Business Area:

Seniority Level:

Job Description:

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

As a principal engineer in the team building a modern data fabric that provides unified metadata, governance, access control, data quality and data sharing capabilities across a diverse set of data systems, you will drive architecture, design, implementation and integrations, and influence requirements.

You will work closely with architects, developers, platform teams, UI/UX designers and product managers to build scalable services that integrate with databases, data lakes, streaming services, and enterprise applications.

As a Principal Engineer you will:

• Drive design and implementation of services and microservices that form the core of the data fabric platform, ensuring scalability, reliability, security and performance.

• Drive best practices for data lineage, observability, and quality, enabling trust and traceability across data pipelines.

• Lead cross team initiatives, provide guidance, design reviews and hands-on contributions.

• Collaborate closely with product managers to translate business requirements into robust technical solutions.

• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers, to raise the technical bar across the organization.

• Influence long-term platform roadmap and technical strategy.

We are excited if you have:

• 10+ years experience building large-scale, distributed systems, with a strong focus on data platforms

• Deep understanding of practical data fabric concepts, including:

  • data pipelines and orchestration

  • Metadata management and lineage

  • Data quality and observability

  • Authorization, access control, auditability, data sharing

• Expert-level Java experience, with a strong grasp of concurrency, performance tuning, and building micro-services.

• Extensive experience with large scale data processing/analyzing systems, such as:

  • Distributed compute engines like Spark, Trino, Flink

  • Data storage systems like HDFS, object stores, data lakes

  • Messaging and streaming platforms like Kafka

• Strong knowledge of distributed system design: consistency, scalability, fault tolerance and operability.

• Proven ability to lead technically, influence architecture and deliver complex systems in production.

You might also have:

• Experience building or integrating data governance, authorization, or policy engines.

• Familiarity with metadata platforms and standards (e.g., data catalogs, lineage frameworks).

• Experience with cloud-native architectures and Kubernetes-based deployments.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex systems clearly.

The expected base salary range for this role in

• California is $248,000 - $310,000

The salary will vary depending on your job-related skills, experience and location

What you can expect from us:

• Generous PTO Policy

• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days

• Flexible WFH Policy

• Mental & Physical Wellness programs

• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program

• Access to Continued Career Development

• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages

• Paid Volunteer Time

• Employee Resource Groups

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