Senior Data Engineer

About Caribou

At Caribou, we care about giving people financial freedom so they can focus on what’s most important to them. Today, less than two percent of Americans refinance their auto loans despite drastic increases in the cost of new and used cars. We see huge potential to help folks reduce their monthly auto expenses, as well as increase the predictability of those expenses over time. We do this by building technology to pair customers with community banks and credit unions, and ushering them through the process quickly. On average, our drivers save $115/month on their car loans while protecting their investment long term.

Caribou is led by leaders from the technology, automotive, and finance industries. We’re proud to be backed by a great team of investors, including QED Investors, Goldman Sachs, Moderne Ventures, Accomplice, Link Ventures, Motley Fool Ventures and others.

About the Role

Caribou is seeking a skilled software engineer to drive data as a first-class citizen across the company. You will be part of the Data Engineering team, building our foundational data platform to drive multiple high-level, high-visibility business decisions and intelligence. You will connect engineering teams with analytics and data science teams to deliver BI solutions and Machine Learning insights for products.

You will participate in defining and championing architectural choices to implement self-service analytics and data requests, retaining data quality and trustworthiness,.

Your daily tasks will include:

• Designing, developing, and maintaining our data infrastructure using batch and streaming pipelines to deliver fit-for-purpose data products
• Guiding and championing architecture of data-related initiatives between engineering and analytics
• Building a platform of in-house and vendor software to empower other engineering and analytics teams with self-serve solutions
• Mentoring, training, and sharing data engineering best practices with others within engineering and analytics departments
• Guiding analytics teams with the best practices for the design and development of models and marts fueling BI.
• Designing and guiding dimensional modeling within our data warehouse to support stakeholders in understanding their specific needs using the context of the data lake across our entire company
• Building production-ready Machine Learning Operations frameworks with engineering teams to deliver Data Science insights
• Automate and operationalize data governance workflows (security, quality, and observability) to maintain stakeholder trust in company data
• Troubleshoot and resolve data-related issues
• Building internal data tools and frameworks
• Troubleshoot and resolve production issues reported by customers or internal teams
• Support the product you build at all times, including some off-hours support for emergencies

Our Tech stack is not limited to this list but gives you a general flavor of our ecosystem: Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, dbt, Metabase, VertexAI, Castor, Monte Carlo, Airflow, Kafka, Python, Node, Typescript, GraphQL, Postgres, Argo CD & Workflows, Terraform, Docker, Kubernetes, Pulumi, DataDog.

This role can be based out of our Caribou office in Denver, CO. Alternatively, this role may work remotely from a state where Caribou operates with a preference for the Chicago, IL, Denver, CO, Phoenix, AZ markets.*

Interview Roadmap:

• Recruiter phone interview (45 mins)
• At-home Ruby coding assessment (25-60 mins)
• Hiring Manager video interview (60 mins)
• Final interview loop (combined 4 hrs scheduled across 1-4 business days):
  • System Design Interview (60 mins)
  • Project Delivery & Scope Interview (60 mins)
  • Product Partnership & Business Acumen Interview (60 mins)
  • Collaboration & Communication Interview (60 mins)

About You

You, like us, are driven to achieve your goals. At Caribou, we have just three core values: Give a damn. Velocity. Make the assist. We’re motivated. We race towards our goals. And we help each other along the way.

• 5+ years of work experience in the domain and tech described above.
• Clear and effective communicator in writing, speaking, and coding.
• A collaborator who contributes to enhancing and evolving current processes, so we can succeed as a team.
• Systems thinker who understands the value DevOps is creating a culture of developer-ownership through automation and infrastructure as code
• Empathetic and considerate of not just first-order but second-order and third-order effects of actions taken or not taken.
• Delivers high-quality work quickly, confidently, and with a high degree of intentionality.
• Thinks and operates from the architectural level down to the details. Balances measuring twice and cutting once while always having a plan B for new situations.
• A curious and hungry learner who can apply and share knowledge and a growth mindset with work and colleagues.

How we will take care of you

Everyone at Caribou is a valued team member. Our compensation and benefits package includes:

• Competitive compensation: $148k - $185k
• Equity options
• 401k savings program
• Generous paid time off including: Flexible Time Off (FTO) for all employees and 100% paid parental leave for all parents.
• Robust wellness benefits including company-paid plans for health, dental, vision, mental health, disability and basic life insurance.
• Optional benefits to suit your individual circumstances such as HSAs, FSAs, supplemental life and medical insurance, and pet insurance.
• Up to $1,000 per year for eligible professional development expenses.

Our Core Values

We come from all walks of life and are joined together by our shared values, which guide our work and how we work together.

• Give a damn. What we’re doing matters. We show up determined to deliver results, and we love it.
• Velocity. We’re intentional about where we’re going and we race towards it.
• Make the assist. We have diverse strengths. We offer and ask for help so we all win.

Caribou is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, marital status, military or protected veteran status, genetics, or any other characteristic protected by law. This position is not restricted solely to the responsibilities listed above, and the scope and responsibilities are subject to change. A pre-employment background check is required as a condition of employment.

*Caribou does not currently have employee operations in AL, AK, AR, CT, DE, GA, HI, IA, ID, IN, KS, KY, ME, MI, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, SD, TN, UT, VT, WV, WY.

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