Performance Engineer - Open Source

Performance Engineer - Open Source

This role is designed for engineers who bring exceptional rigor and clarity to software performance, efficiency, scalability, and correctness. You will work across the software stack, from CPUs, kernels, and runtimes to applications, databases, and web technologies. As a performance engineering specialist, you will help teams measure complex systems, identify bottlenecks, strengthen testing capabilities, and improve engineering practices. You will contribute to shared performance tooling, measurement frameworks, dashboards, and analytical capabilities while influencing performance culture across engineering teams. The role offers exposure to open source technologies, major silicon architectures, cloud platforms, and diverse technical environments. You will also have opportunities to mentor colleagues, lead initiatives, and apply your expertise across different products and engineering domains.

Accountabilities:

• Drive software performance, efficiency, scalability, and correctness within a specific engineering project.
• Analyze systems, applications, and code to identify bottlenecks, performance regressions, scalability constraints, and opportunities for optimization.
• Develop and improve shared tools, infrastructure, dashboards, measurement frameworks, and reporting capabilities for performance analysis.
• Strengthen test harnesses, pipelines, benchmarks, and engineering processes to make previously difficult-to-measure areas observable and verifiable.
• Apply performance engineering techniques across different layers of the stack, from CPU and kernel behavior through runtimes, databases, applications, and web technologies.
• Collaborate with engineers and open source communities across different regions and technical disciplines to solve complex performance challenges.
• Teach, mentor, and develop performance engineering skills within teams, helping establish a stronger culture of measurement, efficiency, and technical rigor.
• Lead performance initiatives and influence engineering teams through technical expertise, clear communication, and practical recommendations.
• Review code and technical designs with a focus on performance, scalability, efficiency, and correctness.
• Work with hardware and cloud ecosystems to optimize software stacks for different architectures, CPU families, and hypervisors.
• Share insights, tools, and practices across engineering teams to raise performance standards throughout the product portfolio.

Requirements:

• Demonstrated experience improving software performance, efficiency, scalability, or correctness through practical engineering work, personal initiatives, or professional projects.
• Strong experience with Linux, ideally including Debian or Ubuntu environments.
• Solid understanding of performance engineering concepts and the ability to investigate systems across multiple layers of the technology stack.
• Knowledge of low-level CPU behavior, including caches, registers, memory, vectorization, and assembly language, is valuable.
• Experience with kernel performance concepts such as scheduling, context switching, and hardware acceleration is a plus.
• Familiarity with distributed systems performance, tracing, debugging, compiler optimization, profiling, or runtime performance.
• Experience with performance measurement and profiling tools such as eBPF, D-Trace, flamegraphs, or comparable technologies.
• Knowledge of benchmarking frameworks and performance measurement tools such as Phoronix Test Suite is beneficial.
• Experience with one or more programming languages such as C, C++, Rust, Go, Python, Java, JavaScript, Node.js, or Dart.
• Familiarity with database performance evaluation, including query plans, indexing, data modeling, tracing, and monitoring, is an advantage.
• Strong analytical thinking and the ability to translate complex performance data into practical engineering decisions.
• Excellent written and spoken English, with strong presentation and communication skills.
• Demonstrated leadership, initiative, and commitment to mentoring and developing technical skills in others.
• Confidence to exchange feedback, challenge assumptions respectfully, and share ideas openly.
• Strong interpersonal skills, curiosity, flexibility, accountability, and a results-oriented mindset.
• Passion for technology demonstrated through personal projects, open source contributions, technical experimentation, or other initiatives.
• A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics, or a related technical discipline is preferred.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally twice a year for company events lasting up to two weeks.

Benefits:

• Geographically adjusted compensation based on location, experience, and performance.
• Performance-driven annual bonus or commission in addition to base compensation.
• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly in-person team sprints.
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year.
• Annual compensation review.
• Recognition and performance rewards.
• Annual holiday leave.
• Maternity and paternity leave.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Opportunities to travel internationally and meet colleagues in different locations.
• Priority Pass access and travel upgrades for eligible long-haul company events.