Data Engineer II - AI Agents

Job Description

We, at Zendesk, are on a mission to build the most advanced AI agents in CX, and the Insights team, part of AI Agents Advanced, is focused on one of the product’s most critical pillars: delivering intelligent analytics, contextual insights, and decision-support tools that empower users to take meaningful action.

As a Data Engineer on this team, you’ll be central to designing and building the data pipelines, services, and infrastructure that power our product’s AI-driven insights. You’ll work at the intersection of product engineering, analytics, and AI — helping to create robust, reliable, and scalable data systems that support real-time and historical insights for our users.

You will collaborate closely with data scientists, analysts, backend and frontend engineers, and product managers to design data models, define integration patterns, and optimize data workflows. This role is ideal for someone who loves working with structured and unstructured data, thrives on solving complex data challenges, and wants to build the foundation for intelligent, customer-facing features.

Your work will directly shape how our customers access, interpret, and benefit from data-rich AI agents — enabling them to act with confidence and clarity.

What You Bring to the Role

• 3+ years of experience designing and implementing data pipelines and systems in a production environment.
• Proficiency with SQL, DBT and at least one general-purpose programming language such as Python.
• Experience with batch and stream processing frameworks (e.g., Apache Flink, Apache Spark, Apache Beam, or equivalent).
• Experience with orchestration tools (e.g., Apache Airflow)
• Familiarity with event-driven data architectures and messaging systems like Pub/Sub, Kafka, or similar.
• Strong understanding of data modeling and database design, both relational and NoSQL.
• Experience building and maintaining ETL/ELT workflows that are scalable, testable, and observable.
• A product mindset — you care about the quality, usability, and impact of the data you work with.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills — you enjoy solving problems with others and proactively share your expertise.
• Curiosity, humility, and a drive for continuous learning — you seek feedback and growth, and help others do the same.

A Big Plus If You

• Have experience working with cloud-based data platforms (GCP or AWS preferred).
• Are familiar with Looker or other analytics/BI tools.
• Have worked with feature stores or supported ML workflows with production-ready data pipelines.
• Understand CI/CD best practices and infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform.
• Are comfortable navigating large-scale distributed systems and production debugging.

How We Measure Success in This Role

• You deliver clean, scalable, and reliable data solutions that enable product and AI teams to build on top of.
• You write well-tested, well-documented code and continuously improve the performance and reliability of our data systems.
• You actively participate in architecture discussions and help define data standards, schemas, and contracts.
• You collaborate closely across disciplines and contribute meaningfully to planning, reviews, and team goals.
• You grow over time — increasing your technical scope, deepening your understanding of the product, and supporting others through knowledge sharing.

Our Tech Stack

• Languages: Python, TypeScript, SQL
• Data Engineering: dbt, Airflow, BigQuery, Kafka, Pub/Sub, Astronomer
• Storage: BigQuery, MongoDB, Snowflake
• Infrastructure: GCP, AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, ArgoCD
• Observability: Sentry, Datadog
• BI: Looker

Interview Process

We aim to make our hiring process clear and transparent:

• Intro chat with Talent Partner – 30 minutes
• Interview with Hiring Manager – 45 minutes
• Take-home assignment
• Technical interview (task follow-up & role-related) with two engineers – 60 minutes
• Bar raiser interview with Hiring Manager and Senior Leadership – 45 minutes

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration – while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.