At Sift, we’re redefining how modern machines are built, tested, and operated. Our platform gives engineers real-time observability over high-frequency telemetry—eliminating bottlenecks and enabling faster, more reliable development.
Sift was born from our work at SpaceX on Dragon, Falcon, Starlink, and Starship—where scaling telemetry, debugging flight systems, and ensuring mission reliability demanded new infrastructure. Founded by a team from SpaceX, Google, and Palantir, Sift is built for mission-critical systems where precision and scalability are non-negotiable.
As an early engineer focused on our data infrastructure, you won’t just write code—you’ll define core architecture and help scale a real-time telemetry platform from the ground up. You’ll work on complex backend systems designed to ingest, store, and serve millions of high-frequency data points per second, enabling faster iteration cycles for some of the most advanced engineering teams in the world.
In This Role, You'll:Design and build a horizontally scalable platform for ingesting millions of hardware sensor data points per second
Develop durable, efficient database solutions to support real-time reads and large-scale analytics workloads
Pioneer data architecture by integrating recent innovations in streaming and storage, including cloud-native and diskless designs
Help define engineering culture, standards, and processes
Collaborate closely with peers on architecture, design, code reviews, and scaling strategies
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or another STEM discipline
7+ years of experience in backend, infrastructure, or data engineering roles
Hands-on experience with event-time-based stream processing or streaming SQL systems using tools like Apache Flink, Kafka Streams, Beam, or similar
Proficiency with relational and time-series databases like PostgreSQL, Druid, Pinot, TimescaleDB, or equivalent
Experience with large-scale distributed systems or low-latency backend services, ideally written in Go, Rust, or Python
Familiarity with DevOps and cloud infrastructure tools such as Kubernetes, Prometheus, ArgoCD, and Terraform
Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach to problem-solving
Familiarity with telemetry data from hardware systems, high-throughput ingest pipelines, or columnar storage formats like Apache Arrow and Parquet
Experience building resilient, performant systems that scale to billions of records
Curiosity about new data paradigms and eagerness to evaluate and integrate emerging tools and techniques
You’ll join a tight-knit team of world-class engineers building foundational systems for next-gen machines. Technologies you'll work with may include:
Frontend & Backend: Go, gRPC, PostgreSQL, Protobuf, React, TypeScript
Data Infrastructure: Apache Arrow, DataFusion, Flink, Kafka, Parquet, Rust
Ops & Tooling: AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, GitHub Actions, Prometheus, Argo CD, Grafana, Linux
Sift’s headquarters is in El Segundo, CA. We collaborate in person twice a week—on Mondays and Thursdays—and come together for a full week every two months. While we prefer team members to be local, we’re open to relocating candidates to LA or considering remote work from the San Francisco area for the right candidate.
Salary range: $200,000 - $250,000 per year. Plus equity and benefits.
Eligibility:U.S. Person Required: Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident, or protected individual such as an asylee or refugee in compliance with ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) / EAR (Export Administration Regulations) regulations.
Top Skills
What We Do
Sift is transforming how modern machines are built and operated. Our platform goes beyond traditional monitoring, enabling automated data review that catches unusual conditions in systems too complex for manual checks. This not only enhances reliability but also dramatically speeds up development cycles.
At our core, we provide a unified solution for ingesting, storing, and analyzing vast amounts of machine data. By combining powerful data processing with easy-to-use visualizations, we help engineers make sense of enormous amounts of information. From spacecraft to self-driving cars, Sift is the backbone of innovation for companies pushing technology to new limits.
Born from the challenges of spaceflight, Sift aims to accelerate technological progress. We believe that by giving engineers better tools to understand and improve their creations, we can unlock a new era of innovation. Our mission goes beyond solving today's engineering problems; we're building the foundation for a future where the most ambitious machines are developed with confidence, run with precision, and constantly improved.
We're also tackling related challenges like simplifying regulatory compliance, and improving manufacturing processes. By connecting data from various sources—from sensors to manufacturing records to regulatory requirements—we're empowering a new generation of engineers to build the technologies that will shape our world.
Join us in our journey to usher in this new age of reliable, groundbreaking technology. Whether you're launching rockets, developing autonomous systems, or advancing energy and transportation, Sift is your partner in turning vast amounts of data into insights that drive innovation forward.
