Staff Engineer

Role title: Staff Engineer, Data Platform  

Salary range: $130,000 - $180,000 USD 

Location: Chicago-based Hub or fully remote  

The opportunity  

Applied engineers the platforms, data, and intelligent systems moving insurance forward. The work runs in production across agencies and carriers, where quality, speed, reliability, and sound technical judgment matter. In this role, you will lead architecture and technical decision-making across Applied’s customer-facing data platform.  

This newly created individual contributor role reports directly to the leader of Data and Analytics and serves as the senior engineering lead across Data Lake, Data Engineering, Analytics & Visualization, and Data Science. You will help modernize the platform supporting internal products and customers, raise engineering standards, and remain hands-on when the work calls for it. You will influence how data moves from its source through ingestion, preparation, visualization, and consumption by Applied products, AI solutions, and customers.  

What you’ll own  

• Lead architecture and technical decision-making across the end-to-end data lifecycle, from source ingestion and streaming through preparation, visualization, and consumption by products, AI solutions, and customers 

• Drive modern engineering approaches through proofs of concept, technology evaluation, and reimagining existing solutions when a more scalable or efficient path is available 

• Improve the scalability, reliability, accuracy, completeness, and observability of data flowing into and through the Data Lake 

• Guide and contribute to major initiatives, including reducing streaming latency, strengthening observability across more than 4,000 agency GCP projects, and modernizing database architecture away from SQL Server 

• Partner with Software Engineering, Data Engineering, BI Engineering, Data Science, product teams, and senior leadership to resolve difficult technical problems and align teams around sound platform decisions 

• Remain hands-on by designing, prototyping, troubleshooting, reviewing code, and contributing directly to implementation when needed 

• Mentor engineers and build a culture of strong software engineering practices, experimentation, platform thinking, AI-enabled work, and shared technical ownership 

What you’ll bring  

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with a track record of strong technical impact 

• Deep data-focused software engineering experience, with the ability to reason across ingestion, streaming, storage, transformation, visualization, and consumption 

• Strong cloud data platform experience in Google Cloud Platform, AWS, or Azure, including architecture and production problem-solving at scale 

• Experience designing or operating data lake and streaming systems, with practical knowledge of data accuracy, stability, availability, and performance 

• Strong software engineering fundamentals, including the software development lifecycle, source control, code review, automated testing, CI/CD, and production operations 

• Hands-on programming experience with Python, Go, or comparable languages, plus strong SQL and data architecture fundamentals 

• A track record of influencing technical direction across multiple teams without direct reporting authority while balancing strategic guidance with direct technical contribution 

• Experience leading complex platform design or migration decisions and communicating tradeoffs clearly to technical and business stakeholders, or equivalent practical experience 

What could set you apart  

• Production experience with GCP technologies such as BigQuery, Dataflow or Apache Beam, Pub/Sub, AlloyDB or Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL, and Redis 

• Experience with change data capture tooling such as Debezium or an equivalent technology 

• Experience applying AI or machine learning within data platforms or using AI and automation to accelerate engineering work 

• Experience with large-scale, multi-tenant SaaS data platforms, particularly in insurance or another regulated industry 

• A record of modernizing legacy systems, leading low-disruption migrations, and creating engineering standards that teams adopt 

• An entrepreneurial approach that includes testing ideas, building proofs of concept, questioning existing assumptions, and starting fresh when the outcome justifies it 

Your background may bring strengths we have not listed here. If the role and its impact interest you, we encourage you to apply.  

Build a career that moves an industry  

Applied is the connective intelligence transforming how insurance works. We build the platforms, data, and intelligent systems that connect agencies and carriers across the insurance lifecycle.  

Here, careers move with the work. You can own meaningful decisions, build what reaches the market, expand your scope as the business evolves, and work alongside people who bring expertise, curiosity, and care to what they create.  

What you can expect  

• Work with reach: Build products, services, or programs that support agencies, carriers, and teammates across the insurance lifecycle.   

• Ownership with context: Make decisions with a clear view of customer needs, business priorities, and the teammates who bring the work to market.   

• Growth through scope: Expand your impact through meaningful projects, cross-functional exposure, learning opportunities, and stretch work as the business evolves.   

• Built by people: Work with people who bring expertise, curiosity, and care to what they build, and who share accountability for moving the work forward.   

Benefits and support  

Our benefits support your health, time, and life beyond work.  

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•  Medical, dental, and vision coverage 

•  Holiday and vacation time 

•  Health and wellness days 

•  A day off for your birthday 

Compensation transparency  

The anticipated base salary range for this position is $130,000 - $180,000 USD. Starting pay reflects the role’s scope and the successful candidate’s relevant experience, skills, and location.  

Candidate security  

Applied communicates with candidates through an @appliedsystems.com email address or our official careers portal. Our recruiters will never request payment or ask for bank account details, government identification numbers, or other sensitive financial information during initial recruiting conversations.  

Background checks  

Employment is contingent on successful completion of the background checks and verification steps that apply to the role and location.   

Use of AI in recruitment  

Applied may use AI-enabled tools to support parts of the recruitment process, such as organizing application information, scheduling, and workflow administration. Hiring decisions include human review and follow applicable laws and company policy. 

Equal employment opportunity  

Applied Systems is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. We make employment decisions based on job-related qualifications and business needs, without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law.  

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