Principal Cloud Engineer – Async Systems & Pipelines

Why ZenRows?

We’re building the infrastructure for the next data revolution — unlocking access to real-world information at scale. It’s the biggest shift since cloud computing, and we’re still at day one. You’ll be part of a pioneering team shaping how machines see the web, connecting dots, creating knowledge, and amplifying what’s possible for everyone.

If you crave impact, pace and real autonomy — and you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty — you belong with us. Apply today.

What you’ll do

build from zero: design and implement our async orchestration systems from scratch — no legacy, full ownership

scale with intent: architect resilient pipelines that handle billions of asynchronous jobs with retries, rate limits, and fault tolerance

orchestrate complexity: create schedulers, queues, and control logic to track job states, failures, and throughput in real time

balance the system: optimise performance, cost, and reliability across cloud regions with smart backpressure and autoscaling

design for visibility: define SLAs, dashboards, and alerting to make async workloads observable, traceable, and predictable

lead by example: set direction, mentor peers, and drive best practices across event-driven architecture and cloud-native infra

What you bring

architectural mastery: experience designing and operating async pipelines, task queues (e.g. SQS, Kafka, RabbitMQ), and orchestration systems at massive scale

cloud fluency: deep familiarity with AWS and the ability to design resilient, cost-efficient infrastructure using the right tools for the job

infrastructure expertise: comfort building cloud infrastructure from scratch using tools like Terraform — paired with observability stacks such as Prometheus, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry

failure foresight: experience implementing retry logic, rate limits, backpressure, and alerting to make systems reliable and self-healing

language confidence: experience building systems-level infrastructure in a modern backend language, ideally one suited for performance and concurrency

Who you are

product-minded: you approach engineering with a sharp sense for trade-offs — aligning system design with SLAs, reliability targets, and real business impact

collaborative: you thrive in cross-functional setups, partner naturally with product and infra teams, and build seamless alignment around complex, high-impact systems

composed: you stay calm in high-load situations, manage system risk proactively, and communicate clearly to align engineering efforts under pressure

tool-savvy: you choose the right tool for each use case — balancing performance, cost, and long-term maintainability

proactive & accountable: you take initiative, stand behind your decisions, and drive outcomes that scale, even if that means making a call before getting approval

What you get

full ownership from day one: we offer responsibility and scope you won’t find in larger companies

100% remote freedom: work from wherever you thrive

the equipment you need: you choose, we provide

generous learning budget: grow in the direction that matters most to you

All-Star Awards: bi-annual recognition with tailored rewards for stand-out contributors

time to rest: 35 days of paid time off per year, including national holidays of your country

startup pace, startup clarity: expect speed, rawness, and directness — and bring your best self to it

Our values

We are proud of our uniquely agile, fast-paced, and autonomous environment. Our core values of Ownership, Dedication, Impact, Transparency and Agility run through everyone who works for us, and everything we do.

We are a sociable company and don’t let a fully remote model stop us from feeling connected to the place we work and the people we work with. The atmosphere across the business is friendly and supportive, with a constant desire to improve in everything we do!

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Here at ZenRows, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion but recognise that we can always do more. Every job description is subject to scrutiny through a gender bias decoder, ensuring our roles are as inclusive and attractive as possible. Our culture is one that aims to nurture a welcoming and safe working environment for everyone with initiatives that embrace our globally diverse family. We are committed to protecting the mental health of our employees and aim to create a great place to work, whoever you are and wherever in the world you work from.

https://www.zenrows.com/careers

Privacy and Your Data

At ZenRows, we prioritize the privacy and security of data entrusted to us. We are committed to complying with all applicable data protection regulations and industry best practices. As part of our team, you will contribute to creating and maintaining systems that uphold the highest data integrity, confidentiality, and transparency standards. Your role will help ensure that we continue to protect sensitive information, foster trust with our customers, and support a privacy-first culture across our organization.

Please note: Any job offer we may make to you will be subject to your successfully passing background checks.

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