Staff Engineer Distributed Storage and Transaction

Staff Engineer Distributed Storage and Transaction

Sunnyvale, CA

At Yugabyte
, we are on a mission to become the default transactional database for enterprises building cloud-native applications. Yugabyte

DB is our Postgre

SQL-compatible distributed database for cloud-native apps. Resilient, scalable, and flexible, it runs on any cloud and enables developers to become instantly productive using well-known APIs. We are looking for talented and driven people to join us on our ambitious mission and help us build a lasting and impactful company. The transactional database market is estimated to grow to $64B by 2025.

Yugabyte

DB is cloud-native by design, has on-demand horizontal scalability, and supports geographical distribution of data using built-in replication. This means that we are well-positioned to meet market demand for geo-distributed, high-scale, high-performance workloads.

Modern applications need a cloud-native database that eliminates tradeoffs and silos. Yugabyte

DB retains the power and familiarity of Postgre

SQL by pairing its trusted API with a precision-engineered, distributed, cloud-native architecture. Even better, it’s 100% open source. Many of the world's leading enterprises are migrating from legacy RDBMSs (like Oracle, SQL Server, and DB2) to Yugabyte

DB, to meet their mission-critical app demands.

Location: Sunnyvale, United States
Team: Distributed Storage Technologies (DST)
Position Level: Staff Engineer

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 Yugabyte

DB. 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.

• Lead the design, development, testing, and delivery of core storage and replication features in Yugabyte
  
  DB.
• 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:
  • 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 Yugabyte
  
  DB 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.

• 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.

• 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 Postgre
  
  SQL internals or other relational database engines is a strong plus.
• Prior contributions to open-source systems or database projects.

We work in a hybrid…