Data Platform Engineer – Data Operations (all genders)

STARK is a new kind of defence technology company revolutionizing the way autonomous systems are deployed across multiple domains. We design, develop and manufacture high-performance unmanned systems that are software-defined, mass-scalable, and cost-effective. This provides our operators with a decisive edge in highly contested environments.

We're focused on delivering deployable, high-performance systems - not future promises. In a time of rising threats, STARK is bolstering the technological edge of NATO Allies and their Partners to deter aggression and defend Europe - today.

About the team:

The Data Operations team owns the entire data lifecycle behind STARK's AI stack: collection, acquisition, generation, curation, and management. We run our own data-collection campaigns across Europe, evaluate new sensors and platforms, and build the internal data platform that turns raw recordings into ready-to-use datasets. Everything we produce feeds directly into the perception and autonomy systems deployed on STARK's platforms - a real data advantage is built, not bought. The team is scaling up right now: real scope, direct impact, no legacy.

Your mission:

Data is the fuel of STARK’s AI stack - you build the engine that makes it usable. You own the software backbone of our data platform: the metadata systems, ETL pipelines, data contracts, catalogs, databases, and internal tools that let engineers find, understand, validate, and reuse terabytes of multi-sensor field data in minutes, not days. You treat data context as a product: structured, searchable, version-aware, documented, and traceable from raw recording to processed asset, annotation delivery, dataset, and downstream ML workflow. Today, much of this is manual, scattered, or implicit - your job is to automate it away, support labeling efforts with the right data tooling, and turn operational data into reliable systems.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, and maintain our metadata database and data catalog (datasets, recordings, sensors, labels, lineage)
• Build and operate ETL/ingest pipelines that bring field recordings, synthetic data, and external deliveries into our cloud storage (GCP)
• Own the data management and labeling lifecycle end-to-end: coordinate and communicate with external labeling companies and data subcontractors, track deliveries, run QA reports, and build the operational workflows they work in
• Develop internal enabling tools for the whole AI organization: dataset search and filtering, APIs/backend, dashboards, and self-service data access
• Run data migrations and indexing jobs; keep the catalog consistent and fast as data volume grows
• Handle admin support and user access management - and then automate these support tasks so they stop being manual work
• Establish good engineering hygiene in a young codebase: tests, typing, docs, logging, CI/CD
• Shape the long-term architecture and vision of the data platform together with the team

Qualifications:

• Strong Python
• Experience with data modeling and metadata systems
• Experience designing and operating ETL/data pipelines
• Docker and CI/CD basics
• Hands-on with object storage (GCS, S3, or similar)
• Good software engineering hygiene: tests, docs, typing, logging
• Organized and pragmatic: you can prioritize between a quick fix and a proper solution, and you know when each is right
• Not allergic to support tasks - but technical enough to automate the support away
• Comfortable coordinating with external vendors and non-technical stakeholders

Nice to have:

• Familiarity with ML datasets and labeling workflows (images, video, lidar; annotation formats like COCO)
• Experience with synthetic data generation or GenAI-assisted data workflows (auto-labeling, data augmentation, foundation-model-based curation)
• Experience with GCP services beyond storage (BigQuery, Cloud Run, IAM)
• Experience with data versioning / dataset tooling (DVC, LakeFS, FiftyOne, or similar)
• Experience in a startup environment - comfortable with ambiguity and changing priorities
• Exposure to robotics data formats (ROS bags, MCAP, PX4 logs)

For further information please reach out to

SECURITY CLEARANCE

Due to the nature of our work in the defence sector, candidates must be eligible to obtain and maintain the appropriate security clearance required for this position. Details will be provided during the recruitment process.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

We are an equal-opportunity employer committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.