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The Tinder flame icon

Principal Data Software Engineer

Location
San Francisco, California
Department
Engineering
Job Type
Full Time
Focus

Our Mission:

Launched in 2012, Tinder® revolutionized how people meet, growing from 1 match to one billion matches in just two years. This rapid growth demonstrates its ability to fulfill a fundamental human need: real connection. Today, the app has been downloaded over 630 million times, leading to over 97 billion matches, serving approximately 50 million users per month in 190 countries and 45+ languages - a scale unmatched by any other app in the category. In 2024, Tinder won four Effie Awards for its first-ever global brand campaign, “It Starts with a Swipe”™

Our Values:

One Team, One Dram Value Image

One Team, One Dream

We work hand-in-hand, building Tinder for our members. We succeed together when we work collaboratively across functions, teams, and time zones, and think outside the box to achieve our company vision and mission.

Own It Value Image

Own It

We take accountability and strive to make a positive impact in all aspects of our business, through ownership, innovation, and a commitment to excellence.

Never Stop Learning Value Image

Never Stop Learning

We cultivate a culture where it’s safe to take risks. We seek out input, share honest feedback, celebrate our wins, and learn from our mistakes in order to continue improving.

Spark Solutions Value Image

Spark Solutions

We’re problem solvers, focusing on how to best move forward when faced with obstacles. We don’t dwell on the past or on the issues at hand, but instead look at how to stay agile and overcome hurdles to achieve our goals.

Embrace Our Differences Value Image

Embrace Our Differences

We are intentional about building a workplace that reflects the rich diversity of our members. By leveraging different perspectives and other ways of thinking, we build better experiences for our members and our team.

The Role:

The Engineering team is responsible for building innovative features and resilient systems that bring people together. We're always experimenting with new features to engage with our members. Although we are a large-scale tech company, the member-to-engineer ratio is very high—making the level of impact each engineer gets to have at Tinder enormous. 

Our growing business always has new needs for actionable information, and our roadmap has exciting, high-value products ready to be designed and many more to be identified. This role will involve working with large-scale data pipelines in near-real-time, batch, and lambda frameworks.

As a Principal Data Engineer at Tinder, you will take the lead in designing, building, and optimizing the next generation of our data platform. This is a high-visibility role and your impact will serve as the backbone for analytics and data-driven product features, empowering teams across the organization to make data-informed decisions. You will be building products that impact a diverse set of consumers, including but not limited to Machine Learning, Analytics, Quantitative Tools, and Revenue verticals.

Where you’ll work:This is a hybrid role and requires in-office collaboration three days per week. This position is located in Palo Alto, CA. We also have offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. 

In this role, you will have the opportunity to:

  • Architect a unified data platform that integrates real-time stream processing, self-service data lakes, and robust ETL pipelines.
  • Design and implement a scalable data lake, focusing on data integration and curation.
  • Develop and maintain an insights pipeline to support Business Intelligence (BI) and advanced analytics use cases.
  • Implement data governance and security protocols to ensure data integrity and compliance.
  • Strong hands-on experience in designing, developing, and leading enterprise-level database systems with a focus on high availability, security, performance, and scalability.
  • Deep expertise in Data Warehouse architecture and integration.
  • Research, design, and implement fast proof-of-concepts to evaluate similar products and technologies.
  • Participate in the strategic development of methods, techniques, and evaluation criteria for projects and programs.
  • Assess build vs buy decisions at every stage, backed by proof of concepts, benchmarking, and other evaluation metrics.
  • Implement processes and systems to champion data quality, ensuring production data is always accurate and available for key stakeholders and business processes.
  • Mentor fellow engineers on best practices for designing and operating reliable systems at scale.
  • Design data integrations and data quality frameworks.

We are looking for:

  • A proactive leader with a growth mindset, who will communicate a clear architectural vision, maintain an efficient shipping pace, and provide education to our firm on the technology we are using.
  • 12+ years of experience in designing and developing data architecture and engineering solutions that have supported massive scale of data volume and computation.
  • Significant experience delivering multi-functional initiatives that directly impact the growth of the business.
  • Experience working with backend and data infrastructure in AWS Cloud.
  • A consistent track record of innovative problem-solving and an inquisitive approach to data engineering challenges.
  • Experience with big data technologies like Flink, Spark, and Kafka.
  • Experience in working with database platforms such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, DynamoDB, and/or Cassandra.
  • Strong programming experience in Python / JVM-based languages (Java / Scala)
  • Knowledge of data governance and security measures.


As a full-time employee, you’ll enjoy:

  • Unlimited PTO (with no waiting period), 10 annual Wellness Days
  • Time off to volunteer and charitable donations matched up to $15,000 annually 
  • Comprehensive health, vision, and dental coverage
  • 100% 401(k) employer match up to 10%, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)
  • 100% paid parental leave (including for non-birthing parents) and family forming benefits
  • Investment in your development: mentorship through our MentorMatch program, access to 6,000+ online courses through Udemy, and an annual $3,000 stipend for your professional development
  • Investment in your wellness: access to mental health support via Modern Health, paid concierge medical membership, pet insurance, fitness membership subsidy, and commuter subsidy
  • Free subscription to Tinder Gold

Salary Range:

$255,000
-
$270,000
a year

Factors such as scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience, education/training, job-related skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and business considerations may influence base pay offered. This salary will be subject to a geographic adjustment (according to a specific city and state), if an authorization is granted to work outside of the location listed in this posting.

We don’t just

accept

difference, we

celebrate

it

We strive to build a workplace that reflects the rich diversity of our members around the world, and we value unique perspectives and backgrounds. Even if you don’t meet all the listed qualifications, we invite you to apply and show us how your skills could transfer. Tinder is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace where we welcome people of all sexes, gender identities, races, ethnicities, disabilities, and other lived experiences.

Learn more about inclusion at Tinder
Right Arrow

If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, pre-employment testing, or a job interview or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, please contact employeebenefits@matchgroup.com.

We don’t just

accept

difference, we

celebrate

it

We strive to build a workplace that reflects the rich diversity of our members around the world, and we value unique perspectives and backgrounds. Even if you don’t meet all the listed qualifications, we invite you to apply and show us how your skills could transfer. Tinder is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace where we welcome people of all sexes, gender identities, races, ethnicities, disabilities, and other lived experiences.

Learn more about inclusion at Tinder
Right Arrow

If you require reasonable accommodation to complete a job application, pre-employment testing, or a job interview or to otherwise participate in the hiring process, please speak to your Talent Acquisition Partner directly.

Ready to make sparks fly at Tinder?

Apply for this role

What life is like on the

Engineering

team

"As an engineer, I'm part of a small, self-contained and fast-moving pod. We have a leading voice in new feature ideation and are empowered to take products from an abstract vision to availability in a matter of months."
Serge Vartanov
,
Staff Software Engineer, Backend

Our hottest benefits for full time employees

Our hottest benefits for interns

Parental Leave

100% paid parental leave (including for non-birthing parents) and family forming benefits

Plan for the Future

100% 401(k) employer match up to 10%, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

Personal Growth

Mentorship through our MentorMatch program, access to 6,000+ online courses through Udemy, and an annual $3,000 stipend for your professional development

Give back

Time off to volunteer and charitable donations matched up to $15,000 annually

Investment in your wellness

Access to mental health support via Modern Health, paid concierge medical membership, pet insurance, fitness membership subsidy, and commuter subsidy

Unlimited PTO

With no waiting period and 10 annual wellness days

Stories from Life at Tinder

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