Principal MTS– Distributed Data Platform

At eBay were more than a global ecommerce leader were changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world. Were committed to pushing boundaries and leaving our mark as we reinvent the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts.

Our customers are our compass authenticity thrives bold ideas are welcome and everyone can bring their unique selves to work every day. Were in this together sustaining the future of our customers our company and our planet.

Join a team of passionate thinkers innovators and dreamers and help us connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.

We are looking for a Principal Engineer to lead the architecture and evolution of a large-scale distributed data platform that powers real-time and batch data use cases across the company.

This is a director-level IC role focused on building foundational platform systems that enable teams to produce manage and consume data reliably at scale. You will operate across multiple domains setting technical direction driving key architectural decisions and partnering broadly to deliver platform capabilities used by a wide range of internal consumers.

In addition to strong distributed systems expertise this role will help shape how automation and AI-assisted workflows are incorporated into the platformimproving system operability developer productivity and platform intelligencewhile maintaining strong guardrails and reliability.

What Youll Do

• Define and drive architecture for a distributed data platform supporting real-time streaming and batch workloads

• Lead design of core platform capabilities such as data lifecycle management metadata systems orchestration and developer-facing APIs

• Build systems that improve data reliability consistency discoverability and ease of use across diverse internal consumers

• Drive platform scalability performance and cost efficiency across high-throughput low-latency systems

• Introduce automation and AI-assisted workflows (e.g. intelligent diagnostics validation safe remediation) to reduce operational overhead and improve system resilience

• Establish strong operational foundations: observability SLOs failure handling and production excellence

• Partner with engineering teams across the company to influence adoption standardization and platform evolution

• Mentor senior engineers and contribute to raising engineering and architectural standards

What You Bring

• 15 years of experience building large-scale distributed systems infrastructure or data platforms

• Experience operating at Staff or Principal level leading complex cross-team technical initiatives

• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems (scalability fault tolerance data consistency performance)

• Experience with high-scale streaming systems event-driven architectures or real-time data processing

• Hands-on experience building platform services that support both real-time and offline workloads

• Proficiency in systems programming (e.g. Java Python Go) with the ability to go deep when needed

• Experience running production systems with strong focus on reliability observability and operational excellence

• Familiarity with automation or AI-assisted systems (e.g. agentic workflows intelligent tooling) and sound judgment on where they add value

• Strong communication and ability to influence across a broad engineering organization

Additional Details

eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race color religion national origin sex sexual orientation gender identity veteran status and disability or other legally protected you have a need that requires accommodation please contact us at. We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBays commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities.

We use cookies to enhance your experience and may use AI tools for administrative tasks in the hiring process. To learn how we handle your personal data and use AI responsibly please visit ourTalent Privacy Notice Privacy Center and AI Hiring Guidelines.