Lyft

Engineering Manager - Data Platform, Lakehouse Foundation

Lyft$172K — $215K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 3+ years as an Engineering Manager for teams of 5+ engineers
  • Experience managing data infrastructure or platform teams is crucial
  • Proven leadership in multi-quarter platform migrations or architectural transitions
  • Familiarity with lakehouse architectures (Databricks, Snowflake) and modern table formats (Delta, Iceberg, Hudi)
  • Strong background in developing engineers for growth and technical advancement
  • Experience in coordinating cross-organizational initiatives and aligning technical direction
  • Ability to lead geographically distributed teams and foster effective communication practices

Responsibilities

  • Lead the foundational data layer for Lyft, overseeing catalog and metadata management
  • Drive modernization efforts including the migration to Unity Catalog
  • Collaborate with peer Data Platform teams to ensure coherent evolution of foundational systems
  • Define and balance technical direction with everyday reliability needs
  • Mentor engineers across varying experience levels, supporting professional growth
  • Ensure the team demonstrates high ownership and technical rigor in complex environments
  • Promote cross-team engagement and proactive collaboration among engineers

Benefits

  • Extended health and dental coverage, life insurance, and disability benefits
  • Mental health support
  • Family building benefits
  • Child care and pet benefits
  • Health Care Savings Account funded by Lyft
  • RRSP plan with company match
  • Flexible paid time off policy for salaried team members
  • 18 weeks of paid parental leave for all new parents
  • Subsidized commuter benefits and Lyft ride credits
Full Job Description
As the Engineering Manager for the Lakehouse Foundation team, you will lead a group of engineers responsible for the foundational data layer that all of Lyft's data systems and emerging AI workloads are built on. The team owns catalog and metadata management, table formats and storage, and the access patterns and gateways through which other engineering teams interact with Lyft's data. As Lyft converges on a unified lakehouse architecture, this team builds and operates the single source of truth that powers analytics, machine learning, experimentation, and every business decision made from data. You will play a key role in shaping the team's technical direction, partnering with peer Data Platform teams on a multi-year platform evolution, and developing engineers who operate with autonomy on systems of significant scale and complexity.

Lyft's Infrastructure teams build the foundational systems that the rest of engineering depends on to move fast, ship reliably, and scale efficiently. These are high-leverage roles where the work you and your team do has a multiplicative effect across the company. We're looking for experienced leaders who can balance the discipline of operating critical infrastructure with the curiosity to keep evolving how Lyft builds.

Engineering at Lyft is a place where managers and engineers operate with high ownership and strong technical judgment. Our engineers expect their managers to be honest, available, and focused on the work that matters: developing their teams, removing obstacles, and giving people the support they need to do their best work. We build teams that are inclusive, technically rigorous, and have a strong sense of ownership for what they build.
Responsibilities:
  • Lead a team responsible for Lyft's foundational data layer, including catalog and metadata management, table formats (Iceberg/Delta), and the gateway and access patterns that all other data systems build on
  • Drive the team's contribution to Lyft's multi-year lakehouse modernization, including the migration to Unity Catalog and the convergence of metadata across the data stack
  • Partner with peer Data Platform teams (Compute, Data Trust & Governance, Data Orchestration, Streaming) and engineering organizations across Lyft to ensure the foundation evolves coherently with the systems built on top of it
  • Define and own the team's technical direction, balancing platform-level investment with the day-to-day reliability needs of a foundational layer that thousands of pipelines and queries depend on
  • Mentor and guide the professional and technical development of engineers across levels, including senior individual contributors operating at staff level and engineers early on in their careers
  • Ensures the team operates with strong ownership, makes effective decisions in ambiguous and high-stakes situations, and demonstrates technical rigor in a domain where mistakes propagate across the company's data systems
  • Foster a culture of cross-team engagement, where engineers proactively partner with customers and adjacent teams rather than working in isolation
  • Provide ongoing feedback and coaching, recognize individual contributions, and ensure each engineer has clear expectations and support to grow in their role
  • Own your team's deliverables and ensure that the foundational systems they own remain reliable, scalable, and well-understood by the broader engineering organization
Experience:
  • 3+ years of experience as an Engineering Manager, leading teams of 5+ engineers including senior individual contributors
  • Experience managing data infrastructure or platform teams. Direct experience with lakehouse architectures (Databricks, Snowflake) and modern table formats (Delta, Iceberg, Hudi) strongly preferred
  • Track record of leading teams through multi-quarter platform migrations or major architectural transitions, with demonstrated ability to make strategic decisions under ambiguity and navigate cross-team dependencies
  • Experience operating as the primary cross-org partner on initiatives that span multiple engineering teams, including aligning technical direction with peer teams, vendors, and senior stakeholders
  • Track record of developing engineers, including senior individual contributors on a staff trajectory, by matching them to ambitious technical scope and supporting their growth
  • Experience leading geographically distributed teams across time zones, including building communication practices that keep distributed teams operating as one integrated organization
  • Technical background sufficient to contribute meaningfully to architecture and design discussions, evaluate technical tradeoffs, and provide credible direction to senior engineers
  • Experience building inclusive teams with strong ownership culture
  • Excellent written and verbal communication, including the ability to operate at the strategic level with senior leadership and at the technical level with engineers
Benefits:
  • Extended health and dental coverage options, along with life insurance and disability benefits
  • Mental health benefits
  • Family building benefits
  • Child care and pet benefits
  • Access to a Lyft funded Health Care Savings Account
  • RRSP plan with company match to help save for your future
  • In addition to provincial observed holidays, salaried team members are covered under Lyft's flexible paid time off policy. The policy allows team members to take off as much time as they need (with manager approval). Hourly team members get 15 days paid time off, with an additional day for each year of service
  • Lyft is proud to support new parents with 18 weeks of paid time off, designed as a top-up plan to complement provincial programs. Biological, adoptive, and foster parents are all eligible.
  • Subsidized commuter benefits and Lyft ride credits

Lyft highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. This role will be in-office on a hybrid schedule - Team Members will be expected to work in the office at least 3 days per week, including on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Lyft considers working in the office at least 3 days per week to be an essential function of this hybrid role. Your recruiter can share more information about the various in-office perks Lyft offers. Additionally, hybrid roles have the flexibility to work from anywhere for up to 4 weeks per year. #Hybrid

The expected base pay range for this position in the Toronto area is CAD $172,000 - CAD $215,000, not inclusive of potential equity offering, bonus or benefits. Salary ranges are dependent on a variety of factors, including qualifications, experience and geographic location. Your recruiter can share more information about the salary range specific to your working location and other factors during the hiring process.

Lyft may use artificial intelligence to screen applicants, however, Lyft employees make the ultimate selection and hiring decisions.

This job fills an existing vacancy.

About Lyft

Lyft is a transportation network company that was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company operates a mobile app that allows users to request rides from nearby drivers. Lyft provides ride-hailing services in the United States and Canada, and it has expanded into other transportation services, such as bike-sharing and scooter-sharing. The company is known for its pink mustache logo, which was replaced by a glowing dashboard mustache in 2015. Lyft went public in March 2019.
Learn more about Lyft
Size
4,453 employees
Market Cap
$3.5 billion
Industry
Net Income
-$1.7 billion
Founded
2012
5 Year Trend
+56.4%
Revenue
$2.3 billion
NASDAQ

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