Staff Analytics Engineer, Data at Liftoff

, Beijing, China -

Full Time

Start Date

Immediate

Expiry Date

01 Jan, 26

Salary

700000.0

Posted On

04 Oct, 25

Experience

10 year(s) or above

Remote Job

Yes

Telecommute

Yes

Sponsor Visa

Skills

Analytics Engineering, SQL, dbt, Looker, Trino, Spark, Data Modeling, Performance Optimization, Data Governance, Mentoring, Python, AI, Data Warehousing, Incident Management, CI/CD, Data Observability

Industry

Advertising Services

Description

Liftoff is a leading AI-powered performance marketing platform for the mobile app economy. Our end-to-end technology stack helps app marketers acquire and retain high-value users, while enabling publishers to maximize revenue across programmatic and direct demand. Liftoff’s solutions, including Accelerate, Direct, Monetize, Intelligence, and Vungle Exchange, support over 6,600 mobile businesses across 74 countries in sectors such as gaming, social, finance, ecommerce, and entertainment. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, CA, Liftoff has a diverse, global presence. At Liftoff, we’re solving a core challenge for mobile apps: growth. We build machine learning and big data technology that predicts which apps users will enjoy, connecting them in a meaningful way. Our systems process over 4 million requests per second and interact with more than a billion users weekly, operating at a scale seen only in the largest tech companies. We’re profitable, innovative, and experiencing rapid growth. We’re looking for a staff-level analytics engineer to lead high-impact data products and our BI/modeling stack, partnering across Supply to ship reliable, cost-efficient, and scalable solutions. You’ll be self-directed, help set technical direction, and drive multi-quarter epics to completion while mentoring others. Location This role is office-based with 3 days in the office each week, and the required location is Beijing (Guomao). Responsibilities Own & deliver cross-team analytics epics end-to-end (often multi-quarter): scoping, design, implementation, rollout, and adoption, with minimal oversight Set technical direction for our analytics/BI layer (Looker + dbt + Trino/Spark) and data products; lead design reviews and establish guardrails (cost, reliability, privacy, inclusion) Model and govern data: design stable contracts (schemas/SLAs), manage lineage, and evolve domain models that unlock self-service and performance at scale. Optimize performance & cost across engines (Trino, Spark/Databricks): plan-level analysis, join/partitioning strategies, aggregation layers, caching/materialization; set SLOs with monitoring/alerting. Raise the bar on engineering quality: testing, CI/CD, documentation, privacy/security, on-call hygiene; lead incident reviews and drive permanent fixes. Mentor & multiply: coach engineers/analysts, delegate effectively, and contribute to recruiting while holding the bar. Qualifications Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience. Experience: 8–12+ years in data/analytics engineering or adjacent DE/BI roles, including 5+ years owning production semantic models & transformations and 3+ years leading cross-team initiatives end-to-end. SQL & performance: Expert SQL with the ability to read/act on query plans (distributed + warehouse). Proven wins on TB-scale data (e.g., ≥2× latency reduction or ≥30% cost savings) via partitioning, file formats, pruning, aggregations, and caching/materialization dbt at scale: Operated mid-to-large dbt projects (≈100+ models), using incremental models, tests, exposures, macros/packages, CI/CD, and data contracts; strong documentation and naming standards. Looker semantic layer: Owned LookML modeling across multiple domains; shipped governed explores/measures for 100+ users, with version control, code review, release process, and change management that enable self-service analytics. Engines & storage: Hands-on with Trino/Presto and/or Spark/Databricks (distributed plans, join strategies, partitioning, autoscaling); comfortable with Parquet/Iceberg table layouts and query-aware modeling. Reliability & governance: You set SLOs for BI/analytics surfaces, establish monitoring/alerting, manage lineage & SLAs, and run post-incidents to land permanent fixes. Leadership: Self-directed; sets technical direction for a domain, drives multi-quarter epics, mentors multiple engineers/analysts, leads design reviews, and raises the hiring/promo bar. Software fundamentals: Proficient Python and data tooling; strong testing, CI/CD, code review hygiene; privacy/security awareness. AI/LLM enablement: Experience designing or integrating AI-assisted analytics (e.g., chat-to-SQL over a semantic layer, RAG on dbt/Looker docs) with guardrails for access control/PII and an evaluation plan; can quantify adoption or ticket reduction. Nice to Have Ad-tech domain expertise (RTB auction dynamics, mediation, attribution, and LTV). Production ops for analytics infra: GitOps (Argo CD), IaC (Terraform), Kubernetes-based data services; incident playbooks for data/BI. Streaming & CDC: Kafka/Kinesis with Flink or Spark Structured Streaming to power near-real-time analytics. JVM stack: Scala/Java for Spark jobs/UDFs or high-throughput data services. Feature/ML data interfaces: feature marts or stores (e.g., Feast), batch/online syncing, model telemetry hooks. Privacy & governance at scale: row/column-level security, tokenization, policy-as-code; familiarity with GDPR/CCPA impacts. Data observability & lineage tooling: Datadog, Prometheus/Grafana, OpenLineage/DataHub/Amundsen; automated freshness/volume/uniqueness checks. Experimentation: Experience building the foundations for A/B testing — event definitions, consistent metrics, and safeguards for valid results. Multi-cloud / cross-region analytics deployments; Iceberg/Hudi table maintenance (compaction, vacuum, manifest tuning). Location: This is a hybrid (3 days/week in-office) role. Our Beijing office is located in Guomao. Travel Expectations: We offer several opportunities for in-person team gatherings, including but not limited to project meetings, regional meetups, and company-wide events. We expect our employees to attend these gatherings at least once per quarter. These gatherings provide essential opportunities for collaboration, communication, and team building. This role is required to travel (domestically and internationally) a minimum of 1 week per quarter of planning meetings and other work events. Compensation: Liftoff offers all employees a full compensation package that includes equity and health/vision/dental benefits associated with your country of residence. Base compensation will vary based on the candidate's location and experience. The following are our annual salary ranges for this role: RMB 600,000 - 700,000 #LI-JH1 We use Covey as part of our hiring and / or promotional process for jobs in NYC and certain features may qualify it as an AEDT. As part of the evaluation process we provide Covey with job requirements and candidate submitted applications. We began using Covey Scout for Inbound on January 22, 2024. Please see the independent bias audit report covering our use of Covey here. Liftoff offers a fast-paced, collaborative, and innovative work environment where employees are empowered to grow and make an impact. We’re shaping the future of the mobile app ecosystem—join us and help accelerate what’s next. Liftoff’s compensation strategy includes competitive salaries, equity, and benefits designed to support employee well-being and performance. We benchmark compensation based on role, level, and location to ensure fairness and market alignment. Benefits may include medical coverage, wellness stipends, and additional perks based on your country of residence. Liftoff is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Agency and Third Party Recruiter Notice: Liftoff does not accept unsolicited resumes from individual recruiters or third-party recruiting agencies in response to job postings. No fee will be paid to third parties who submit unsolicited candidates directly to our hiring managers or Recruiting Team. All candidates must be submitted via our Applicant Tracking System by approved Liftoff vendors who have been expressly requested to make a submission by our Recruiting Team for a specific job opening. No placement fees will be paid to any firm unless such a request has been made by the Liftoff Recruiting Team and such a candidate was submitted to the Liftoff Recruiting Team via our Applicant Tracking System.

Responsibilities

Own and deliver cross-team analytics epics end-to-end, including scoping, design, implementation, rollout, and adoption. Set technical direction for the analytics/BI layer and lead design reviews while mentoring others.