Staff Engineer Distributed Storage and Transaction

About the role

Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, the AI-ready, multi-modal, distributed PostgreSQL database for cloud-native apps. Trusted by industry leaders including Shopify, Paramount+, GM, Kroger, Fiserv, and NPCI, YugabyteDB has been deployed in over 100 countries and powers more than 5 million clusters worldwide.

Together, our hard-working team of experts and our industry-leading technology are uniquely positioned to meet the demands of modern workloads: geo-distributed, ultra-resilient, and built to scale without limits.

Our Yugabeings (distributed, like our database) span 12+ countries and multiple time zones, sharing expertise from diverse backgrounds and industries.

Role Overview

As a Staff Engineer on the Distributed Storage & Transactions (DST) team, you will play a critical role in designing, building, and scaling the core distributed storage, replication, and transaction foundations of YugabyteDB.

You will work on some of the most challenging problems in distributed systems - including consistency, durability, fault tolerance, performance, and scalability - while collaborating closely with query layer, platform, and cloud teams. This role is ideal for engineers who thrive in low-level systems work and want to shape the future of a globally distributed database.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, testing, and delivery of core storage and replication features in YugabyteDB.
• Write high-quality C/C++ code with comprehensive automated tests; actively participate in design discussions and code reviews.
• Troubleshoot and resolve correctness, stability, and performance issues in complex distributed storage and transactional subsystems.
• Improve database scalability and throughput as cluster sizes, data volumes, and transaction rates continue to grow.
• Build and streamline database management operations, including:
• Horizontal cluster scale-out
• Incremental and point-in-time backups
• Online schema and index operations
• Rolling upgrades and blue-green deployments
• Identify and implement performance improvements across the storage engine, transaction processing, and replication layers.
• Contribute to the open-source YugabyteDB project, helping evolve its storage architecture and operational reliability.
• Mentor and technically influence other engineers in distributed systems design, performance engineering, and systems-level debugging.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong foundation in systems programming using C/C++.
• Bachelor's, Master's, or PhD in Computer Science (or related field), or equivalent practical experience.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems fundamentals, including:
• Replication and consensus
• Transactions and consistency models
• Fault tolerance and recovery
• Experience working on storage engines, databases, or other infrastructure-level systems.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, distributed team environment

Preferred Skills

• Hands-on experience with distributed storage systems, transactional engines, or consensus protocols.
• Familiarity with LSM-tree based storage engines, WALs, snapshots, or compaction strategies.
• Experience with PostgreSQL internals or other relational database engines is a strong plus.
• Prior contributions to open-source systems or database projects.

We work in a hybrid model, with the team together in our Sunnyvale office 2-3 days per week.

Pay and benefits

We feel strongly about equal pay for equal work, and transparency in compensation is one way to help achieve that. The cash compensation for this role is market competitive, with a range of USD 150,000 - USD 250,000, inclusive of variable/incentive for some roles. As well as equity (when applicable), and benefits including health plans, retirement plans, and unlimited paid time off (PTO). The pay range for this position is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. The actual pay will vary based on factors including experience, qualifications, and skill level.