Staff Software Engineer - Data Governance

Set technical direction for Plaid's data governance platform. Lead design of distributed backend systems for data deletion, restriction, and tracking. Drive multi-quarter initiatives from ambiguous requirements to shipped infrastructure. Partner with Legal, Privacy, Security, and product teams. Mentor engineers and raise technical standards.

Must-haves: Extensive experience (typically 8+ years) building and operating backend distributed systems at scale in Go, Java, or similar. Track record of leading complex systems design and cross-team initiatives. Strong fundamentals in data stores, consistency, reliability. Ability to turn ambiguous requirements into clear technical plans. Excellent communication with non-engineering partners. Nice-to-have: experience with data privacy, governance, or compliance systems (e.g., GDPR/CCPA).