Polaranalytics
Software Engineer (Data & AI)
5mo ago
WorldwideRemotesnowflakesqlaidata engineering
Develop software for data and AI platforms to support omnichannel commerce solutions.
About the company
- Polar is the complete data platform for omnichannel commerce. We connect every data source a brand runs on - Shopify, Amazon, NetSuite, Meta, Google, Klaviyo - into a single Snowflake warehouse, layer a commerce semantic layer on top, then add AI so operators can ask questions, get answers, and automate workflows without writing SQL.
- Our founders came from Turo and Airbnb in Silicon Valley. They built data platforms at scale and wanted to bring that level of sophistication to fast-growing commerce brands. We support 4,000+ merchants, and zero direct competition with a better solution. We serve brands like Quadlock, gorjana, Joseph Joseph, and ARMRA Colostrum.
- We shipped MCP integrations with Claude and ChatGPT, AI automations, and an AI Data Engineer that builds connectors on demand. Our positioning: the data layer to build agent workflows for commerce. Customers tell us things like "this is a dream come true - it feels like the first time they showed me Shopify".
- We’re building the data & AI operating system for eCommerce, think Datadog for retail.
- We ingest messy Shopify, ads, and retention data, make it reliable, and turn it into decisions teams can actually trust.
- We’re hiring engineers who want real ownership.
Responsibilities
- You’ll work on core systems: data pipelines, semantic layers, RAG, AI evaluation, experimentation,and products used daily by thousands of merchants.
- This isn’t a ticket-taking role. You’ll:
- Own problems end-to-end (design → production)
- Tackle hard infra challenges (petabytes, near real-time, high reliability)
- Talk directly to users to understand failure modes + edge cases
- Ship fast prototypes, then harden them into real systems
- Help shape what we build next as we scale
- We move quickly, optimize for leverage, and care a lot about doing things right as we grow. We use Claude Code and Cursor very heavily.
- If you’re looking for more impact and responsibility than your current role offers, apply below :)
Other
- We publish our operating principles internally and we mean every word. Here are the ones that matter most if you're thinking about joining:
- Customer Obsession. Every decision starts with: does this make our users' lives better? If the answer isn't clear, go talk to a customer before you build anything.
- Own the Number. Every metric has an owner. If it's yours, know it cold - the trend, the why, the plan. Don't wait for someone to ask. If it's off track, you should be the first to say so.
- Raise the Pace. Always ask: what would it take to do this in half the time? Speed is our edge. We try 100 things while the competitor tries one.
- Don't Fail Silently. If it's broken, say it. If you're stuck, raise your hand. Hiding problems is the one thing that will actually get you in trouble.
- Here to Win, Not to Be Right. Quiet ego, loud standards. Don't fight to be right - fight to win together. Be ruthless on quality, never rude about it.
- Optimize for Polar, Not Your Function. "Not my scope" doesn't exist here. If it makes us win, it's your scope.
- We're a remote-first team that runs daily standups, ships weekly, and holds ourselves to a standard most companies talk about but don't enforce. We're transitioning from founder-led intensity to systematic company intensity - which means we need people who can maintain the pace autonomously, not just when someone's watching.
- We believe the best people want to go through a demanding process. We've learned the hard way that great interviewers aren't always great operators - so our process is designed to see how you think, not how you present.
- 1. Motivation screen - A quick call to understand what drives you and whether there's mutual fit
- 2. Live case study - A real scenario where you work through a problem in real time. No prep decks, no take-homes. We want to see how you actually operate
- 3. Leadership conversations - Meet the team, understand the culture, make sure this is somewhere you want to build
- Our hiring bar: if this person started a company, would we want to join them?