Staff Data Engineering Lead: Platform, AI, Scientific Services

About SonderMind

At  SonderMind,  we  know  that  therapy  works.  SonderMind  provides  accessible, personalized  mental healthcare that produces high-quality outcomes for patients. SonderMind's individualized approach to care starts with using innovative technology to help people not just find a therapist, but find the right, in-network therapist for them, should they choose to use their insurance. From there, SonderMind's clinicians are committed to delivering best-in-class care to all patients by focusing on high-quality clinical  outcomes.  To  enable  our  clinicians  to  thrive,  SonderMind  defines  care expectations while providing tools such as clinical note-taking, secure telehealth capabilities, outcome measurement, messaging, and direct booking. To follow the latest SonderMind news, get to know our clients, and learn about what it’s like to work at SonderMind, you can follow us on Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter.

About the Role

This is a senior hybrid role in the Applied Science function, encompassing Data Engineering and Data Science. You will function as both a technical manager and a senior contributor to our production data warehouse and computational science services. As a technical manager, you (and your team) will be responsible for designing, building, connecting, and managing platform APIs and services rooted in computational models and AI capabilities. The services encompass both streaming and batch data processing and compute requirements at varying scales of traffic and operate within HIPAA and ISO compliant environments. Your main stakeholders will be the product and data science functions. As a senior contributor, you will set the standard for code deployment and collaboration across the organization, working closely and collaborating with other data engineers and scientists. This role reports to the head of Applied Science and will have a staff seat within the department, having a voice in the planning and strategic direction of our data infrastructure.

Essential Functions

• Design, construct, implement, test, and maintain highly scalable data systems (distributed databases, microservices, APIs, cloud storage, multi-agent AI frameworks).
• Ensure timely and strategically aligned data engineering decisions and execution for product and scientific services.
• Oversee a team of data engineers, providing mentorship and growth opportunities.
• Champion partnership and collaboration with Data Science, Product, and Software Engineering.
• Ensure the creation and enablement of analytics and product experimentation plans within the product development lifecycle.
• Identify and integrate new engineering technologies and software tools to improve cost and performance.
• Translate complex functional and technical requirements into detailed architecture, design, and high-performing software applications.
• Create custom software components and analytics applications in Python and SQL, using Snowflake as the primary data warehouse.
• Troubleshoot data-related issues, perform root cause analysis, and communicate changes to leadership.
• Optimize and ensure end-to-end data warehouse performance.

What does success look like?

Success in this role will be measured by the cost, performance, accessibility, and usability of our production data services across the organization, integrating advanced computational models and intelligence into the SonderMind platform. This includes maintaining high availability, ensuring optimal performance, continuously evaluating new technologies, and implementing robust security measures. Further, success will be demonstrated through the ability to collaborate effectively to define solutions with other technical and non-technical team members across product, data science, engineering, and analytics. The successful candidate will make significant contributions to improving the collective intelligence and sophistication of SonderMind’s data platform, balancing individual engineering contributions with management and oversight of the team.

Who You Are

Required Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• Minimum seven (7) years experience as a Data Engineer (or similar role) with at least two years in a technical lead role managing version-controlled systems and team production deployments.
• Proficient with scripting and programming languages (Python, Java, Scala, etc.).
• In-depth knowledge of SQL and other database-related technologies such as NoSQL.
• Experience with AI/ML in GenAI or data software, including vector databases, will be a strong differentiator.
• Experience with Snowflake, DBT, BigQuery, Segment, etc.
• Experience with AWS cloud services (S3, RDS, Redshift, etc.).
• CI/CD deployment experience with Helm Charts, Terraform, etc.
• Experience with data pipeline and workflow management tools such as Airflow.
• Strong negotiation and interpersonal skills: written, verbal, analytical.
• Motivated and influential – proactive with the ability to adhere to deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
• Self-starter with the ability to multi-task.

Required Skills and Experience:

• Ph.D. in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• Experience and familiarity with HIPAA and ISO security requirements
• Experience with data science and analytics engineering principles is a plus
• Previous people management experience
• Knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes to manage data applications

Our Benefits 

The anticipated salary rate for this role is between $170,000 - $195,000 per year.

As a leader in redesigning behavioral health, we are walking the walk with our employee benefits. We want the experience of working at SonderMind to accelerate people’s careers and enrich their lives, so we focus on meeting SonderMinders wherever they are and supporting them in all facets of their life and work.

Our benefits include:

• A commitment to fostering flexible hybrid work
• A generous PTO policy with a minimum of three weeks off per year
• Free therapy coverage benefits to ensure our employees have access to the care they need (must be enrolled in our medical plans to participate)
• Competitive Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage with plans to meet every need, including HSA ($1,100 company contribution) and FSA options
• Employer-paid short-term, long-term disability, life & AD&D to cover life's unexpected events. Not only that, we also cover the difference in salary for up to seven (7) weeks of short-term disability leave (after the required waiting period) should you need to use it.
• Eight weeks of paid Parental Leave (if the parent also qualifies for STD, this benefit is in addition which allows between 8-16 weeks of paid leave)
• 401K retirement plan with 100% matching which immediately vests on up to 4% of base salary
• Travel to Denver 1x a year for annual Shift gathering
• Fourteen (14) company holidays
• Company Shutdown between Christmas and New Years
• Supplemental life insurance, pet insurance coverage, commuter benefits and more!

Application Deadline

This position will be an ongoing recruitment process and will be open until filled.

Equal Opportunity 

SonderMind does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices based on race, color, creed, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, religion, veteran and military status, marital status, registered domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition (including genetic information or characteristics), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local laws.

Salary : $170,000 - $195,000