Staff Data Engineer, TCGplayer
Data Systems, TCGplayer
Online marketplace for collectible card games
Open for applications
Online marketplace for collectible card games
201-500 employees
Open for applications
201-500 employees
Company mission
To establish TCGplayer as the most admired company in the hobby collectibles universe
Role
Who you are
- Strong written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of influencing technical decisions and working cross-functionally across engineering teams, technical leaders, and partner functions
- 10+ years of experience designing datastores, data architectures, and data flows for scalable, reliable, and efficient production systems
- Strong experience building and evolving datastores for microservices and event-driven applications (Kafka preferred)
- Deep expertise with relational/transactional databases in production (Postgres preferred), including schema design, indexing, query optimization, execution plans, partitioning, and performance tuning
- Strong understanding of operational/OLTP systems, including how to troubleshoot bottlenecks and support systems that require high availability, reliability, and performance under load
- Ability to define data ownership, service boundaries, and access patterns in microservices-based architecture
- Experience working across multiple data technologies, including relational databases (Postgres preferred), document databases (MongoDB preferred), caching technologies (Redis preferred), and analytics platforms (Snowflake preferred)
- Strong understanding of where different data technologies are most effective and how to make tradeoff decisions based on product, system, and scaling needs
- Experience supporting data governance, lifecycle management, software currency, and operational standards within medium-to-large organizations
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
What the job involves
- The Data Engineering team collaborates across the TCGplayer Technology organization to define appropriate datastore infrastructure, create efficient and scalable database and data flow designs, and resolve scaling or performance challenges as they arise
- The team supports effective datastore usage in aspects such as data architecture, data governance, data lifecycle management, software currency, and security
- As a member of this team, you will partner with other technical leaders to set the direction for our evolving data estate and be a leader in our quest to continually improve the reliability, scalability, and efficiency of the systems which drive the company’s business
- Taking on the role of a staff-level team member at TCGplayer requires applying your vast knowledge, technical proficiency, and teamwork to support key projects and the vision and success of the organization
- Function as a technical leader and advisor within the data technology field at TCGplayer, nurturing the growth and progress of both the company and individual engineers
- Provide technical expertise and insight as you work with other teams to develop data flow strategies and define storage needs for microservices, ensuring scalability, reliability, and alignment with system architecture
- Manage cross-application projects for datastores, emphasizing security, software currency, data governance, and platform migrations
- Research emerging capabilities in both the datastores used by the organization and the broader marketplace to inform long-term strategic planning in the data domain
- Consult on database design for the structures within an application’s datastores and queries/aggregations against those structures, optimizing for performance and scalability
- Write minimal yet effective code, primarily database queries to facilitate data management and manipulation and proof-of-concepts for suggested techniques
- Guide selection of appropriate datastore technologies for new and re-platformed apps, focusing on transactional microservices and event-driven systems to meet current and future data needs
Our take
TCGplayer has established itself as the leading US marketplace for collectible card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! The company has found success through focusing on emphasising the entire customer experience of passionate enthusiasts through multiple community-focused products such as ‘Direct’, a local-store purchasing platform.
Technology has allowed the company to scale at such low-cost that it can facilitate the authentication of more than 100,000 products every day, dramatically improving the experience of enthusiasts used to dealing with scammers. The company has now expanded to serve the wider collectibles market, and in 2022 was acquired by eBay for $295 Million - though it continues to operate its trading-card marketplace autonomously.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
11% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Jun 2021
$35m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Feb 2018
$10m
GROWTH EQUITY VC
Total funding: $45m
Company benefits
- Medical, Dental & Vision
- Life Insurance
- Family Leave Program
- Unlimited Paid Time Off
- Free coaching, counseling and mental health services
- Stock Options for all employees
- Merch
- After-work Activities
- Constant Learning - Monthly classrooms provide a deeper understanding of company operations, while educational resources help every team member evolve personally and professionally
- Game nights complete with card games, board games and video games. (Plus, we have our own Pauper Magic & Pokémon leagues)
- A casual dress code
- Open office with coworking stations for collaboration and quiet rooms for solitude - treadmill desks and yoga balls help you stay active, while a company library, book club and writing group keep your mind inspired
- Laptop
- Hackathons
- Real-time peer-to-peer feedback tools
Company HQ
Downtown, Syracuse, NY
Leadership
Robert Bigler
(CEO)Previosuly General Manager at eBay, Senior Vice President at Holt Renfrew, was a Digital Transformation Director at Selfridges Group and Vice President of Strategy and worked in Corporate Development at Sears Canada.
Share this job
View 2 more jobs at TCGplayer