Data Engineer

Description

Whisker, is the maker of Litter-Robot, Feeder-Robot, and Litterbox.com. At Whisker, we believe pet parenthood can always get better.

As leading innovators in pet tech and refined pet accessories, we work tirelessly to solve problems and deliver smarter insights for pet parents while enriching the lives of pets. Whether it’s a self-cleaning litter box that automates scooping, an automatic feeder that helps pets develop healthier eating habits, or a modern cat tree that delights both humans and felines, we strive to deliver better solutions for consumers while transforming pet care along the way. To us, having a pet is the best thing ever. At Whisker, life together just keeps getting better.

Whisker is based in Auburn Hills, Michigan and Juneau, Wisconsin with 700+ passionate team members.

What You’ll Do:

The Data Engineer will be responsible for ongoing AWS IoT development, integrations with third-party IoT products, designing, building, and maintaining data pipelines, co-management of our agency partner, system debugging and more. The Data Engineer will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data scientists, analysts, and software engineers, to ensure high-quality data delivery and availability.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

This list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as deemed necessary.

• Collaborates with stakeholders to define project requirements and objectives
• Architects scalable, efficient, and high-performance systems
• Designs, develops, and maintains scalable, efficient ETL/ELT data pipelines
• Provides technical guidance and makes decisions regarding technical aspects of projects
• Maintains and expands AWS IoT environment
• Develops new features or bug fixes for backend solutions
• Develops new IoT integrations for connected hardware products
• Works with the design team on implementing new application designs
• Performs unit and functional testing to ensure the quality of the work
• Works with the support team to identify and resolve issues
• Experiments and creates proof of concept prototypes for new features
• Assists with the development of new features or bug fixes for mobile apps
• Leads and mentors Junior Data Engineers
• Will perform additional responsibilities when required

Our Tech Stack:

• Cloud-native, serverless infrastructure on AWS
• REST APIs with AWS API Gateway and GraphQL APIs and engines
• DynamoDB and other serverless databases
• Modern TypeScript and Python codebases

High-Level 2-Year Scope of Product Development:

• Focus: Continued development of our IoT pet backend platform
• Database: Design new and maintain legacy systems
• Transaction Management: Create highly reliable high speed data systems
• Will perform additional responsibilities when required

Requirements

What You’ll Bring:

• BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, and/or equivalent years of experience
• 3+ years architecting backend systems in AWS
• 4+ years of backend development
• 4+ Experience with AWS systems: DynamoDB, Redshift, IAM, IoT Core, ECS, Kinesis, Lambda, API Gateway
• Experience with data visualization and data pipelines
• 4+ years of experience with Python
• 4+ years of experience with containers
• 4+ years of experience with GraphQL or REST APIs
• Proficient in SQL
• Solid understanding of Data Modeling and Data Architecture Design
• Hands on experience with cloud platforms for data processing and storage solutions
• Ability to take ideas from concept to prototype
• Ability to write clean code with an emphasis on maintainability
• Ability to work in cross-functional teams
• Maintains confidentiality of proprietary information
• Strong problem solving skills and ability to maintain a professional atmosphere in a fast-paced environment with numerous interactions and interruptions
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• A high degree of initiative, self-motivation, and ability to motivate others
• Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with Team Members and colleagues
• Comfortable with office pets (cats/dogs)

Not Required but Nice to Have!

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering
• Experience with Agile methodologies
• Experience as a team leader
• Familiarity with IoT systems / hardware integrations
• Familiarity with JIRA, Confluence, or similar tools