Engineering Site Lead
Starburst
India Posted 19 days ago
Skill Required
EngineeringSystem Designdata engineeringDatabricksSnowflakeanalyticsbuildingTestNGPythondesignSparkCloudjQueryRustJavaSQLandAI
Key highlights
- Competitive pay and attractive stock grants as part of the Total Rewards program
- 12+ years of engineering experience, including at least 5 years in a leadership role
- Hands‑on experience with distributed systems, data engineering (Python, Java, SQL, Spark; Trino/Presto a plus)
- Direct engagement with enterprise customers and influence over business outcomes
- Strong collaboration across time zones with Warsaw, Boston, and San Francisco hubs
- Inclusive, diverse culture with flexible paid time off
Role overview
We are seeking a senior engineering leader to anchor and shape Starburst's engineering presence in India. The Director will define the India engineering organization, establish capabilities, and drive outcomes that matter to the company and its customers while partnering closely with engineering hubs in Warsaw, Boston, and San Francisco.
Responsibilities
- Lead engineering efforts in India with a clear focus on outcomes — not headcount targets or activity metrics
- Drive high-impact work in areas such as benchmark and upgrade testing, integration support, and other initiatives that extend Starburst's core platform capabilities
- Partner with European and US counterparts to deliver on shared goals across time zones
- Uphold and evolve engineering standards, delivery practices, and technical culture across India-based work
- Define the shape of the India engineering org in collaboration with leadership — which capabilities to build, in what order, and how to grow sustainably
- Own the local engineering culture: hiring bar, onboarding, retention, and community presence
- Build Starburst's employer brand in India through industry engagement, meetups, and genuine presence in the local tech community
- Engage directly with enterprise customers in India and the broader region — in technical discussions, pre‑sales, and escalations
- Partner with Sales, Solutions Engineering, and Customer Success to translate customer needs into engineering priorities
- Act as an owner of business outcomes, not just a delivery manager — understand what success means commercially and connect engineering work to it
- Build a particularly strong working relationship with the Warsaw engineering hub — the team India will collaborate with most day‑to‑day — while maintaining strong ties with Boston and SF leadership
- Ensure India teams are deeply integrated into the broader org — not treated as a remote extension, but as a core part of how Starburst builds
- Surface opportunities, blockers, and org health signals proactively across the leadership team
- Own business outcomes — understands what Starburst is trying to achieve commercially and engineers toward that, not toward a headcount plan
- Define the work, doesn't just receive it — collaborates with leadership to identify where India engineering can have the highest impact and shapes priorities accordingly
- Earn trust across hubs — Warsaw, Boston, SF; builds relationships through presence, reliability, and quality of judgment, not org chart authority
- Move with conviction in ambiguity — makes good decisions without a complete picture, communicates clearly about uncertainty, and adjusts quickly
- Lead through influence as much as management — as credible with a senior IC on a technical design as with a customer VP in a commercial discussion
Requirements
- 12+ years of overall engineering experience, with at least 5 years in engineering leadership
- Proven track record of building engineering presence in India — ideally from an early, ambiguous stage
- A genuine builder and partner mentality: excited by defining structure, not just running one
- Hands‑on background in distributed systems, data engineering, or adjacent domains (Python, Java, SQL, Spark — Trino/Presto a strong plus)
- Strong ability to hire, grow, and retain senior engineers in a competitive India market
- Experience engaging enterprise customers directly — comfortable representing engineering in commercial conversations
- Strong cross‑timezone and cross‑cultural collaboration skills, particularly with European engineering teams
- Open source community familiarity or engagement
Nice to have
- Experience in the data/analytics space (data lakehouse, query engines, cloud infrastructure)
- Background at companies like Confluent, Databricks, Snowflake, Cloudera, or similar
- Prior experience working alongside or extending teams based in Poland or Central/Eastern Europe
Benefits
- Competitive pay
- Attractive stock grants
- Flexible paid time off
- Competitive Total Rewards program reflecting commitment to a rewarding and supportive work environment
- Intentional, inclusive, and diverse culture fostering deep engagement, authentic belonging, and an exceptional All‑Star experience
- Equal employment opportunity and non‑discrimination policy
Additional details
- Starburst delivers enterprise intelligence at scale by giving organizations secure, governed access to all their data, wherever it lives.
- Built for distributed data environments, Starburst helps enterprises power AI and analytics without the cost and complexity of traditional data consolidation.
- Uses open standards including Trino and Apache Iceberg, enabling trusted access to complete enterprise context while avoiding vendor lock‑in.
- Leading global enterprises trust Starburst to fuel AI, analytics, and enterprise intelligence.
- Starburst operates across hubs in San Francisco, Boston, and Warsaw; the India site will work most closely with the Warsaw engineering hub while staying connected with teams in San Francisco and Boston.
- All‑Stars have the opportunity and freedom to realize their true potential, building alongside top talent, taking ownership of careers, and driving meaningful change.
- Starburst provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type.