[Remote] Staff Engineer SQL Engine

Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, a distributed PostgreSQL database for cloud-native applications. They are seeking a Staff Engineer on the Languages & Relational Technologies team to design, build, and scale core database features, focusing on SQL layer performance and distributed query planning.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, testing, and release of new database features and enhancements in YugabyteDB
• Write high-quality C/C++ code (and contribute in other languages as needed) with comprehensive automated tests; participate actively in code reviews
• Identify and implement performance improvements — including plan optimization, batching/parallelism, and advanced push-downs to data nodes
• Improve database scalability and throughput as cluster sizes and transaction volumes grow
• Contribute to the open source YugabyteDB project and help strengthen our distributed SQL capabilities across releases
• Troubleshoot and resolve correctness, stability, and performance issues in complex distributed query planning and execution paths
• Mentor and influence other engineers in best practices for database internals, distributed systems, and performance-oriented software development

Skills

• 8+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with a strong foundation in compiled languages such as C/C++
• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science (or related field), or equivalent practical experience
• Deep understanding of systems engineering fundamentals, including operating systems, distributed systems, and databases
• Experience with database internals, compilers, or query planning/optimization is a strong plus
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, distributed team environment
• Experience building large-scale distributed systems and transactional engines
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL internals or other relational database engines
• Contributions to open source database or systems projects
• Prior leadership in technical architecture, performance tuning, and mentoring engineers

Benefits

• Equity (when applicable)
• Benefits including health plans
• Retirement plans
• Unlimited paid time off (PTO)

Company Overview