Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Responsibilities

• Build and operate the control plane for distributed SQL databases, automating provisioning, failover, backups, and upgrades.
• Design and execute reliability-focused schema and data migrations across multi-tenant database clusters with zero downtime.
• Own and tune the Kubernetes networking stack connecting services to storage, including connection proxies such as ProxySQL.
• Define and deliver quarterly team goals, lead engineers through ambiguous problems, and support delivery and team development.
• Collaborate with product management, design, and analytics on ideation, technical constraints, risks, and trade-offs.
• Create and monitor operational metrics, support availability and on-call efforts, and resolve project, process, technology, and business issues.
• Set and improve code review and design standards, share knowledge through writing and tech talks, and mentor engineers.

Requirements

• 5+ years of experience as a software engineer.
• Experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems at scale using technologies such as Python, Kotlin, AWS, MySQL, Terraform, and Kubernetes.
• Hands-on experience with large-scale production database deployments and distributed database architecture.
• Expertise with database technologies such as MySQL, TiDB, Postgres, Spanner, Vitess, or CockroachDB.
• Strong knowledge of data modeling, SQL tuning, performance optimization, benchmarking, load testing, and capacity planning.
• Experience with connection poolers and proxies such as ProxySQL, RDS Proxy, PgBouncer, or PgDog.
• Experience building database control-plane or automation tooling, executing zero-downtime migrations and major version upgrades, and creating CLI tooling or runbooks.
• Understanding of Kubernetes networking, service discovery, and TLS for debugging service-to-database connection and failover issues.
• Ability to design significant system components, make safe changes in large codebases, write high-quality code, and communicate effectively.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience.

Benefits

• Remote-first work arrangement with flexibility; most roles can be performed from almost anywhere within the country of employment, with occasional office work possible and in-person onboarding for new hires.
• 100% subsidized medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Monthly technology, health, and wellness spending stipends.
• Flexible time off and generous holiday calendars.
• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) with discounted Affirm stock.
• Inclusive interview process with accommodations available for candidates with disabilities.