Staff Software Engineer - Database Engine Internals

About Our Team:Join the innovative Database Systems team at OpenAI, where we specialize in high-performance distributed databases. We are the architects behind Rockset, a cutting-edge real-time search, analytics, and vector database that powers all vector search and retrieval augmented generation (RAG) at OpenAI. Rockset underpins core functionalities across all OpenAI product lines and supports various critical internal applications.About the Role:We are in search of engineers who are passionate about distributed systems, performance optimization at a low level (with our core engine developed in C++), and constructing scalable database infrastructures from scratch. As a member of the Database Systems team, you will play a key role in enhancing the core database engine, making significant contributions to ingestion, query execution, indexing, and storage improvements. You will collaborate with multiple teams across OpenAI to unlock new product capabilities and ensure the reliability and scalability of our online database as usage expands exponentially.Your Responsibilities Will Include:Design, develop, and maintain high-performance distributed systems.Identify and address performance bottlenecks to elevate infrastructure capabilities.Define and guide the long-term technical vision and evolution of the system.Collaborate with product, engineering, and research teams to deliver robust and scalable infrastructure.Investigate complex production issues across the entire technology stack.Contribute to incident response, retrospective analyses, and establishing best practices for system reliability.You Will Excel In This Role If You:Possess substantial experience in building, scaling, and optimizing distributed systems.Exhibit a keen interest in database internals, storage engines, or low-latency query systems.Enjoy tackling complex performance challenges in high-throughput systems.Have experience managing and operating production clusters at scale (e.g., Kubernetes or similar orchestration tools).Approach scalability, correctness, and reliability with a rigorous mindset.Thrive in a fast-paced environment where you can make a significant impact.Qualifications:4+ years of relevant industry experience with a focus on distributed systems.Proficiency in C++ or similar low-level programming languages.Strong problem-solving skills and attention to detail.Experience with performance monitoring and optimization tools.Excellent collaboration and communication skills.

About CartesiaAt Cartesia, we are on a mission to revolutionize artificial intelligence by creating interactive intelligence that is accessible and effective in any environment. We have identified a gap in current AI capabilities; existing models struggle to continuously process extensive streams of audio, video, and text data. Our vision is to bridge this gap by developing pioneering model architectures.Founded by PhD experts from the Stanford AI Lab, we are the creators of State Space Models (SSMs), a groundbreaking approach to training efficient, large-scale foundation models. Our team merges profound expertise in model innovation with systems engineering and product design to deliver advanced models and user experiences.Backed by leading investors such as Index Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, along with an array of esteemed advisors, we are well-positioned to push the boundaries of AI.About the RoleWe are seeking a talented Software Engineer specializing in database systems to architect and scale Cartesia’s data infrastructure. You will play a crucial role in implementing robust data governance and developing user-friendly, secure database tools that empower both engineers and non-engineers.Your ImpactDesign and enhance database platforms to ensure scalability to over 100 times current capacity while maintaining uptime, latency, and accuracy.Construct data storage architectures that function seamlessly across various environments including AWS, GCP, on-premises systems, and third-party deployments.Facilitate accelerated development across the organization by providing high-quality database tools and resources to both technical and non-technical users.Implement secure access control mechanisms to ensure sensitive data is restricted to authorized personnel only.Develop scalable data governance systems focused on permissions, auditing, and compliance, utilizing IAM policies, ACLs, and security controls across a large user base.What You BringExpertise with cloud services such as AWS, GCP, or Azure, along with experience using infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform.A proven history of managing database systems during periods of rapid growth in dynamic environments.

Join Anthropic as a Staff+ Software Engineer focusing on Databases, where you'll be at the forefront of our innovative technology solutions. You'll work closely with a collaborative team to design, implement, and maintain robust database systems that empower our AI models and enhance user experience. Your expertise will contribute significantly to our mission of advancing AI safety and usability.

P-97 At Databricks, we are on a mission to fundamentally simplify the entire data lifecycle—from ingestion and ETL to BI and ultimately to ML/AI—through a unified platform. We envision a future where the traditional data warehouse architecture is transformed by an innovative architectural model known as the Lakehouse (CIDR 2021 paper). This open platform merges data warehousing with advanced analytics, effectively addressing critical challenges such as data staleness, reliability, total cost of ownership, data lock-in, and limited use-case support. A key component in realizing this vision is the development of a next-generation decoupled query engine and structured storage system that surpasses the performance of specialized data warehouses while maintaining the flexibility of general-purpose systems like Spark™ to cater to a wide range of workloads, from ETL processes to data science applications. As a vital member of our team, you will engage in the design and implementation of these next-generation systems that aim to leapfrog the current state-of-the-art in the following areas: Query compilation and optimization Distributed query execution and scheduling Vectorized execution engine Data security Resource management Transaction coordination Efficient storage structures (encodings, indexes) Automatic physical data optimization

Join Discord, a platform embraced by over 200 million users monthly, where gaming is at the heart of our community. With more than 90% of our users engaging in gaming, they collectively spend 1.5 billion hours exploring thousands of unique titles each month. Our mission is to enhance the gaming experience by facilitating seamless communication and interaction among players.The Database Infrastructure team is responsible for the development and management of all database systems and data services at Discord. These systems are critical for supporting our vast user base, which includes trillions of messages exchanged each month. Our small yet impactful team works across various domains, including databases, disk storage, and Rust-based data access services, playing a pivotal role in the company's growth and success!Explore our team's insights through our blog posts:How Discord Indexes Trillions of MessagesHow Discord Stores Trillions of MessagesHow Discord Supercharges Network Disks for Extreme Low-Latency

About GustoAt Gusto, we are dedicated to empowering small businesses by managing essential services like payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR, allowing owners to focus on their passions and customers. With offices in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we proudly support over 400,000 small businesses nationwide, fostering a workplace that reflects and celebrates the diverse customers we serve. Explore our Total Rewards philosophy. About the Role:We are seeking a seasoned engineer with extensive knowledge in distributed data systems to help shape the future of Gusto's storage architecture. In this impactful role, you will oversee intricate migrations, design high-scale systems, and establish benchmarks for automation, resilience, and security. Your work in implementing distributed database solutions will facilitate Gusto's ongoing growth and scalability.About the Team:The Datastores Infrastructure Engineering team is responsible for designing, building, and maintaining the data platforms that drive Gusto's products, including MySQL, Postgres, Redis, Kafka, and S3. We are committed to ensuring that our infrastructure is consistent, dependable, and equipped to support Gusto's expanding requirements. As we transition to self-hosted distributed databases, our focus lies in minimizing the blast radius, enhancing operational resilience, and enabling sustainable scalability.Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:Architect, deploy, and manage the complete lifecycle of distributed database systems (TiDB) on Kubernetes at scale, ensuring high availability, data consistency, and operational excellence.Coordinate complex, zero-downtime migrations from monolithic to distributed architectures, including vertical sharding to isolate Product Services.Define and implement efficiency enhancements across the storage infrastructure through query optimization, caching strategies, and workload management.Establish standards and develop reliable automation to maintain data consistency, integrity, and security across distributed systems.Continuously enhance operational excellence by decreasing on-call burdens with sustainable, long-term solutions.Collaborate with product engineering teams and technical partners to enable rapid and reliable product development.

Welcome to Demandbase:Demandbase is pioneering the only AI-driven pipeline platform that empowers go-to-market (GTM) teams to automate robust growth at scale. Our platform offers a cohesive view of data, insights, actions, and outcomes, enabling B2B enterprises to effectively align and execute their account-based GTM strategies with assurance. Trusted by thousands of businesses, Demandbase maximizes revenue, minimizes waste, and streamlines data and tech stacks—all within a single platform.We are dedicated to nurturing careers just as much as we are to developing cutting-edge technology. Our commitment extends to our people, culture, and the community surrounding us. Demandbase has been consistently recognized as one of the Best Places to Work in the San Francisco Bay Area by Fortune and one of the 60 Best Companies to Sell For by Selling Power. Our offices are located in San Francisco, New York, Austin, Seattle, India, and the United Kingdom.Role OverviewAs a Senior Database Platform Engineer, you will architect, develop, and enhance scalable database platforms that support Demandbase’s cloud-native applications. You will be instrumental in shaping the future of database reliability by integrating automation, observability, and compliance into database provisioning, operation, and scalability across AWS environments.This is a senior individual contributor role requiring strong technical ownership and the ability to influence cross-functional teams. You will lead a global Database Reliability Engineering (DBRE) organization, collaborate closely with product and platform teams, and modernize legacy database systems while facilitating a transition towards service-owned, self-service models.Note: The base compensation range for this position applies to candidates based in San Francisco, CA. For all other locations, the compensation range is determined by the primary work location of the candidate. Actual compensation packages are tailored to each candidate and depend on various factors, including skillset, years of experience, and depth of expertise.

Join Cloudflare as a Database Reliability Engineer, where you will play a crucial role in ensuring the reliability and performance of our database systems. You will work collaboratively with our engineering teams to develop, implement, and maintain robust database solutions that support our mission of making the internet safer and faster.Your responsibilities will include monitoring database performance, troubleshooting issues, and optimizing queries to enhance system efficiency. If you are passionate about databases and eager to make an impact in a dynamic environment, we encourage you to apply!

Join Crusoe as a Principal Systems Software Engineer and play a vital role in revolutionizing the tech industry. You will lead the development of innovative software solutions that enhance our systems and platforms, contributing to the overall mission of providing efficient and sustainable computing resources. Your expertise will help shape the future of our software architecture and ensure seamless integration across various applications.

Join us at sfcompute, where we are revolutionizing the future by mitigating risks associated with the largest infrastructure development in history.As the demand for GPU clusters surges, financing these data centers and their supporting infrastructure has never been more critical. Our innovative approach ensures that financing is secured through long-term contracts, providing peace of mind to both lenders and developers.In the fast-paced world of AI and compute resources, we are creating a liquid market for GPU offtake, allowing even small startups to access high-end computing power without the burdens of traditional financing.About the RoleAs a Systems Software Engineer at sfcompute, you will be instrumental in developing a GPU market that brings the advanced software capabilities of hyperscalers to our innovative GPU neoclouds. Your responsibilities will encompass provisioning and monitoring bare metal servers with our virtualization orchestration software, as well as collaborating with our GPU marketplace to facilitate user configurations of VMs, networks, and storage.Key tasks include creating and maintaining a Linux OS image tailored for our tools, ensuring consistent deployment across nodes with specific data-center adjustments, and designing the API protocols and servers for user interaction.Our primary programming language is Rust, which enables us to write efficient code across all system layers, from web servers to kernel coordination. If you are familiar with memory-managed languages like C and possess experience in higher-level programming, we encourage you to apply.

About Lumafield: Established in 2019, Lumafield has pioneered the development of the world's first accessible X-Ray CT scanner specifically designed for engineers. Our intuitive scanner, combined with cloud-based software, empowers engineers to gain unparalleled insights into their projects at a remarkably affordable cost. Engineers face high-stakes decisions daily, necessitating tools that provide maximum visibility into their designs. By delivering exceptional product clarity and AI-enhanced tools that identify issues and produce quantitative insights, Lumafield is set to transform the creation, manufacturing, and application of complex products across various sectors. Our company thrives on impact and is dedicated to delivering the utmost value to our customers, ensuring their needs drive our development. Our talented team consists of leading researchers, industrial designers, PhD holders, innovators, and startup founders, all working collaboratively without egos. We proudly receive backing from prestigious venture capital firms, including Kleiner Perkins, Lux Capital, DCVC, and Spark Capital.Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with an additional office in San Francisco, CA, we are excited to grow our team.About the Role: As a Senior Systems Software Engineer at Lumafield, you will be instrumental in developing the software that drives our cutting-edge, in-line manufacturing CT scanning products. You will engage with state-of-the-art X-ray physics, high-speed detectors, image processing, and embedded systems. Collaborating within a small team focused on our latest hardware, you will harness your expertise to maximize system performance and achieve outstanding results for our clients. This position is perfect for those eager to take ownership of embedded systems, firmware, and software design in an early-stage product environment. This role is based in our San Francisco, CA office, with occasional travel required to our Cambridge, MA office.

About Us:Aurelius Systems is a venture capital-backed startup at the forefront of defense technology, specializing in the development of autonomous, edge-deployed robotic systems utilizing directed energy for counter-unmanned aerial systems (UAS).Our innovative approach involves creating laser systems designed to neutralize drones.With a dedicated team of approximately 10 engineers, former U.S. military personnel, and industry experts, we are committed to advancing America's capabilities in directed energy technology, delivering the first cost-effective and reliable laser weapon systems.Inspired by the philosophy of Marcus Aurelius, we emphasize consistent effort and accountability in our work, embodying a culture of high output without excuses. Following in the footsteps of pioneers like Henry Ford, we embrace innovation and action within our small but impactful team.In addition to our San Francisco headquarters, we are proud to operate a manufacturing hub in Detroit and conduct field tests weekly on our expansive private range.If you thrive on seeing your engineering contributions directly in action rather than being confined to a lab, we encourage you to explore this opportunity.The Position & Your Contribution:As a Robotics Software Systems Engineer, your primary responsibility will be to ensure that all subsystems function seamlessly and efficiently together.Our system comprises a complex array of subsystems including sensing, computer vision, machine learning inference, control systems, power management, and mechanical actuation. Achieving minimal processing time and inter-process latency is crucial for successfully targeting our nimble and evasive UAS.The key area we are looking to fill is real-time systems performance at the hardware interface. You should possess a deep understanding of how software execution impacts physical system behavior, how latency accumulates across CPU, GPU, memory, and I/O, and how bandwidth limitations influence sensor data processing. We need an engineer who is detail-oriented, considering microseconds, memory bandwidth, cache behavior, and system determinism.In our tight-knit team of around 10 engineers, you will have the opportunity to take ownership of systems that are field-tested. The success of our tests is binary—it's either effective or it isn't—and your role will involve iterative improvement based on real-world outcomes.Your Responsibilities:Manage the latency budget for the entire platform, from data sensing to actuation.Profile and mitigate latency across CPU, GPU, memory, and I/O interfaces.Develop and optimize kernels for high-throughput, low-latency operations.Adjust memory access patterns for optimal performance.

About Our TeamThe Platform Systems team at OpenAI is at the forefront of innovation, merging advanced AI technologies with large-scale distributed systems. We are tasked with creating the engineering and research infrastructure essential for training OpenAI's premier models on some of the most powerful, custom-built supercomputers globally.Our team is dedicated to developing the core software for model training, delving deep into the technological stack. This encompasses collective communication, compute efficiency, parallelism strategies, fault tolerance, failure detection, and observability. The systems we design are pivotal to enhancing OpenAI's research capabilities, facilitating reliable and efficient training at the leading edge of technology.We work in close partnership with researchers across the organization, continuously integrating insights from various OpenAI projects to advance our training platform.About the RoleAs a Software Engineer specializing in Platform Systems, you will architect and develop distributed systems that enhance visibility into large-scale training operations, ensuring their dependable operation at scale.Your responsibilities will include designing systems for failure detection, tracing, and observability that pinpoint slow or malfunctioning nodes, identify performance bottlenecks, and assist engineers in optimizing extensive distributed training tasks. This infrastructure is integral to the functionality of OpenAI's training stack and is continuously evolving to accommodate new use cases and increasingly intricate workloads.This position is central to our training infrastructure, merging systems engineering, performance analysis, and large-scale debugging.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign and develop distributed failure detection, tracing, and profiling systems tailored for large-scale AI training jobs.Create tools to identify slow, faulty, or errant nodes and deliver actionable insights into system behavior.Enhance observability, reliability, and performance across OpenAI's training platform.Troubleshoot and resolve issues within complex, high-throughput distributed systems.Collaborate effectively with systems, infrastructure, and research teams to advance platform capabilities.Adapt and expand failure detection and tracing systems to support new training paradigms and workloads.Ideal Candidate ProfilePossesses a deep passion for performance, stability, and observability in distributed systems.Demonstrates proficiency in systems engineering and performance analysis.Has experience in debugging high-throughput distributed systems.Exhibits strong collaboration skills with a track record of working with cross-functional teams.Shows adaptability and eagerness to embrace new technologies and methodologies.

Location: San Francisco, CA (Hybrid: 4 days onsite/week). Relocation assistance available.About Our Team:At OpenAI, we are at the forefront of technology, creating foundational platform software that ensures our consumer products are reliable, secure, and high-performing. Our team collaborates across various system layers, working closely with engineering partners to deliver exceptional capabilities from initial concept to final launch.Role Overview:We are looking for a passionate Systems Software Engineer to lead the design, implementation, and debugging of critical platform components and the pipelines that build and update system images. Your focus will span across operating system layers, emphasizing performance optimization, security enhancements, and in-depth system debugging to deliver production-grade systems that exceed expectations.Key Responsibilities:Design and develop robust system-level components and services within both kernel and user spaces.Configure and maintain essential OS platform services (init, services, networking, security policies) and related tools.Build and manage image and update pipelines, ensuring their reliability, reproducibility, and rollback safety.Instrument system performance through profiling and tracing; enhance CPU, memory, I/O, and energy efficiency.Oversee platform observability and reliability, including logging, crash capture, watchdogs, and diagnostics.Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define interfaces and deliver comprehensive end-to-end features.Establish and promote strong engineering practices such as code reviews, continuous integration, reproducible builds, and effective release management.Work alongside external vendors to support builds and deployments.You Will Excel in This Role If You:Have successfully launched production systems software on modern operating systems.Possess proficiency in C/C++ and a scripting language, with a strong understanding of OS internals including concurrency, memory management, filesystems, networking, and power management.Demonstrate exceptional systems debugging skills utilizing debuggers, tracers, profilers, and logs across kernel/user-space boundaries.Comprehend the configuration of platform services and interfaces, effectively translating requirements into stable, well-documented APIs.Are knowledgeable about user-space foundations including service management, IPC, networking, packaging, and automation.Have experience collaborating with external partners to deliver high-quality software solutions.

Role overview Scale AI seeks a Database Engineer to strengthen and refine its data infrastructure. The position centers on designing, building, and maintaining database systems that deliver high availability and dependable performance. What you will do Design and implement database solutions that align with business requirements Maintain and tune database systems to ensure reliability and speed Collaborate with engineering, product, and operations teams to improve data processing and management Location This role is based in San Francisco, CA or New York, NY.

Why Join Achira?Become part of an exceptional team comprised of scientists, ML researchers, and engineers dedicated to transforming the landscape of drug discovery.Engage with cutting-edge machine learning infrastructure at an unprecedented scale, leveraging extensive computing resources, vast datasets, and ambitious goals.Take ownership of significant projects from conception through to architecture and deployment on large-scale infrastructures.Thrive in a culture that values thoroughness, speed, and a proactive, builder-oriented mindset.About the RoleAt Achira, we are developing state-of-the-art foundation models that address the most complex challenges in simulation for drug discovery and beyond. Our atomistic foundation simulation models (FSMs) serve as comprehensive representations of the physical microcosm, encompassing machine learning interaction potentials (MLIPs), neural network potentials (NNPs), and various generative model classes.We are looking for a Software Engineer who is enthusiastic about distributed computing and its applications in machine learning. You will play a pivotal role in designing and constructing the infrastructure for our ML data generation pipelines, model training, and fine-tuning workflows across large-scale distributed systems.Your expertise will be crucial in ensuring our compute clusters are efficient, observable, cost-effective, and dependable, enabling us to advance the frontiers of ML development. If you are passionate about distributed systems, performance optimization, and cloud cost efficiency, we encourage you to apply.You will be empowered to conceptualize and manage complex workloads across multiple vendors worldwide. Achira's mission revolves around computation, and providing seamless access to our uniquely tailored workloads at the lowest possible cost is critical to our success.

About Our TeamThe Frontier Systems team at OpenAI is at the forefront of technology, responsible for creating, deploying, and maintaining some of the world's largest supercomputers. These supercomputers are pivotal for training our most advanced AI models, pushing the boundaries of innovation.We transform sophisticated data center designs into operational systems and develop the software infrastructure necessary for extensive frontier model training. Our goal is to ensure these hyperscale supercomputers operate reliably and efficiently, supporting groundbreaking AI research.About the RoleAs a key member of the Frontier Systems team, you will be instrumental in designing the critical infrastructure that ensures our supercomputers function seamlessly for pioneering AI research. In this role, you'll address system-level challenges and implement automation solutions that minimize disruptions during large-scale training processes.Your responsibilities will encompass end-to-end ownership of your projects, allowing you to make significant contributions to our mission. This position is ideal for individuals who excel in diagnosing complex system issues and crafting automation strategies to proactively resolve problems across a vast network of machines.Your Responsibilities Include:Enhancing system health checks to maintain the stability of our hyperscale supercomputers during model training.Conducting in-depth investigations into hardware failures and system-level bugs to uncover root causes.Developing automation tools that monitor and resolve issues across thousands of systems, enabling uninterrupted research progress.You May Be a Great Fit If You Possess:7+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering.Strong proficiency in Python and shell scripting.Expertise in analyzing complex data sets using SQL, PromQL, Pandas, or other relevant tools.Experience in creating reproducible analyses.A solid balance of skills in both building and operationalizing systems.Prior experience with hardware is not a prerequisite for this role.Preferred Qualifications:Familiarity with the intricacies of hardware components, protocols, and Linux tools (e.g., PCIe, Infiniband, networking, power management, kernel performance tuning).Experience with system optimization and performance tuning.

Company Overview:Specter is revolutionizing how businesses perceive their physical environments by developing a software-defined control plane. Our mission is to enhance the security of American enterprises by providing them with comprehensive visibility over their physical assets.We are pioneering a connected hardware-software ecosystem that leverages multi-modal wireless mesh sensing technology, reducing the deployment costs and time for sensors by a factor of ten. Our platform aims to be the perception engine for a company’s physical presence, facilitating real-time visibility of perimeters and enabling autonomous operational management.Founded by passionate innovators from Anduril, Tesla, Uber, and the U.S. Special Forces, our co-founders, Xerxes and Philip, are dedicated to empowering our partners in the rapidly evolving landscape of physical AI and robotics.

Join our dynamic team at 360 IT Professionals as a Senior Database Engineer. In this pivotal role, you will leverage your extensive knowledge of SQL to design, implement, and optimize robust database solutions. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure data integrity and support the organization’s data-driven decision-making.As a Senior Database Engineer, your responsibilities will include developing complex SQL queries, ensuring database performance, and implementing best practices for data management. You will also play a key role in mentoring junior engineers and sharing your expertise throughout the organization.