Overview
Just Salad is seeking a Data Engineer to architect and maintain our Snowflake-based data infrastructure as we scale toward 150+ locations. This role is critical to our data-driven growth strategy and AI initiatives, focusing on building robust end-to-end pipelines, optimizing warehouse performance and costs, and enabling cross-functional teams with reliable, real-time insights.
You'll own the technical foundation that powers analytics, board reporting, and business intelligence across restaurant operations, finance, and customer experience. Your work directly enables our AI strategy by building the reliable data context that Gemini agents and automation workflows require. In line with Just Salad’s mission to make everyday health and sustainability possible, you will also support initiatives to reduce Just Salad’s environmental footprint.
Location: NYC (On-site in our NYC office required)
Reports to: CTO
Key Responsibilities
Data Pipeline Architecture & Development
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Design, build, and maintain scalable ETL/ELT pipelines processing millions of transactions across 100+ locations
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Integrate data from core systems including POS, internal management software, data platforms, and delivery aggregators
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Implement real-time and batch processing solutions optimized for restaurant industry cadence (peak lunch hours, daily close-outs)
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Build fault-tolerant integration patterns handling high-volume transactional data
Data Warehouse & Cost Optimization
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Own Snowflake architecture, query performance optimization, and compute cost management
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Forecast data infrastructure costs aligned with 12-month store expansion plans
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Establish and enforce data governance standards, including data quality monitoring and validation frameworks
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Maintain comprehensive data catalogs and documentation for cross-functional stakeholders
Cross-Functional Partnership
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Partner with Data Scientist and Analysts on data governance, mapping, and validation workflows
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Collaborate with Finance to support board reporting, external presentations, and integration roadmap prioritization
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Partner with Operations teams to surface actionable insights from omni-channel order data
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Enable Marketing and Customer Experience teams with unified customer data views
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Build reliable data context that enables AI/ML initiatives and automation agents
Technical Qualifications
Required
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Experience: 2-4+ years in data engineering, with proven enterprise integration experience
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SQL Mastery: Advanced SQL optimization, complex query design, and performance tuning
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Cloud Platforms: Production experience with modern cloud data platforms (Azure preferred, AWS or GCP acceptable)
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Snowflake: Hands-on production experience with Snowflake architecture and optimization
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dbt: Experience with dbt or similar transformation frameworks for modular, testable data models
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Programming: Python for data processing and automation
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ETL/ELT Tools: Experience with orchestration tools (Airflow, Dagster, Prefect, or similar)
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Cross-Functional Solution Design: Ability to translate high-level business requirements into technical specifications, facilitating communication between engineering and non-technical stakeholders to ensure data alignment with organizational goals.
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Strategic Project Ownership: Demonstrated ability to lead data initiatives from inception to delivery, balancing immediate execution needs with long-term architectural health and proactive risk management.
Preferred
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Experience with restaurant, retail, or high-transaction consumer businesses
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Familiarity with POS system integrations (Toast experience a plus)
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Knowledge of financial reporting requirements and accounting system integrations
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Experience with real-time streaming architectures (Kafka, Kinesis)
What Success Looks Like
30 Days:
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Understand existing data architecture and Snowflake configuration
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Complete stakeholder mapping across Finance, Operations, and Marketing
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Identify quick wins for pipeline reliability and cost optimization
90 Days:
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Deploy first production pipeline improvement
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Establish monitoring framework with clear SLAs
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Deliver priority integration (Toast or R365 enhancement)
180 Days:
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Complete Snowflake cost optimization with measurable spend reduction
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Enable self-service analytics for key stakeholders
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Successfully forecast data pipeline and warehouse costs based on planned store expansion for forward-looking 12 months
Benefits:
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Annual Salary of $110,000 - $150,000 + eligible to participate in our corporate bonus program. Salary dependent on experience
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Paid Vacation, Sick Days, and Holidays
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Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
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Voluntary Long-Term Disability, Hospital Indemnity, Accident, Life + AD &D Insurance
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Eligibility to participate in our 401K
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Summer Fridays
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Fitness Discounts
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Pre-tax Benefits (Commuter Benefits, FSA, + HSA)
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Free Just Salad while working
Note: We are unable to provide work sponsorship at this time.
About Us
Just Salad is a fast-casual restaurant chain with a mission to make everyday health and sustainability possible. The brand serves craveable, accessible, plant-centric meals made with homemade dressings, prepped-daily produce, from-scratch recipes and fresh, flavorful ingredients. Guests can choose from over 15 chef-designed salads, wraps, warm bowls, market plates, soups and smoothies, including classic offerings and rotating seasonal favorites. Empowering customers to “Eat with Purpose,” Just Salad is a Certified B Corporation™ and home to the world’s largest restaurant reusable program, as well as the first U.S. restaurant chain to carbon label its menu and offer a Climatarian menu category. The company was founded in 2006 and has over 100 locations across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Washington D.C.
