Summary of Role/Position
The Catalog Automation Specialist is a hands-on, high-autonomy engineer who reports directly to the VP of Data & Catalog. You will co-architect and deliver file and image automation systems that power our catalog ingestion engine (R.I.N.A.) and support cross-functional teams with one-off automation solutions. This role requires production-grade Python skills, a performance-first mindset for very large-scale data processing, and the ability to communicate and coordinate across global teams.
Key Responsibilities
- Rapidly design, implement, and deliver one-off automation tools and scripts to support business teams (reporting, process automation, ETL tasks). (Approx. 45%)
- Build, maintain, and co-architect automation pipelines for R.I.N.A., our primary data/catalog Python based ingestion engine. (Approx. 25%)
- Operate and improve the image pipeline: download, rename, upload, validate, reconcile, and run site-wide 404 checks across millions of images. (Approx. 20%)
- Produce clear documentation, runbooks, and handoffs; coordinate meetings and requirements with internal and external stakeholders. (Approx. 10%)
- Optimize parsing and processing for very large datasets; design for throughput and latency (millions of files processed in hours).
Required Qualifications
- Minimum 3 years of programming experience.
- Strong Python expertise - production development is required.
- Solid programming fundamentals: data structures, algorithms, testing, debugging, and clean code.
- Programmatic networking and file transfer experience (FTP/SFTP/SMB/APIs) - must be comfortable connecting to remote systems and automating file movement.
- Scale & performance experience - comfortable designing and optimizing systems that parse and process millions of files with attention to batching, parallelism, and timing.
- Basic Excel proficiency - able to produce/manipulate spreadsheets for stakeholders.
- Excellent communication and self-starter attitude - able to collect requirements, run meetings, and deliver with minimal supervision. Willingness to join occasional early/late meetings to coordinate with global teams.
- Hybrid in-office and remote, must be able to come into office as needed.
- Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without the need for current or future visa sponsorship.
Nice-to-Have:
- XML parsing experience (ACES/PIES or similar)
- Databricks / datalake familiarity
- Image/CDN experience (metadata, checksums, basic transforms)
- Git/GitHub, version tracking software
- Linux, cron, Docker, cloud object storage (S3/Blob)
A reasonable estimate of the salary range for this position based on job experience, education level, global geographic region, etc: $100,000-$110,000
