Principal Engineer - Open Source Data Platform (ODP)

at Acceldata

Kitchener, principal, full time, 14+ years

posted 16 Mar 2026

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Java
Scala
Hadoop
Kafka
Flink
Hudi
Hive
Delta
Iceberg
Trino
Spark
Python
Kubernetes

About the role

We are seeking a Principal Engineer with at least 14 years of experience to serve as a technical visionary and thought leader for Acceldata's Open Data Platform (ODP). In this role, you will define the long-term technical strategy, lead the most complex architectural initiatives, and represent Acceldata in the global open-source and distributed systems community. You will work directly with engineering leadership and executives to shape product direction while driving innovation across the organization. WHY JOIN US? As a Principal Engineer at Acceldata, you will be at the forefront of shaping the future of enterprise data platforms, defining the technical vision for systems that power mission-critical workloads across the world's largest organizations. Your decisions will directly influence not only our platform but also the broader data ecosystem through open-source contributions and industry leadership. You'll work alongside Apache members, committers, and industry veterans who are passionate about solving the hardest problems in distributed computing. This is a rare opportunity to combine deep technical impact with strategic influence, building technology that matters while shaping the direction of a growing data observability company.

What you would do

- Define and drive the long-term technical strategy and architecture for the Open Data Platform, aligning with business objectives and industry trends.

- Own the design of the most complex, high-impact systems and establish architectural principles and patterns that scale across the organization.

- Identify emerging technologies and industry trends; lead research and development initiatives that position Acceldata at the cutting edge of data platform innovation.

- Serve as a recognized leader in the open-source community; drive Apache project contributions, represent Acceldata at conferences, and influence project roadmaps.

- Collaborate with CTO, VP of Engineering, and Product leadership to translate business strategy into technical execution; provide technical due diligence for strategic initiatives.

- Influence engineering practices, tools, and culture across multiple teams; establish best practices that elevate the entire engineering organization.

- Mentor Staff Engineers and Senior Engineers; develop technical leadership capabilities across the organization.

- Lead resolution of the most challenging technical problems spanning architecture, performance, scalability, and reliability.

Read from jobs.lever.co, last seen 4d ago.

What they are looking for

- 12+ years of hands-on software development experience with at least 8 years focused on distributed systems, big data platforms, or data infrastructure.

- Proven track record of leading large-scale technical initiatives from conception to production across multiple teams.

- Expert-level proficiency in Java or Scala; strong skills in Python and systems languages.

- Deep expertise in distributed computing, including consensus protocols, distributed transactions, data replication, partitioning strategies, and optimization with modern table formats.

- Extensive experience in architecting and scaling systems using Hadoop, Spark, Hive, Trino, Kafka, Flink, and related technologies at production scale (100s to 1000s of nodes).

- Demonstrated ability to design and evolve complex systems that handle petabyte-scale data with high availability and performance requirements.

- Expert knowledge of cloud-native architectures, Kubernetes orchestration, and multi-cloud deployment patterns.

- Track record of diagnosing and resolving complex distributed system issues, including performance optimization, resource management, and failure mode analysis.

- Significant contributions to major open-source projects; experience working with distributed global teams and open-source governance models.

- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; proven ability to influence technical direction across organizations and with external stakeholders.

- Ability to balance long-term technical vision with near-term delivery requirements; experience making build vs. buy decisions.

DESIRED BACKGROUND - PMC member or committer status in Apache projects (e.g., Spark, Kafka, Hive, Hadoop, Iceberg, Flink, Trino).

- Speaker at major conferences (ApacheCon, Spark Summit, Kafka Summit, QCon, etc.); published papers or widely-read technical content.

- Experience building or contributing to query engines, optimizers, or execution frameworks.

- Deep experience with modern lakehouse architectures, table formats (Iceberg, Delta, Hudi), and data mesh patterns.

- Experience with ML infrastructure, feature stores, or MLOps platforms.

- Experience scaling engineering organizations in high-growth environments.

- Master's or PhD in Computer Science, with a focus on distributed systems, databases, or related fields.

At Acceldata, we are committed to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of job history, disability, gender identity, religion, race, color, caste, marital/parental status, veteran status, or any other special status. We stand against the discrimination of employees and individuals and are proud to be an equitable workplace that welcomes individuals from all walks of life if they fit the designated roles and responsibilities. #LifeAtAcceldata is all about working with some of the best minds in the industry and experiencing a culture that values an ‘out-of-the-box’ mindset. If you want to push boundaries, learn continuously, and grow to be the best version of yourself, Acceldata is the place to be! We also believe in providing our employees with the right tools and resources to help them excel at their jobs. We offer: - PTO Plan with unlimited negative balance - RRSP Plan - Up to 100% employer-paid benefit options for health, dental, and vision coverage - Supplemental Benefits - Apple Air Mac Equipment - Office gym access (includes workout equipment, basketball court, and showers) - Becoming part of the team that coined the term “Data Observability”!