Data Engineer at MasterClass
Posted on: December 20, 2025 | $142,000 - $170,000 USD
Company Name: Masterclass.com
Team: Data Engineering | Reports To: Data Engineering Manager
Division: Engineering | Employment Type: Full-Time
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Schedule: On-Site (Office-Centric) | Experience Level: 5+ Years
About MasterClass: Where the World's Best Teach
MasterClass is revolutionizing online education as the premier streaming platform where the world's most accomplished creators, thinkers, makers, and leaders share their knowledge and stories. We provide unprecedented access to over 150 instructors and classes spanning Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing, and numerous other fields.
Imagine learning music production in Nas' recording studio, mastering culinary techniques in Gordon Ramsay's kitchen, or understanding filmmaking alongside James Cameron. Our members design their careers with Elaine Welteroth, train to win with Lewis Hamilton, perfect their storytelling with Shonda Rhimes, and unlock negotiation secrets with Chris Voss. This is the transformative power of MasterClass.
With our headquarters in San Francisco, offices in Waterloo, Ontario, and a state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles, we're at a pivotal moment in our growth journey. We're expanding our team to support our mission of making world-class education accessible to anyone, anywhere. If you're passionate about leveraging data and technology to impact millions of lives globally, we want to hear from you.
The Critical Role of Data at MasterClass
Data isn't just important at MasterClass—it's foundational to everything we do. Our data-driven approach shapes business strategies, product development, content creation, and operational decisions. The Data teams serve as the strategic nerve center of our organization, collaborating across departments to drive informed decisions and chart the course for sustainable growth.
Our Data Engineering team confronts complex technical challenges spanning multiple disciplines: data warehouse architecture, cloud infrastructure optimization, data orchestration systems, critical third-party integrations, real-time processing, and much more. We're building scalable systems that power insights for millions of members worldwide.
We're seeking an exceptional Data Engineer who will play a pivotal role in designing, building, and operating our data platform. This position offers the opportunity to solve challenging technical problems while directly enabling our Data organization to deliver insights that shape the future of online education.
What You'll Accomplish
As a Data Engineer at MasterClass, you'll be instrumental in building the data infrastructure that powers our decision-making capabilities:
Infrastructure Development: Design, build, and manage sophisticated data warehouse solutions, storage systems, and data ingestion pipelines that handle massive scale while maintaining performance and reliability.
System Architecture: Implement robust, fault-tolerant systems for data ingestion and processing that ensure data integrity and availability across all business operations.
Metric Development: Develop canonical datasets that track critical product metrics including user growth patterns, engagement behaviors, revenue streams, and content performance indicators.
Business Translation: Transform complex business requirements into elegant data models that support long-term scalability, reliability, and analytical needs across the organization.
Infrastructure Excellence: Enhance and maintain our Data Infrastructure using industry best practices and cutting-edge technologies to guarantee exceptional data quality and system performance.
Service Level Management: Define, implement, and manage SLAs for datasets and production processes, ensuring consistent reliability for downstream consumers.
Continuous Innovation: Drive ongoing improvements to our data infrastructure, empowering teams across MasterClass with best-in-class data tooling and systems.
Cross-Functional Partnership: Build strong collaborative relationships with Data Analysts, Product Managers, and Software Engineers to deeply understand data needs and deliver solutions that exceed expectations.
Technical Leadership: Participate in data architecture and engineering decisions, leveraging your expertise to influence technical direction and best practices.
Data Governance: Build comprehensive lineage tracking and auditability into data pipelines, ensuring transparency and trust in our data systems.
Operational Excellence: Contribute to the reliability of data systems through on-call participation and rapid response to critical incidents when necessary.
Security & Compliance: Ensure data security, integrity, and compliance with industry standards and company policies across all data systems and processes.
What We're Looking For
Required Experience & Skills:
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Professional Experience: 4+ years of hands-on experience in Data Engineering and Data Warehousing roles, with demonstrated ability to build and scale production data systems
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Distributed Systems: Proven experience scaling data environments using distributed processing technologies and frameworks like Spark, Hadoop, or similar platforms
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Technical Proficiency: Advanced expertise in SQL, Python, PostgreSQL, and API integrations. You write clean, efficient code and understand performance optimization
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Cloud Architecture: Extensive experience working in AWS cloud environments, including designing and implementing cloud data warehouses (Redshift, Snowflake, BigQuery), various storage solutions (S3, data lakes), and developing sophisticated ETL/ELT pipelines
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Platform Integration: Demonstrated experience integrating and building data platforms that support Business Intelligence, Analytics, and Data Science initiatives
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Orchestration Tools: Deep expertise with modern ETL schedulers such as Airflow, Dagster, Prefect, or similar workflow management frameworks
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AI & Machine Learning: Knowledge of AI tools including prompt engineering, understanding how data quality impacts LLM performance in RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipelines, familiarity with modern AI technology stacks, and experience integrating AI capabilities into business intelligence solutions
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Communication Excellence: Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to initiate projects proactively, drive them to completion, and explain complex technical concepts to diverse audiences
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Work Authorization: Legal eligibility to work in the United States
What Sets You Apart:
- Experience in fast-paced, high-growth technology companies
- Track record of building data systems from the ground up
- Passion for mentoring and knowledge sharing
- Interest in education technology and content-driven platforms
- Contributions to open-source data engineering projects
Why Join MasterClass
Competitive Compensation: We offer a salary range of $142,000 - $170,000 USD for this position, based on experience and qualifications. This range reflects our location-based compensation strategy for NYC/CA/WA.
Equity Ownership: Share in our success with equity compensation that aligns your contributions with company growth.
Comprehensive Benefits: Enjoy medical, dental, and vision coverage, flexible PTO, and additional benefits designed to support your wellbeing.
Impactful Work: Your contributions will directly influence how millions of people around the world access education and transform their lives.
Growth Opportunities: Work alongside talented colleagues, learn from industry experts, and advance your career in a supportive environment.
Inclusive Culture: Join a diverse team that values different perspectives and is committed to creating an environment where everyone can do their best work.
Our Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
At MasterClass, we recognize that our best work emerges when our team brings together diverse ideas, backgrounds, and perspectives. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation during the application or interview process, please let us know—we're here to help ensure you have the opportunity to showcase your talents.
Compensation Philosophy
Our salary ranges reflect our commitment to paying competitively for our company size and industry position. We acknowledge that the ideal candidate may be less experienced or more senior than outlined in this job description. Should that be the case, we'll communicate an adjusted salary range during the interview process.
Ready to build the data infrastructure that powers world-class education? Apply now to join MasterClass as a Data Engineer and help us scale our impact on learners worldwide.
MasterClass is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Waterloo, Ontario, and a production studio in Los Angeles.
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