Staff Data Engineer

In the role of Staff Data Engineer for Concepts Lab you will report to the VP of the Concepts Lab.

We are considering applicants for the location of Los Angeles CA (onsite).

As the Staff Data Engineer for Concepts Lab you will be the technical anchor for everything data in the lab: designing and building the pipelines reports and tooling that turn raw signals from experiments into insights that shape our roadmap. 

You will move fluidly between hands-on analytics work and partnership with PMs designers and engineers across the company. Success in your first year looks like a Concepts Lab where every new idea has a clear trustworthy path from question to data to decision and where the team ships faster because of the foundation you have built.

• Own the reliability of AI systems in the lab including designing eval frameworks instrumenting observability for LLM-based pipelines and building the validation and structured-output layers that make model outputs trustworthy. 
• Architect and build the end-to-end data foundation for Concepts Lab on Databricks (Delta Lake Unity Catalog Spark Databricks SQL) spanning ingestion from AWS and GCP sources through to curated analytics-ready datasets.
• Lead data modeling and transformation work by defining the dimensional models semantic layers and metrics that the lab and our partners across Crunchyroll rely on for experimentation and decision-making.
• Perform hands-on analytics: write the SQL build the dashboards and run the exploratory analyses that turn lab concepts into evidence partnering directly with PMs and product leaders on the questions that matter.
• Set the technical bar for the lab’s data work including design reviews code quality observability cost management and security practices and mentor engineers and analysts who collaborate with us.
• Partner across teams to move successful concepts from prototype into production working at the inflection point between central Data and Platform teams and upstream and downstream Software Engineering teams to hand off systems that scale beyond the lab.

We get excited about candidates like you because…

• You have 12+ years of professional experience building production data systems with a track record of operating as a senior individual contributor or technical lead.
• You have hands-on experience making AI systems production-grade by designing trace-based evaluations instrumenting observability for LLM pipelines (with tools like LangSmith Langfuse or Datadog) and enforcing structured outputs in real production environments.
• You possess deep expertise in Databricks including Spark (PySpark and/or Scala) Delta Lake Unity Catalog Databricks SQL.
• You are equally strong in SQL and dimensional data modeling and have shipped warehouse layers and semantic models that analysts and stakeholders actually trust and use.
• You write production-grade Python and have built data pipelines with modern orchestration tools (Airflow Dagster dbt or similar) on AWS and/or GCP.
• You have done substantive analytics work yourself beyond just enabling others and can take an ambiguous business question and drive it to a clear data-supported answer.
• You have experience working in early-stage ambiguous environments where you define the problem as much as you solve it and you know when to prototype quickly versus when to build for the long term.

• Experience in media streaming or gaming
• Experience working in an innovation lab incubation environment or R&D organization
• Experience with Datadog Mixpannel and Mux

The Concepts Lab is Crunchyroll’s R&D and incubation group focused on exploring new ideas technologies and experiences for anime fans. The team partners closely with engineering product and business leaders to test assumptions build evidence and transition validated concepts into delivery teams.

Our work spans early discovery through beta execution with an emphasis on learning quickly reducing risk and setting teams up for long-term success.

In addition to getting to work with fun passionate and inspired colleagues you will also enjoy the following benefits and perks:

• Receive a great compensation package including salary plus performance bonus earning potential paid annually.
• Flexible time off policies allowing you to take the time you need to be your whole self.
• Generous medical dental vision STD LTD and life insurance
• Health Saving Account HSA program
• Health care and dependent care FSA
• 401(k) plan with employer match
• Employer paid commuter benefit
• Support program for new parents
• Pet insurance and some of our offices are pet friendly!

#LifeAtCrunchyroll  #LI-onsite

What We Do

At Crunchyroll we deliver what anime fans love—anytime anywhere. With the world’s largest anime streaming library we connect fans to the stories characters and creators they love. But Crunchyroll is more than just a destination to watch anime—it's a global ecosystem where anime lives and breathes beyond the screen. From streaming and theatrical releases to merch games news events and music we offer fans immersive experiences that celebrate anime culture in all its forms. Headquartered in the U.S. with teams and reach across the globe Crunchyroll is an independently operated joint venture between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Aniplex of Japan. This unique partnership gives us the power to scale globally while staying rooted in anime’s cultural origins ensuring authenticity and access for fans everywhere. We believe anime is more than entertainment—it’s a way of life. And we’re here to champion that passion every day.

Why Work With Us

We take the People Experience seriously here at Crunchyroll. Join a diverse team of talented ambitious people who treat each other well and believe that how we win is just as important as winning.

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