Senior Software Engineer, Data Platform

About the Role Chime’s Data Platform team builds the infrastructure every engineering and analytics team depends on - ingestion, transformation, quality, governance, and self-serve tooling across batch and streaming workloads. You’ll own core platform systems at scale, design the frameworks other teams build on, and set the technical standards for how data moves through Chime. High autonomy, real architectural trade-offs, production impact from day one. We’re hiring multiple engineers into this role at the senior level. In this role, you can expect to • Design, build, and operate self-serve ETL/ELT frameworks supporting both batch and streaming workloads, with direct ownership of pipeline reliability, data quality SLAs, and schema evolution • Drive the technical roadmap for our data platform - evaluate build-vs-buy decisions, define integration patterns, and set standards that engineering teams across the company adopt • Partner with Product Engineering, Data Science, Analytics, and Marketing as a technical lead to design data contracts, onboard new data domains, and scale ingestion without sacrificing governance • Architect and enforce data lineage, schema registry, and access controls across all domains - ensuring compliance with fintech regulatory requirements (SOX, PII handling) • Own the platform - monitor, alert, debug, and resolve incidents across the data platform with the urgency expected of infrastructure that powers financial products • Raise the technical bar of the team through code review, design reviews, and hands-on mentorship of junior and mid-level engineers • Engineers are required to participate in on-call rotation. Being on call may include responding to incidents outside of regular working hours when necessary. To thrive in this role, you have • 5+ years building, shipping, and operating data infrastructure in production - not just writing pipelines, but owning their reliability, performance, and cost at scale • Strong system design skills - you’ve written design docs, made trade-offs, and delivered the result • Solid understanding of key metrics for data pipelines and experience building solutions to provide visibility to partner teams • Deep proficiency in Python or Java/Kotlin, with strong opinions on testing, code quality, and maintainability in data-heavy codebases • Production experience with the modern data stack, specifically: • A cloud data warehouse (Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift) • Workflow orchestration (Airflow, Dagster, or Prefect) and IaC (Terraform) • At least one streaming technology (Kafka, Flink, or Kinesis) - you understand when batch isn’t enough • Data modeling and transformation frameworks (dbt) • Built or improved observability for data systems - freshness monitoring, row-level quality checks, schema drift detection, and SLA dashboards that engineering and business teams actually trust • Experience operating in a regulated environment (fintech, healthtech, or similar) where data governance, access control, and audit trails are non-negotiable #LI-Onsite #LI-DA1 Below is the base salary offered for this role and level of experience. Full-time employees may also be eligible for bonus(es), competitive equity, and benefits. For commissioned roles, the base salary listed in this job description does not include incentive/variable pay. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience. Wage Notice $187,000—$259,000 USD A little about us At Chime, we believe that everyone can achieve financial progress. We created Chime—a financial technology company, not a bank*—on the premise that core banking services should be helpful, easy, and free. Through our user-friendly tools and intuitive platforms, we empower our members to take control of their finances and work towards their goals. Whether it's starting a savings account, purchasing a first car or home, launching a business, or pursuing higher education, we're proud to have helped millions unlock their financial potential. We're a team of problem solvers, dreamers, and builders with one shared obsession: our members. From day one, Chimers have worked tirelessly to out-hustle and out-execute competitors to bring our mission to life. Their grit and determination inspire us to work harder every day to deliver the very best experience possible. We each bring an owner's mindset to our work, refusing to be outdone and holding ourselves accountable to meet and exceed the highest bars for our teams, our company, and our members. We believe in being bold, dreaming big, and taking risks, while also working together, embracing our diverse perspectives, and giving each other honest feedback. Our culture remains deeply entrepreneurial, encouraging every Chimer to see themselves as stewards of our mission to help everyday Americans unlock their financial progress. We know that to achieve our mission, we must earn and keep people's trust—so we hold ourselves to the highest standards of integrity in everything we do. These aren't just words on a wall—our values are embedded in every aspect of our business, serving as a north star that guides us as we work to help millions achieve their financial potential. Because if we don't—who will? *Chime is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by The Bancorp Bank, N.A. or Stride Bank, N.A., Members FDIC. What we offer for our full-time, regular employees • 🏢 Our in-office work policy is designed to keep you connected - with four days a week in the office and Fridays from home for those near one of our offices, plus team and company-wide events depending on location. Whether you’re coming in regularly or are part of our fully remote program, you’ll stay engaged with your work and teammates. • 💻 Benefits that support your work and life, including backup child, elder, and pet care and subsidized commuter benefits for eligible employees. • ✨ Compreh