type: role
slug: sr-engineer-architect
name: Sr Engineer Architect
description: Senior technical builder role focused on fast, high-quality architecture and implementation across core platform surfaces.
owner: dave
status: planned
Sr Engineer Architect
Principal / Senior Architect Software Engineer - Incubator Initiative
About the Role
Fivetran is investing in a new incubator effort focused on building high-impact product capabilities within the platform. This is a small, focused team operating with founder-level ownership, moving quickly, learning fast, and building durable systems that can scale.
We are looking for a senior architect-level engineer who combines deep technical mastery with strong product and engineering judgment. This should be someone who has built real systems, simplified complex ones, and understands that the best software often comes from disciplined constraint rather than excess abstraction.
This role helps define the technical foundation of the incubator. It is not about maintaining a mature codebase. It is about shaping something new inside a company that already operates at scale.
What You'll Do
- Architect and build foundational systems for a new product initiative within Fivetran.
- Operate effectively in ambiguity, making thoughtful decisions where the full downstream impact may only become clear over time.
- Partner closely with product leadership to shape direction and identify the highest-leverage work.
- Design systems that are clean, efficient, and scalable while avoiding unnecessary complexity and code bloat.
- Build production-grade software while iterating quickly.
- Set a high bar for engineering quality, simplicity, and execution.
What We're Looking For
- 12+ years of experience building and shipping large-scale, production-grade systems.
- Proven experience operating as a Principal, Architect, or very senior Staff engineer.
- Strong product and engineering taste, including clear judgment about what to build, what not to build, and when to refactor.
- Demonstrated ability to simplify complex systems and reduce cognitive load.
- Experience working in high-ambiguity environments where speed and rigor must coexist.
- Comfort making decisions without perfect information.
- Deep backend and distributed systems expertise.
- Entrepreneurial mindset including ownership, urgency, and resilience.
What Makes This Different
- This is an incubator inside Fivetran.
- You will influence product direction, not just implementation.
- You will help define technical standards from first principles.
- You will work in a small team where your decisions have visible impact.
- You will balance fast iteration with long-term architectural integrity.
The Ideal Candidate
You've likely:
- Built and scaled complex systems.
- Led architectural efforts that required strong judgment, not just technical skill.
- Worked in startup or incubator-style environments.
- Made tradeoffs between speed and durability and gotten them right.
- Developed strong opinions through experience and know when to change them.
You are excited by the opportunity to build something new within a company that already has meaningful scale and impact.