Lead Data Engineer

About Grab and Our Workplace

Grab is Southeast Asia's leading superapp. From getting your favourite meals delivered to helping you manage your finances and getting around town hassle-free, we've got your back with everything. In Grab, purpose gives us joy and habits build excellence, while harnessing the power of Technology and AI to deliver the mission of driving Southeast Asia forward by economically empowering everyone, with heart, hunger, honour, and humility.

Get to Know the Team

We maintain Grab's data infrastructure, a dependable and economical platform that supports internal data processes and company-wide data lake access. This includes managing compute systems such as Apache Spark, Trino, and Starrocks, scheduling via Airflow, and an AWS S3-based storage layer. Our storage solutions utilize modern open-source formats like Apache Iceberg and Delta, in addition to traditional Apache Hive Parquet tables.

We simplify data operations for internal users by providing managed Spark, Starrocks, Trino, and Airflow services. Furthermore, our team collaborates with Grab's Data Catalog team to offer self-service datalake capabilities powered by Datahub. We also partner closely with Grab's AI platforms, ensuring a smooth experience for users in their AI development.

Get to Know the Role

You will support the mission by maintaining and extending the platform capabilities through implementation of new features and continuous improvements. You will also explore new developments in the space and bring them to our platform there by helping the data community at Grab. You will work onsite in Grab Vietnam office, CMC Creative Space, D7, HCMC and report to Data Engineering Manager, who is based in Singapore.

The Critical Tasks You Will Perform

• You will maintain and extend the Python/Go/Scala backend for Grab's Airflow, Spark, Trino and Starrocks platform
• You will build, modify and extend Python/Scala Spark applications and Airflow pipelines for better performance, reliability, and cost.
• You will design and implement architectural improvements for new use cases or efficiency.
• You will build platforms that can scale to the 3 Vs of Big Data (Volume, Velocity, Variety)
• You will follow various testing best practices and SRE best practices to ensure system stability and reliability.

What Essential Skills You Will Need

• Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related undergraduate degree. Proficient in at least one of the following: Python, Go, or Scala and strong appetite to learn other programming languages.
• You have 5 or more years of relevant professional experience
• Good working knowledge in 3 or more of the following: Airflow, Spark, relational databases (ideally MySQL), Kubernetes, Starrocks, Trino, and backend API implementation and being passionate about learning the others.
• Experience with AWS services (S3, EKS, IAM) and infrastructure as code tools like Terraform.
• Proficiency in CI/CD tools (Jenkins, GitLab, etc.)
• You are to intelligently utilize available AI resources at Grab.

Skills that are Good to have

• Proficient in Kubernetes with hands of experience with building custom resources using frameworks like kubebuilder.
• Proficient in Apache Spark, with good knowledge of resource managers like Yarn, Kubernetes and how spark interacts and work with them
• Advanced understanding of Apache Airflow and its working with Celery and/or Kubernetes executor backend with exposure to Python SQLAlchemy framework.
• Advanced knowledge of other query engines like Trino, Starrocks and others
• Advanced knowledge of AWS Cloud
• Good understanding of lakehouse table formats like Iceberg and Delta lake, how query engines work with it.

Life at Grab

We care about your well-being at Grab, here are some of the global benefits we offer:

• We have your back with Term Life Insurance and comprehensive Medical Insurance.
• With GrabFlex, create a benefits package that suits your needs and aspirations.
• Celebrate moments that matter in life with loved ones through Parental and Birthday leave, and give back to your communities through Love-all-Serve-all (LASA) volunteering leave
• We have a confidential Grabber Assistance Programme to guide and uplift you and your loved ones through life's challenges.
• Balancing personal commitments and life's demands are made easier with our FlexWork arrangements such as differentiated hours

What We Stand For at Grab

We are committed to building an inclusive and equitable workplace that enables diverse Grabbers to grow and perform at their best. As an equal opportunity employer, we consider all candidates fairly and equally regardless of nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, family commitments, physical and mental impairments or disabilities, and other attributes that make them unique.