Starbucks · 10 hours ago
technical lead, data platform & digital fraud prevention (Seattle - US)
Seattle, WA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$150K/yr - $249K/yr
8+ years expStarbucks is seeking a versatile Technical Lead to support and scale their team’s delivery across engineering operations and data platform development. This role involves operational leadership and deep technical engagement in their next-generation ETL framework, focusing on delivering scalable and maintainable systems while fostering a collaborative team environment.
CoffeeFood and BeverageRestaurantsTea
Responsibilities
Partner with product and technical leaders to translate business requirements into secure, scalable technical solutions
Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to design and implement robust data pipelines that adapt to evolving business needs
Lead the architecture and development of data pipelines leveraging tools such as Airflow, Databricks, and Spark
Own and enhance our ETL framework and data models for maintainability and scalability
Optimize compute and storage using Databricks and Unity Catalog to ensure reliable, high-performance data access
Establish and maintain CI/CD workflows for data and ML pipelines, ensuring automation and reproducibility
Enforce best practices for environment separation (development, staging, production) and promote observability, integrity, and quality across all components
Mentor engineers to elevate technical capabilities and foster a culture of engineering excellence
Facilitate core agile ceremonies including sprint planning, grooming, and daily stand-ups
Track and report team progress toward goals; escalate risks or blockers as needed
Partner with engineering leadership to surface delivery updates and team dynamics
Proactively identify and clear blockers via internal or cross-functional collaboration
Coordinate with peer teams to manage dependencies and align on shared outcomes
Monitor and help complete operational items like security patching and compliance work
Ensure alignment between team goals and backlog prioritization
Support a culture of continuous improvement through process iteration and refinement
Maintain visibility into team bandwidth and inform realistic capacity planning
Qualification
Required
8-10 years of professional industry experience with software development
2 years of leading teams of four or more software developers
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field
Preferred
Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL, with hands-on experience developing data pipelines, performing complex data transformations, and optimizing queries for large-scale datasets
Deep expertise in Databricks, Apache Spark, and modern data lake architectures, with hands-on experience designing and optimizing large-scale data processing solutions
Strong experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (Docker, Kubernetes), including deploying and managing scalable applications in production environments
Solid understanding and practical experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure for data and ML workflows, ensuring automated, reliable, and reproducible deployments
Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to align technical teams, product managers, and stakeholders to deliver complex projects successfully
Experience architecting and implementing production systems for high resiliency, availability, and performance at scale, leveraging best practices in distributed systems design
Demonstrated ability to manage and deliver multiple concurrent technical projects, providing technical guidance, coordinating cross-functional teams, and driving successful outcomes
Demonstrated ability to identify and resolve cross-team dependencies, remove delivery blockers, and drive alignment across multiple stakeholders to ensure timely project completion
Highly detail-oriented and proactive, with a strong focus on execution and delivering high-quality outcomes in fast-paced, dynamic environments
Benefits
Medical, dental, vision, basic and supplemental life insurance
Short-term and long-term disability
Paid parental leave
Family expansion reimbursement
Paid vacation from date of hire
Sick time (accrued at 1 hour for every 25 hours worked)
Eight paid holidays
Two personal days per year
Participation in a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match
Discounted company stock program (S.I.P.)
Starbucks equity program (Bean Stock)
Incentivized emergency savings
Financial well-being tools
100% upfront tuition coverage for a first-time bachelor’s degree through Arizona State University’s online program via the Starbucks College Achievement Plan
Student loan management resources
Access to other educational opportunities
Backup care
DACA reimbursement
Company
Starbucks
Starbucks is a restaurant chain that serves handcrafted ready-to-drink beverages, including coffee, tea, juices, and snack food items.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Starbucks has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (208)
2024 (127)
2023 (130)
2022 (172)
2021 (146)
2020 (149)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$2.65BKey Investors
Elliott Management Corp.Pershing Square Capital Management
2025-05-06Post Ipo Debt· $1.75B
2024-07-19Post Ipo Equity
2018-10-10Post Ipo Equity· $900M
Leadership Team
Brian R. Niccol
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Cathy R. Smith
CFO
Recent News
2025-12-31
Business News
2025-12-31
2025-12-31
Company data provided by crunchbase