“My family lived in several different countries,” Ofir K. says. “Moving wasn’t always easy for us, but as a result, I learned how to navigate situations, think quickly and adapt to new environments. I’ve been independent and self-motivated to make things happen from a young age.”

Now a data engineer on the SEO Core team at Meta, Ofir likens her ability to adapt to having a superpower. “Being able to change course and remain motivated along the way is critical to our success at Meta,” she explains. “I’m grateful for my upbringing because it helped me develop traits that are so valuable here.”

Data engineering at Meta is unique in that each person supports a designated product team. Nadav L., a data engineer explains, “We serve as the link between the business world and the engineering infrastructure. I partner closely with the Data Science team to define what we want to measure and how, and with the Software Engineering team to design the data infrastructure in a way that fully supports these measurements. I then write code to build the data pipelines and everything in between. For the Risk team, this means ensuring the financial services we provide are safe and secure for people around the world to use.”

Ofir joined Meta as a data engineer on the SEO team. Her work helps connect people with relevant and engaging content and businesses on Facebook and Instagram. “Because the team is relatively new, I’m helping build the data infrastructure we need to help developers measure the impact of Meta’s SEO and understand how they can iterate and improve it,” she says. “The data we need to support testing is complex. My goal is to develop the correct infrastructure so our tests are successful and ensure we’re delivering content people love.”

While it may seem as if data engineers mostly work behind the scenes at other companies, they play a critical role in helping Meta realize its mission of bringing the world closer together. “We don’t just work on the analytics side of things,” Tali B., a data engineering manager on the Research Platform team shares. “We think about each product and its impact more holistically.”

Right now, Tali supports a range of products that help teams across the company — including those at Facebook, Instagram and Meta Quest — improve research and collect high-quality user feedback through crowdsourcing.

“Because our work is tied to measuring Meta’s business goals, it’s also highly visible to the leadership team. That’s part of what makes each day so exciting.”

For Nadav, working on a product that enables safe and secure financial services for those who don’t have access to them is inspiring. “We’re helping make the world a more fair place by providing everyone with access to equal and affordable financial services,” he says. “We have the ability to drive massive change for millions of people around the world, which is incredible. Knowing that I’m part of this gives me a strong sense of purpose.”

Ofir started as an intern in 2019 and moved to a full time role after completing her internship program.

“As a full-time team member, the scope and scale of your work increases significantly,” she explains. “Being a data engineer at Meta is a wonderful opportunity because being embedded within a team means you’re often the only data engineer supporting a product. You develop a strong ability to unblock yourself and lead problem solving exercises. You get to forge your own path and build a personal roadmap for growth, which is particularly exciting in an environment where things move so quickly.”

Tali agrees. “At Meta, we work autonomously. For team members who are earlier in their career, there’s a ton of room to grow and work toward complete ownership over a specific product.”

“I truly enjoy what I do as a data engineer at Meta,” Nadav adds. “I loved technology when I was growing up, and I loved being around people. Now I rely on my technical expertise to write code and my love for people to collaborate with my cross-functional partners. People often think soft skills — such as communication and collaboration — can’t be developed, but I disagree. I believe practice makes perfect, and that Meta is an amazing opportunity for this type of growth. You just have to develop the confidence to take a leap and try it out.”

Are you interested in joining the Data Engineering team at Meta? Check out open positions here.