Spark Team Engineer

About the role

This position is for a Spark Team Engineer, a hands-on individual contributor role within Arkana Laboratories. The Spark Team Engineer will build proofs of concept and own the data layer for every engagement, ensuring that the work is documented and decisions are made efficiently.

Responsibilities

• Build timeboxed proofs of concept designed to answer specific business questions
• Prepare advanced concepts for handoff to the standardized deploy pipeline
• Own the data layer of every engagement, including finding and assessing source data, building pipelines and models needed, and judging the feasibility of using the data
• Share the discovery work, sitting with end users and absorbing departmental process knowledge quickly
• Evaluate existing applications or problem statements during engagement zero and make decisions to advance, return, or kill
• Set technical guardrails (data boundaries, access, non-goals) attached to Return decisions
• Document decisions and transfer knowledge at every engagement close

Requirements

• Required Experience: Experience spanning data engineering and full-stack software work; the balance should lean data (pipelines, modeling, integration across messy source systems) with production application work behind it
• Demonstrated judgment with prototypes: ones you took to production, and ones you killed along the way
• Required Technical Skills: Strong SQL and PostgreSQL, comfort with Node.js and modern web stacks, ability to pick up unfamiliar codebases quickly, cloud infrastructure experience (Azure/AWS/GCP), hands-on fluency with AI-assisted development workflows (Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode)

Qualifications

Seniority is dictated by the candidate: the mandate is fixed, and the level, scope, and expectations that come with it are calibrated to the person who takes it.

Skills

Genuine skill with non-engineers: draws out process knowledge patiently, explains technical findings without translation loss

Patience and care working alongside non-technical builders

Self-directed, comfortable without heavy process or oversight

Benefits

• Competitive salary
• Generous paid time off and Paid Holidays
• Minimal cost health insurance for you and affordable options for your family
• 401(k) with immediate eligibility and match
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid long term disability coverage
• Affordable vision and dental plans
• Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account availability
• Wellness plan and complimentary yoga classes
• Monthly in-office massages and employer-sponsored lunches