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LiveRamp is the data collaboration platform of choice for the world’s most innovative companies. A groundbreaking leader in consumer privacy, data ethics, and foundational identity, LiveRamp is setting the new standard for building a connected customer view with unmatched clarity and context while protecting precious brand and consumer trust. LiveRamp offers complete flexibility to collaborate wherever data lives to support the widest range of data collaboration use cases—within organizations, between brands, and across its premier global network of top-quality partners.

Hundreds of global innovators, from iconic consumer brands and tech giants to banks, retailers, and healthcare leaders turn to LiveRamp to build enduring brand and business value by deepening customer engagement and loyalty, activating new partnerships, and maximizing the value of their first-party data while staying on the forefront of rapidly evolving compliance and privacy requirements.

Are you passionate about designing and architecting high-performance distributed systems at scale? We are seeking an accomplished Principal Architect to drive our technical vision and architect highly scalable distributed computing solutions. As a Principal Architect, your focus will be on the design, implementation, and optimization of distributed systems, including large-scale Spark jobs and complex data workflows. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, this high-visibility, high-impact role will partner with technical and business leaders to shape the future of our core platforms.

You are a hands-on expert with a deep background in distributed computing frameworks, big data (such as Apache Spark), and cloud architectures. You thrive on solving complex architectural challenges and have a track record of delivering robust, scalable solutions in production. You’re a recognized authority who can go deep technically, mentor teams in best practices, and influence architectural direction across the organization. You are excited by both designing the big picture and rolling up your sleeves for the hardest technical problems.

As Principal Architect, you will lead the design and evolution of our data and computing platform, ensure reliability and performance, and represent architectural excellence in front of internal and external stakeholders. You will play a key role in defining technical standards, mentoring engineering teams, and evaluating emerging technologies for continued innovation.

Key responsibilities:

+ Lead the architecture and design of distributed systems, high-performance data processing pipelines—including large-scale Spark jobs—and complex system integrations.

+ Develop and maintain architectural standards and best practices for distributed computing and scalable data platforms (batch and streaming).

+ Serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert on distributed systems, Spark, cloud computing, and data processing technologies.

+ Drive the technical roadmap and strategy in partnership with product, engineering, and business stakeholders.

+ Conduct architecture and code reviews, ensuring reliability, scalability, security, and operational excellence across the platform.

+ Evaluate and prototype new technologies, tools, and patterns to advance system capabilities and efficiency.

+ Mentor engineers and guide teams on distributed computing paradigms, system design, and implementation best practices.

+ Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate business and product requirements into robust, scalable architecture.

+ Ensure the integrity, performance, and scalability of mission-critical systems, championing monitoring, automation, and incident response best practices.

+ Represent the company externally as a thought leader in distributed computing and big data architecture.

Experience and Qualifications:

+ Bachelor’s or Master’s in Computer Science, Engineering, or related technical field (PhD a plus).

+ 10+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, architecture, or similar technical roles, with a focus on distributed computing and large data systems.

+ Extensive experience designing, implementing, and optimizing production-grade Spark applications and distributed data processing solutions.

+ Deep expertise with distributed system architectures (e.g., microservices, event-driven, stream/batch processing, cloud-native).

+ Advanced knowledge of big data ecosystems (Spark, Hadoop, Kafka, etc.).

+ Strong experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and their data ecosystem.

+ Proven ability to solve complex technical problems at scale, with a robust approach to reliability, performance, and security.

+ Skilled in architectural review, technical leadership, and cross-team collaboration.

+ Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including an ability to articulate complex technical decisions and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.

+ Highly ethical, detail-oriented, accountable, and committed to fostering technical excellence.

Preferred Qualifications:

+ Experience in high-growth, dynamic technology companies in the US market.

+ Previous experience as a chief or principal architect for large-scale distributed systems.

+ Contributions to open-source projects or publications in distributed computing or big data communities.

+ Experience working in global or geographically distributed engineering teams.

+ Ability to influence and build alignment without direct authority in a matrixed environment.

The approximate annual base compensation range is $244,000 to $280,000. The actual offer, reflecting the total compensation package and benefits, will be determined by a number of factors including the applicant's experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities, geography, as well as internal equity among our team.

Benefits:

+ People: Work with talented, collaborative, and friendly people who love what they do.

+ Fun: We host in-person and virtual events such as game nights, happy hours, camping trips, and sports leagues.

+ Work/Life Harmony: Flexible paid time off, paid holidays, options for working from home, and paid parental leave.

+ Comprehensive Benefits Package: LiveRamp offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to help you be your best self in your personal and professional lives. Our benefits package offers medical, dental, vision, life and disability, an employee assistance program, voluntary benefits as well as perks programs for your healthy lifestyle, career growth and more.

+ Savings: Our 401K matching plan—1:1 match up to 6% of salary—helps you plan ahead. Also Employee Stock Purchase Plan - 15% discount off purchase price of LiveRamp stock (U.S. LiveRampers)

+ RampRemote:A comprehensive office equipment and ergonomics program—we provide you with equipment and tools to be your most productive self, no matter where you're located

More about us:

_LiveRamp’s mission is to connect data in ways that matter, and doing so starts with our people. We know that inspired teams enlist people from a blend of backgrounds and experiences. And we know that individuals do their best when they not only bring their full selves to work but feel like they truly belong. Connecting LiveRampers to new ideas and one another is one of our guiding principles—one that informs how we hire, train, and grow our global team across nine countries and four continents. Click here (https://liveramp.com/diversity-inclusion-belonging/) to learn more about Diversity, Inclusion, & Belonging (DIB) at LiveRamp._

LiveRamp is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer (AA/EOE/W/M/Vet/Disabled) and does not discriminate in recruiting, hiring, training, promotion or other employment of associates or the awarding of subcontracts because of a person's race, color, sex, age, religion, national origin, protected veteran, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetics or other protected status. Qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for the position in accordance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

**California residents** : Please see our California Personnel Privacy Policy (https://liveramp.com/privacy/california-personnel-privacy-policy/) for more information regarding how we collect, use, and disclose the personal information you provide during the job application process.

**To all recruitment agencies** : LiveRamp does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, LiveRamp employees or any other company location. LiveRamp is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

We are proud to be an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. We believe in diversity and do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.