Map every current and intended data flow, clearly separating demo fixtures, pilot data and later-platform concepts.
FOUNDING ROLE BRIEF / SIMLABS DATA / 02 OF 05
Lead Data Engineer
Design the governed data layer that serves the venue first and, only under separate rights, produces trustworthy evaluation or training records.
THE ROLE / WHAT YOU OWN
About this role.
The first data problem is operational, not extractive: give a venue traceable releases for catalog, place, route and interaction state, then let it inspect and export what its service produced. You will define that contract before the first pilot and build it from the current software demo forward.
Customers control supplied venue-state and service data under contract. Personal interaction records remain subject to applicable law, declared controller and processor roles, lawful basis, notice, purpose limitation and data-subject rights. Internal training, cross-venue learning and third-party licensing each require a separate permission. Where those rights exist, you will turn aligned intent, state, action, correction and outcome into datasets with provenance rather than a warehouse of raw conversations.
THE RAMP / START WITH WHAT EXISTS
Your first 90 days.
Every role starts with real work on the current software prototype and the first pilot plan. We will agree the milestones together and measure the result.
Implement the first governed event pipeline against synthetic demo fixtures, with schema validation, retention tests and replay.
Define the pilot data contract and sample exports, including explicit controls for service use, internal training and third-party licensing.
RESPONSIBILITIES / THE WORK
What you will do.
- 01
Design a fit-for-stage data platform for venue state, interactions and operational events
- 02
Build governed ingestion, processing, storage and export paths from the software demo toward the first Terminal pilot
- 03
Give customers access, retention, deletion, export and audit controls over their data
- 04
Enforce separate rights for service delivery, internal evaluation, model training, cross-venue learning and third-party licensing
- 05
Deliver provenance-rich evaluation records to the research team only when policy permits
- 06
Build experience-intelligence products: demand patterns, route friction and unresolved-intent analytics
- 07
Own data quality, lineage and observability across the platform
TECH / THE STACK
What you will work with.
The current Terminal is a local software demo. Deployment profiles may combine local, edge and cloud components; every provider must earn its place on latency, privacy, cost and reliability.
Pilot first
- Python and SQL
- A relational store plus object storage
- Versioned schemas and replayable events
- Tests for retention, deletion and export
Governance
- Provenance and purpose metadata
- Access control and audit trails
- Documented lawful basis and data-subject workflows
Scale only when earned
- Batch or streaming engines selected from measured load
- Orchestration and warehouse layers added when the pilot needs them
- Infrastructure automation proportional to the deployment
QUALIFICATIONS / THE BAR
What you bring.
Must have
- 6+ years of data engineering with production ownership of streaming systems
- Deep experience on at least one major cloud and the judgment to keep the architecture portable where it matters
- You have built governed data products for external consumers, not only internal dashboards
- Privacy and compliance are design inputs for you, not afterthoughts
- Strong software engineering habits: testing, review, observability
Bonus points
- Data pipelines for machine learning
- Spatial or geodata experience
- IoT or edge fleet telemetry
- Early data hire experience: you have built a platform from zero
THE CULTURE / DAY TO DAY
How we work.
EVIDENCE OVER OPINION
Prototypes, evaluation harnesses, non-team tests and pilot measurements settle debates. The best argument is inspectable evidence.
PROTOTYPE TO PILOT
Work moves from the current software demo to hardware tests and then to a bounded venue pilot. Each stage is labeled, measured and allowed to fail honestly.
SMALL AND SENIOR
No layers, no committees. Five hires, two founders, one room when it matters.
DESIGNED FOR REAL FLOORS
We test for noise, glare, accessibility, latency and failure before a venue depends on the system.
WHAT WE OFFER / TERMS IN WRITING
Know the terms before you decide.
Cash and equity bands, operating location, employment jurisdiction and work-authorization policy are not yet published. Before an interview process advances, we will supply them and separate cash, equity, vesting and any profit-sharing terms in writing.
- A written offer that separates cash, equity, vesting and any profit-sharing terms
- Role scope and decision rights agreed before the start date
- Operating location, employment route, work authorization and travel expectations confirmed before interviews advance
- Direct work with both founders and senior ownership of a defined product layer
- A working pattern agreed for the role, including field research and pilot travel where needed
- A hardware and tools budget agreed before the start date
APPLY / SIMLABS DATA
Tell us what you would build first.
Twelve months from now, a pilot venue should be able to see, govern and export its operational data, and every internal training record should carry a verifiable right and provenance chain. Send a short note with the platform you are proudest of and the messiest data problem you have made boring. A conversation with a founder follows within days.
Express interest in Lead Data Engineer