Zoox is seeking a high-agency, hands-on Lead Data Platform Engineer to architect, optimize, scale and own the next generation of our enterprise & AI data foundation. In this role, you will architect a high throughput, data fabric that unifies data across Zoox and downstream AI agents. You will drive performance tuning, cost optimization, RBAC, data governance and CI/CD pipelines to deliver secure, low-latency, 'AI-ready' data foundations across the organization.
You will serve as the primary technical driver for our data platform, designing autonomous frameworks, building scalable data infrastructure and establishing strict standards for security and developer velocity. This is an engineering-intensive leadership role for a builder who thrives on solving complex challenges.
In This Role, You Will...
- Scaling self-healing data pipelines that automatically handle schema evolution, detect anomalies, execute circuit breakers and recover from failures without manual intervention.
- Define and enforce company-wide data governance, access, automated data quality testing, schema evolution policies and metadata management to maintain high-fidelity data assets.
- Implement intelligent storage lifecycle strategies, resource throttling and query optimization to minimize compute overhead while delivering high-throughput, low-latency data access for analytics and AI agents. With a focus on Databricks vs EMR (AWS) cloud optimization (cost and performance).
- Build automated CI/CD deployment templates, environment isolation, testing frameworks and version control standards, enabling rapid, reliable and zero-downtime deployments
Qualifications
- 10+ years of hands-on experience in Data Platform Engineering or Software Engineering with a proven track record of architecting and scaling production-grade data foundations.
- Deep expertise in scaling and optimization, query tuning, compute resource allocation and implementing efficient compute-storage lifecycle policies to minimize infrastructure costs.
- Experience implementing enterprise security standards, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), Active Directory/IAM roles and fine-grained data masking, with strong familiarity supporting enterprise compliance requirements (e.g., SOX, audit trail controls, data retention policies).
- Track record of establishing enterprise data governance frameworks, automated schema evolution controls, data quality audits and near real-time observability/alerting.
- Hands-on experience building automated CI/CD pipelines, environment isolation (branch testing, rollback mechanisms), version control and automated deployment testing for data assets.
Bonus Qualifications
- Experience incorporating LLMs or GenAI directly into pipeline operations (e.g., code generation, triage and root-cause analysis, automated data reconciliation, backfills or anomaly detection).
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform) and containerization/orchestration (EKS) for elastic compute management. GPU/CPU performance optimization & utilization.
- Previous experience in the autonomous vehicle, robotics or high-tech manufacturing sectors.
Skills Required
- 10+ years of hands-on experience in Data Platform Engineering or Software Engineering
- Proven track record architecting and scaling production-grade data foundations
- Deep expertise in scaling, optimization, query tuning, compute resource allocation, and compute-storage lifecycle policies
- Experience implementing enterprise security standards, RBAC, Active Directory/IAM roles, and fine-grained data masking
- Familiarity with enterprise compliance requirements, including SOX, audit trail controls, and data retention policies
- Experience establishing enterprise data governance frameworks, schema evolution controls, data quality audits, and observability or alerting
- Hands-on experience building automated CI/CD pipelines, environment isolation, version control, and automated deployment testing for data assets
- Experience incorporating LLMs or Generative AI into pipeline operations
- Experience with Terraform and EKS for elastic compute management
- GPU/CPU performance optimization and utilization experience
- Experience in autonomous vehicles, robotics, or high-tech manufacturing
Zoox Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Zoox and has not been reviewed or approved by Zoox.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare is extensive, with broad medical and vision options, company‑paid disability coverage, and multiple mental‑health resources. Feedback suggests coverage breadth and auxiliary programs support a wide range of needs.
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Parental & Family Support — Family supports include paid parental leave, additional pregnancy disability time, fertility coverage, and adoption/surrogacy assistance. Backup care and family‑oriented programs further reinforce support across life stages.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Day‑to‑day perks are robust, including free daily meals, fitness subsidies, commuter support, and on‑site amenities. Feedback suggests these lifestyle benefits enhance convenience and workplace experience, especially for office‑based roles.
Zoox Insights
What We Do
Zoox is an autonomous mobility company that was founded to provide a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable future on the road. To achieve that goal, the company has spent the past 10 years creating a purpose-built robotaxi that gives the world a better way to ride.
Why Work With Us
At Zoox, we are working to solve one of the greatest technological challenges of our generation. From the beginning, we have been focused on our goal of reimagining transportation from the ground up. We are a mission-driven community of innovators working together to create a safer, cleaner, and more enjoyable future on the road.
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