspect of our business—from product development and experimentation to understanding subscriber engagement and key metrics. You’ll join a data engineering team tackling complex challenges within a rich domain spanning three brands that serve over 200 million monthly visitors and 2 million paying subscribers. This is a high-impact opportunity to shape Scribd’s next-generation data platform and elevate our engineering practices to a world-class standard.

What You’ll Do

As a Staff Data Engineer, you’ll be both a hands-on technical expert and a strategic leader. You’ll drive the design of core data models and pipelines in our Databricks/Delta Lake lakehouse, setting the standards for quality, reliability, and scalability across the platform.

You’ll own end-to-end solutions, from architecture and implementation to operations and optimization, while helping guide the long-term direction of Scribd’s data ecosystem. You’ll collaborate across teams to turn complex business problems into robust data solutions, and you’ll mentor engineers to help them grow and deliver at a higher level. You’ll help the team evolve toward a fully governed lakehouse with fine-grained access controls and consistent lineage.

You will:

• Design and implement core data models and pipelines that power analytics, ML, and product experiences.

• Implement modern data lake orchestration patterns, including medallion architectures.

• Architect and evolve a scalable, cost-efficient, and reliable lakehouse foundation using Databricks, Delta Lake, and Airflow.

• Define best practices and technical standards that improve data quality, governance, and performance across teams.

• Mentor engineers and foster a culture of ownership, operational excellence, and continuous learning.

• Shape the long-term technical vision and roadmap for Scribd’s data platform.
  

Required Skills

• 8+ years of experience in data engineering, with a strong background in data architecture, data modeling, and distributed data systems.

• Deep expertise in Databricks, Delta Lake, Spark, and modern lakehouse technologies.

• Advanced proficiency in SQL and Python or Scala, including performance optimization and large-scale ETL design.

• Proven experience designing data models and schemas that serve multiple downstream use cases (analytics, ML, APIs).

• Experience implementing modern data orchestration patterns for big data use-cases, including batch and streaming workloads.

• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives, set standards, and influence decisions across teams.

• Comfort owning systems end-to-end, including monitoring, reliability, and cost management.

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate technical trade-offs to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
  

Desired Skills

• Experience with subscription, payments, or large-scale consumer data domains.

• Familiarity with AWS data services (S3, Glue, EMR, Kinesis) and cloud cost optimization.

• Knowledge of streaming architectures (Kafka, Kinesis, or similar).

• Experience implementing data quality, governance, and observability standards at scale.

• Contributions to open-source projects or thought leadership in the data engineering community.

• Experience operationalizing data observability through Datadog or equivalent monitoring tools.

• Experience working with Analytics teams to understand their requirements and translate to data products and data solutions.

---

At Scribd, your base pay is one part of your total compensation package and is determined within a range. Our pay ranges are based on the local cost of labor benchmarks for each specific role, level, and geographic location. San Francisco is our highest geographic market in the United States. In the state of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $167,000 [minimum salary in our lowest geographic market within California] to $260,500 [maximum salary in our highest geographic market within California].

In the United States, outside of California, the reasonably expected salary range is between $137,500 [minimum salary in our lowest US geographic market outside of California] to $247,500 [maximum salary in our highest US geographic market outside of California].

In Canada, the reasonably expected salary range is between $175,000 CAD[minimum salary in our lowest geographic market] to $231,500 CAD[maximum salary in our highest geographic market].

We carefully consider a wide range of factors when determining compensation, including but not limited to experience; job-related skill sets; relevant education or training; and other business and organizational needs. The salary range listed is for the level at which this job has been scoped. In the event that you are considered for a different level, a higher or lower pay range would apply. This position is also eligible for a competitive equity ownership, and a comprehensive and generous benefits package.

Working at Scribd, inc.

Are you currently based in a location where Scribd is able to employ you?
Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities. This includes surrounding metro areas or locations within a typical commuting distance:

United States:

Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Dallas | Denver | Chicago | Houston | Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | New York City | Phoenix | Portland | Sacramento | Salt Lake City | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington D.C.

Canada:

Ottawa | Toronto | Vancouver

Mexico:

Mexico City

Benefits, Perks, and Wellbeing at Scribd

*Benefits/perks listed may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Scribd and the geographical location where you work.

• Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees

• 12 weeks paid parental leave

• Short-term/long-term disability plans

• 401k/RSP matching

• Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals + accessories

• Learning & Development allowance

• Learning & Development programs

• Quarterly stipend for Wellness, WiFi, etc.

• Mental Health support & resources

• Free subscription to the Scribd Inc. suite of products

• Referral Bonuses

• Book Benefit

• Sabbaticals

• Company-wide events

• Team engagement budgets

• Vacation & Personal Days

• Paid Holidays (+ winter break)

• Flexible Sick Time

• Volunteer Day

• Company-wide Employee Resource Groups and programs that foster an inclusive and diverse workplace.

• Access to AI Tools: We provide free access to best-in-class AI tools, empowering you to boost productivity, streamline workflows, and accelerate bold innovation.

Want to learn more about life at Scribd? www.linkedin.com/company/scribd/life

We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing [email protected] about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process.

Scribd is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.