Lead Data Engineer

Supabase is the Postgres development platform, built by developers for developers. We provide a complete backend solution including Database, Auth, Storage, Edge Functions, Realtime, and Vector Search. All services are deeply integrated and designed for growth.

We're looking for a seasoned Lead Data Engineer to join our growing data engineering team. You'll be responsible for leading the development and maintenance of our data infrastructure that powers analytics, machine learning, and operational AI workflows across the company. In this role, you will not only build critical systems but also guide the team's technical direction, mentor other engineers, and ensure the successful delivery of data projects. Your work will directly impact both our internal operations and our developer community through data-driven insights and products.

We believe in giving engineers the autonomy to work efficiently while setting high-performance standards. As we scale rapidly, we're seeking a leader who shares our commitment to open source, knows how to ship impactful features, and will contribute to and elevate our developer-focused culture.

The Stack

• Data Warehouse: BigQuery (primary), PostgreSQL

• Orchestration: Apache Airflow (Cloud Composer), Meltano

• Data Modeling: dbt

• Infrastructure: Google Cloud Platform, Pulumi

• Analytics: Hex, PostHog

• Reverse ETL: Hightouch

• Languages: Python, SQL

What you'll own

Leadership & Project Management

• Mentor and guide mid-level data engineers, fostering their technical and professional growth through code reviews and 1:1 guidance.

• Lead the technical design and execution of complex data projects, ensuring alignment with architectural best practices and business objectives.

• Partner with stakeholders across Analytics, Growth, and Engineering to define the team's roadmap, gather requirements, and prioritize data engineering initiatives.

• Manage the team's backlog and workload, ensuring timely delivery of high-quality data pipelines and products.

• Establish and evangelize best practices for data engineering, code quality, and documentation within the team.

Data Pipeline Development & Maintenance

• Design, build, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT pipelines using Airflow and Meltano.

• Develop and optimize dbt models following our established data warehouse architecture.

• Implement data quality monitoring, testing, and alerting across all pipelines.

• Manage data ingestion from 15+ sources including GitHub, HubSpot, Stripe, PostHog, Sentry, and internal PostgreSQL databases.

Infrastructure & Operations

• Manage BigQuery datasets, reservations, and slot allocation across dev/staging/prod environments.

• Deploy and maintain Airflow DAGs using Cloud Composer with custom Docker images.

• Implement infrastructure as code using Pulumi for GCP resources.

• Monitor pipeline performance and optimize for cost and efficiency.

Data Architecture & Modeling

• Drive the evolution of our multi-layered data warehouse architecture with standardized naming conventions.

• Design and implement data governance policies and documentation standards.

• Optimize BigQuery performance through partitioning, clustering, and materialization strategies.

Reverse ETL & Data Activation

• Develop and maintain reverse ETL pipelines to sync data to HubSpot, Customer.io, and other downstream systems.

• Build attribution models and customer journey analytics.

• Create automated triggers for sales and marketing outreach based on data milestones.

What you bring

Required Skills

• 5+ years of production experience with Python and SQL.

• Proven experience mentoring other engineers and leading complex data projects from inception to completion.

• Deep expertise in dbt for data modeling and transformation.

• Extensive experience designing, deploying, and managing complex workflows in Apache Airflow.

• Proficiency with cloud data warehouses (BigQuery preferred, but Snowflake/Redshift acceptable).

• Experience with infrastructure as code (Terraform, Pulumi, or similar).

• Strong understanding of data warehouse design patterns, and a demonstrated ability to make strategic architectural decisions.

• Excellent communication skills and experience collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders.

• Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and collaborative development workflows.

Bonus Points

• Experience in a previous tech lead or team lead role.

• Experience with Pulumi for infrastructure management.

• Knowledge of PostHog, HubSpot, or other marketing/sales tools.

• Experience with real-time data processing and streaming.

• Background in developer tools or B2B SaaS companies.

• Contributions to open source data engineering projects.

Why Join Supabase?

• Remote-First Team: Work from anywhere, connect with colleagues around the globe, and enjoy a flexible, async-friendly environment.

• Developer-Centric Culture: We live and breathe open source. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to contribute to (and leverage) the open-source community for data solutions.

• Ownership & Impact: This isn’t a button-pushing gig. You’ll have full trust and autonomy to own projects from day one—and see real results from your work.

• Collaborative Atmosphere: We’re big on pairing up when it makes sense and dividing to conquer when needed. Either way, you’ll be surrounded by whip-smart folks eager to ship.

What We Offer

• Fully Remote

  We hire globally. We believe you can do your best work from anywhere. There are no Supabase offices, but we provide a WeWork membership or co-working allowance you can use anywhere in the world.

• ESOP

  Every team member receives ESOP (equity ownership) in the company. We want everyone to share in the upside of what we’re building together.

• Tech Allowance

  Use this budget to set up your ideal work environment—laptop, monitor, headphones, or whatever helps you do your best work.

• Health Benefits

  Supabase covers 100% of health insurance for employees and 80% for dependents, wherever you are. Your wellbeing and your family’s health are important to us.

• Annual Off-Sites

  Once a year, the entire company gathers in a new city for a week of connection, collaboration, and fun. It’s a highlight of our year.

• Flexible Work

  We operate asynchronously and trust you to manage your own time. You know what needs to be done and when.

• Professional Development

  Every team member receives an annual education allowance to spend on learning—courses, books, conferences, or anything that supports your growth.

About the Team

Supabase was born-remote and open-source-first. We believe our globally distributed team is our secret weapon in building tools developers love.

• 180+ team members

• 40+ countries

• 15+ languages spoken

• $496M raised

• 430,000+ community members

• 30,000+ memes posted (and counting)

We move fast, build in public, and use what we ship. If it’s in your project, we probably use it in ours too. We believe deeply in the open-source ecosystem and strive to support—not replace—existing tools and communities.

Hiring Process

We keep things simple, async-friendly, and respectful of your time:

1. Apply – Our team will review your application.

2. Intro Call – A short video chat to get to know each other.

3. Interviews – Up to four calls with:

   • Founders

   • Future teammates

   • Someone cross-functional from product, growth, or engineering (depending on the role)

4. Decision – We may follow up with a final question or go straight to offer.

All communication is remote and we aim to move fast.