Staff Engineer - Real-Time Merchant Analytics

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Staff Engineer - Real-Time Merchant Analytics

• Remote - Americas
• Engineering & Data

About the role

We're building the future of Real-Time Merchant Analytics at Shopify!

As a Staff Engineer you'll be at the forefront of reimagining how merchant data flows through modern streaming architectures. This isn't your typical infrastructure role – you'll be crafting solutions that challenge conventional approaches to data processing at global scale.

What Makes This Exciting?

You'll work across multiple languages and technologies – Java, Ruby, Python, SQL, Flink, and ClickHouse – choosing the right tool for each challenge, model data elegantly, and turning data pipeline development into a configuration exercise rather than a coding marathon.

You'll tackle fascinating problems: How do you architect lightning-fast real-time modeling that seamlessly combines data from multiple tables? How do you handle late-arriving data in distributed streams? What's the most elegant approach to backfill terabytes while maintaining real-time processing?

We embrace AI and LLMs to accelerate repetitive tasks, freeing you to focus on the creative problem-solving that makes this work truly rewarding.

If you love turning "impossible" requirements into beautiful solutions, this is your playground.

What You'll Do

• Architect, build, and refine high-performance streaming infrastructure tailored to large-scale, real-time merchant analytics.
• Develop tools and frameworks to boost platform efficiency, scalability, and developer experience across the team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate streaming systems with Shopify's broader data ecosystem.
• Partner with product and data teams to influence the technical roadmap and shape the future of merchant analytics.
• Mentor and uplevel engineers on the team, fostering an environment of innovation and technical excellence.

What You'll Need

• Extensive experience in data infrastructure engineering, particularly in building and scaling real-time data platforms.
• Strong knowledge of Apache Flink or similar stream processing frameworks (Kafka Streams, Spark Streaming).
• Proficiency in multiple programming languages (Java, SQL required; Python, Ruby a plus).
• Experience with analytical databases like ClickHouse or BigQuery.
• Strong understanding of containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Deep expertise in handling distributed systems challenges: late-arriving data, exactly-once semantics, backfill strategies, and data consistency.
• Outstanding problem-solving skills with a focus on complex technical challenges at scale.
• A collaborative mindset and the ability to thrive in a diverse, dynamic team environment.

About Shopify

Opportunity is not evenly distributed. Shopify puts independence within reach for anyone with a dream to start a business. We propel entrepreneurs and enterprises to scale the heights of their potential. Since 2006, we’ve grown to over 8,300 employees and generated over $1 trillion in sales for millions of merchants in 175 countries.

This is life-defining work that directly impacts people’s lives as much as it transforms your own. This is putting the power of the few in the hands of the many, is a future with more voices rather than fewer, and is creating more choices instead of an elite option.

About you

Moving at our pace brings a lot of change, complexity, and ambiguity—and a little bit of chaos. Shopifolk thrive on that and are comfortable being uncomfortable. That means Shopify is not the right place for everyone.

Before you apply, consider if you can

• Care deeply about what you do and about making commerce better for everyone
• Excel by seeking professional and personal hypergrowth
• Keep up with an unrelenting pace (the week, not the quarter)
• Be resilient and resourceful in face of ambiguity and thrive on (rather than endure) change
• Bring critical thought and opinion
• Put AI agents and tools to work on the tasks they're built for, and focus on the work only humans can do
• Embrace differences and disagreement to get shit done and move forward
• Work digital-first for your daily work

We may use AI-enabled tools to screen, select, and assess applications. All AI outputs are reviewed and validated by our recruitment team.

Shopifyhttps://www.shopify.com

We hire people, not resumes. If you think you’re right for the role, apply now