Software Development Engineer - Cloud Native Databases

Responsibilities

Join Byte Dance’s database development team, where you’ll build and own cutting‑edge database products supporting our global infrastructure. We work on relational databases, distributed caches, key‑value stores, document databases, graph databases, wide‑column stores, search engines, and multi‑model databases. In this role you’ll enhance these services in a cloud‑native environment, embracing intellectual curiosity and problem‑solving.

• Query Processing, including query execution, query optimization, system catalog, and database schema management.
• Distributed Processing, including distributed transactions, lock management, logging/recovery, replication, and intra‑cluster communication.
• Distributed Storage, including blob storage and key‑value stores such as RocksDB, ETCD, or Zookeeper.
• Cluster and system management, including database scale‑out, high availability, backup/restore, monitoring, observability, and diagnostics.
• Partner with product managers and engineers from different teams to build backend support for cloud database service products.
• Design and develop core database system functionalities and related tools.
• Conduct performance and scalability tests and research innovative improvement ideas.
• Design and implement comprehensive unit, functional, and system tests for product quality.
• Participate in release and deployment processes.
• Debug, conduct root‑cause analysis, and diagnose defects.
• Solve unique, large‑scale, highly complex cloud infrastructure problems.
• Participate in the team’s on‑call rotation to maintain high availability.

• Minimum Qualifications:
• Experience with query processing, execution, optimization, transaction management, storage management, backup and restore.
• Experience building large‑scale high‑performance database platforms.
• Experience with storage and distributed systems.
• Strong C/C++, Go, or Java programming skills.
• Knowledge of Linux shell and scripting languages such as Python.
• Preferred Qualifications:
• BS or higher degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field.
• 3+ years industry experience in system or database internals programming.
• Experience in software engineering lifecycle from prior internships, work experience, coding competitions, or publications.
• Curiosity about new technologies and a results‑oriented mindset.
• High creativity and quick problem‑solving capabilities.
• Ability to deliver high‑quality code in a fast‑paced, dynamic agile team.
• MySQL/PostgreSQL software development experience is a plus.

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156,000 - $316,800 annually.

Employees receive day‑one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short‑term and long‑term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, and other benefits. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year, and 17 days of paid personal time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws, including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance and the California Fair Chance Act. The following job duties may be impacted by criminal history:

Byte Dance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs, or other protected reasons. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at