Sr. Data Engineer

New York, NY, United States

About Betterment

Betterment is a leading, technology-driven financial services company that offers investing and retirement solutions for retail investors and investment advisors as well as financial wellness solutions, including a 401(k) for small and medium-sized businesses. Our team is passionate about our mission: making people’s lives better. We’re headquartered in NYC, and offer hybrid NY-based (three days/ week in-office) and select, non-NY-based remote positions.

About The Role

The Data Engineering team, pivotal to Betterment's success, builds and maintains the data platform & infrastructure, facilitates our product, engineering and analytics teams, and propels the company's growth by unlocking the data potential.

Senior Engineers contribute to the vision and technical excellence that underpin Betterment's architecture. They help lead in making high-level decisions about what patterns and frameworks will best help us achieve our objectives. They operate with autonomy and ownership. They conceptualize, design, plan and execute projects independently.

This role is based out of our NYC office. Below, we've reflected the base salary range we would offer for this position. Actual salaries may vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and interview performance. The range listed is just one component of Betterment’s total compensation package for employees.

New York City: $165000 - $190000

We offer a competitive equity package, health, dental and vision benefits, and a 401(k) offering with employer match as well as flexible PTO policy. This job is eligible for variable compensation in the form of a discretionary company incentive bonus. For jobs based out of our NYC HQ, we require in office attendance Tuesday through Thursday, weekly.

A day in the life

Data Platform Development and Management : Build new data services that align with engineering objectives. Ensure stability, scalability, and performance of the data platform, including services such as Redshift, Kafka, Airflow, RDS and more.

Data Modeling and Pipelining : Create and optimize data pipelines using Airflow & DBT. Develop, construct, test, and maintain architectures (like large-scale processing systems).

Cloud Operations : Efficiently operate and manage resources in an AWS environment using tools like Terraform and Serverless, including monitoring and alerting set up via  Datadog and Sentry.

Collaboration : Work closely with product, analytics, and other engineering teams to meet their data needs.

Code Quality & Best Practices : Set high standards for SQL and Python, ensuring quality, performance, and security.

Strategic Implementation : Independently identify problems, strategize solutions, and spearhead large-scale projects from ideation to execution.

Mentorship : Act as a mentor to junior engineers, imparting wisdom, techniques, and best practices.

Continuous Improvement : Advocate for best practices in data governance, quality control, and disseminate a culture of continual learning and improvement within the team.

What we’re looking for

5+ years of experience in data engineering with a solid understanding of the modern data technology stack and in a cloud based environment.

Proficiency in SQL, Python, and AWS technologies. Familiarity with Redshift, Kafka, RDS / Aurora, Airflow, DBT, Terraform, and Datadog is a strong plus.

Demonstrated ability to lead large projects, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and influence decision-making.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, coupled with a solution-oriented mindset.

Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of translating complex technical subjects into clear and concise terms.

Bachelor's or higher degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

What being at Betterment means for you

We change lives

Join a community of innovators working to transform financial outcomes for real people. Your work will make an impact, always laddering up to our mission: making people's lives better.

We set audacious goals

We set them for the company, our customers, and ourselves—and we won’t stop until we reach them. We don’t just show up; we give our all, then celebrate our wins.

We value all perspectives

When we collaborate, we're at our best. We believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes and strive to uphold our supportive and inclusive community.

We invest in you with:

A competitive suite of benefits, including: medical, dental, and vision insurance; life and AD&D insurance; STD and LTD benefits, including infertility support and World Professional Association for Transgender Health approved benefits; and generous parental leave.

Flexible paid time off (and encouragement to use it!)

Meaningful opportunity for community building through our 7 Employee Resource Groups

Empowerment to own and lead change and affect the business

Dedicated professional development opportunities

Complimentary financial advice from our team of CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS™️

Lunch from our in-house chef three days a week at our NYC headquarters

What happens next

We’ll take a few weeks to review all applications. If we’d like to spend more time with you, we’ll reach out to arrange next steps, which will include 3-4 sets of meetings with your future colleagues.

In the interview process, we’ll look to learn more about your skills, experiences, capabilities, and motivators. Many of our questions will be aimed at understanding how you might operate here at Betterment. Depending on the role, we may ask you to complete a case study exercise or technical assessments, as we want to collect a robust set of data points to better inform our decisions.

On average, it takes us around 3-5 weeks to make a hiring decision, depending on your availability and sense of urgency. As a best practice, we aim to interview at least 2-3 final round candidates before making a hiring decision. Please note that, as we usually receive an overwhelming number of  applications for open positions, we’re unable to offer individual feedback during the interview process.

We recognize that interviewing for a new role is a big deal. We appreciate you considering Betterment as the next step in your career, and our Recruiting Team is here to support and advocate for you through the interview process!

Please note that Betterment is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.

Come join us!

We’re an equal opportunity employer and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. We strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, predisposing genetic characteristic, domestic violence victim status, arrest records, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.

E-Verify Statement

Betterment participates in E-Verify. We will provide the Social Security Administration, and if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security, with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. Please note that we do not use this information to pre-screen job applicants.

E-Verify Notice

E-Verify Notice (Spanish)

Right to Work Notice

Right to Work Notice (Spanish)

CPRA Language - CA Applicants ONLY

We collect and store personal information for the purposes of candidate tracking (for this role and future opportunities). The information you provide in the course of completing your application will be kept for up to 24 months. We use tools provided by third-party service providers but do not share candidate information for any purpose other than for recruiting. To access the data that is collected, request deletion or to make updates to your candidate profile, please email [email protected] .