Come shape the future of commerce built for passion with us!
At EQL, we’re building tools for brands that don’t just have customers—they have fans.
These are the high-stakes cultural moments where passion runs deep, but the experience has often been broken: sites crash, bots win, and real fans lose out. If you’ve ever tried to score Jordans, Taylor Swift tickets, or a footy final seat, you know the frustration. EQL is changing that. We’re creating the world’s first fair launch platform to help retailers manage demand, block bad actors, and deliver seamless experiences that give real fans a fair shot.
Backed by top VCs and angels, we’re solving big, meaningful problems with smart tech and a bold, collaborative team. It’s challenging and rewarding work, and we’re building a culture where curious, kind, and ambitious people thrive. If you want to help us shape the future of fan-first commerce—even if you don’t tick every box—we would love to talk.
The role
We’re looking for a Staff Data Engineer to take technical ownership of our data platform and grow the function around it. The platform - dbt on Snowflake, with a semantic layer powering Cortex agents and LLM-driven product features - has been carried by a single engineer to date. The next phase of our strategy needs foundations that scale beyond one person, and a senior anchor who can make that happen.
You'll set the architectural direction, close decisions in writing, and build a team where platform knowledge is shared rather than concentrated. You'll work alongside our existing Data Engineer, onboard the engineers we hire after you, and set the bar for how the team operates.
This is a hands-on staff level role. We’d love you to take the lead on defining the architecture communicating through code and tooling, implementing your vision and mentoring through code review – not just in meetings.
What you’ll do
- Define platform architecture; dbt model design, Snowflake warehouse organisation, governance (PII tagging, contracts, doc blocks, glossary), cost allocation through query tags and dbt_snowflake_monitoring, and the AWS-side Snowflake guardrails (typed query wrappers, ESLint policy, Zod-enforced rows).
- Build the semantic layer; the contracts and concepts the layer exposes to Cortex agents and our product LLM features. You'll own how the layer evolves and partner with the engineers consuming it across product and platform.
- Define the endorsed-dataset pattern, lifecycle and quality bar. Own the catalogue across business domains - Shopify, finance, products, retailer health - and the marketplace integration strategy (Cybersyn ACS, Similarweb, Placekey, paid sources). This is a key unlock for broader team access to datasets using LLM; across Operations, GTM and more.
- Close architectural decisions via written ADRs. Decisions are made and recorded in the same week they're proposed, not parked on a recurring agenda. Ratifying go / no-go on platform changes proposed by the team is part of the role.
- Own reliability and observability; Source-freshness alerting, exposures, contract enforcement, and anomaly detection (Elementary OSS or equivalent). Set the production reliability bar.
- Mentor our Data Engineer and onboard each future hire personally. Establish paired-onboarding and code-review patterns so platform knowledge doesn't concentrate in any single individual - including you.
- Own the technical roadmap for the data platform. Partner with your Engineering Manager and product on prioritisation, sequencing and trade-offs.
Who we look for
We focus on hiring values-aligned people because we believe mindset matters as much as experience. Curiosity, drive, and a willingness to learn go a long way. Working at EQL means embracing ambiguity, being okay with imperfection, and playing bigger than we are as we solve tough problems together. If that sounds like it gives you energy and are excited to grow with us, we encourage you to apply—even if you're feeling unsure.
We believe you’ll succeed in this role if you have:
- Extensive experience building and operating production data platforms.
- Deep expertise in dbt; contracts, exposures, custom generic tests, macros and doc blocks. You can defend architectural choices in this stack – you’ve made your share of right and wrong decisions and have learnt from them.
- Deep expertise in Snowflake - warehouse organisation, governance, cost optimisation and more recently Cortex.
- Experience designing and maintaining a semantic layer for downstream LLM or BI consumption.
- Experience working in fast-paced technology environments, with the ability to thrive in a dynamic and rapidly changing landscape. This includes being comfortable with ambiguity, quickly adapting to new priorities, and executing initiatives with speed and agility.
- Proficiency in managing relationships with various stakeholders, including customer-facing teams, product teams, and business users. Effective collaboration skills to work closely with stakeholders in co-creating solutions, understanding their needs, and communicating technical concepts clearly and concisely.
- A track record of creating an accessible data culture, mentoring engineers and growing data teams without becoming a bottleneck.
- High level of comfort owning architectural decisions in writing and defending them in review.
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively convey complex ideas to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
What we offer
Fairness is not just something for our fans and retailers - it’s part of who we are which is why:
- We provide equity in EQL - we want our team to have skin in the game and to be as invested as we are in EQL’s success. We want the people that will make EQL successful to share in that success
- We provide competitive compensation and evaluate the market to ensure that remains true.
- We provide a flexible work environment because we understand that everyone works differently and want to support our team to be their best
- We provide generous time off above and beyond what we are required to because we know that well-rested people make better decisions and are more engaged - when you thrive we thrive
- When you want to collaborate in person with other humans, we have a workplace that welcomes the whole team including their furry friends.
At EQL, diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to how we operate and grow. We’re committed to building a workforce that values and supports every individual. We believe equality strengthens our culture and drives accountability in championing diverse voices. EQL is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate based on race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, marital or caregiving status, pregnancy, religion, political beliefs, or national origin.
Pay: $180,000.00 – $220,000.00 per year
Benefits:
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Cremorne VIC 3121
