Software Engineer II

Software Engineer II

Sunnyvale, CA

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.

Software Engineer – Core Database

Location: Sunnyvale, United States Team: Core Database Position Level: Software Engineer

About Yugabyte

At Yugabyte, we are on a mission to become the default transactional database for enterprises building cloud-native applications. YugabyteDB is our PostgreSQL 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 $150B by 2030. YugabyteDB 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.

Yugabyte offers a culture of innovation, ownership, and technical excellence, with opportunities to impact a cutting-edge distributed SQL database used by global enterprises.

Role Overview

As a Software Engineer on the Core Database Engineering team, you will have an opportunity to work across the SQL layer, query execution, storage, replication, and transactional subsystems of YugabyteDB. You will collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to solve complex problems, ensuring YugabyteDB remains robust, reliable, and performance at scale.

This role is designed for engineers who are excited about databases, distributed systems, and systems programming, and want hands-on experience building a large-scale, production-grade distributed database.

Key Responsibilities

• Write high-quality C/C++ code (and contribute in other languages as needed) with comprehensive automated tests; participate actively in code reviews.
• Add unit tests, integration tests, and regression tests to ensure correctness and stability
• 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.
• Design, implement, and test features in YugabyteDB under the guidance of senior engineers
• Collaborate with engineers across query, storage, and platform teams

Required Qualifications

• 1–4 years 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.
• Understanding of systems engineering fundamentals, including operating systems, distributed systems, and databases.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, algorithms, and operating systems
• Experience programming in C/C++, Java, or similar systems-level languages
• Basic understanding of concurrency, threading, or distributed systems concepts
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, distributed team environment

Preferred Skills

• Coursework or hands-on experience in distributed systems or storage systems
• Exposure to databases, SQL, or PostgreSQL (academic or professional)
• Familiarity with PostgreSQL internals or other relational database engines.
• Familiarity with concepts such as replication, transactions, or fault tolerance
• Contributions to open source database or systems projects.

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

Work Authorization

This position is based in the U.S. Candidates must have authorization to work in the United States. Sponsorship may be considered only under specific circumstances aligned with current regulatory requirements.

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 170,000, 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.

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