Principal Software Engineer - OpenTelemetry Instrumentation (Remote, UK)

Grafana Labs; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 96,000 - 121,000; Full time

Job summary

Grafana Labs is seeking a Principal Software Engineer specializing in OpenTelemetry Instrumentation. This remote-first role requires strong technical leadership and communication skills, with responsibilities including driving the technical direction, engaging with the OpenTelemetry community, and mentoring team members. The competitive salary reflects the strategic influence expected at this director-level position.

Benefits

Equity

Bonuses

Qualifications

• Experience with OpenTelemetry or Prometheus.
• Curiosity for learning new languages and frameworks.
• Mentoring skills to help grow team capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Support and lead the technical direction of the team.
• Be recognized as an OpenTelemetry expert.
• Educate, promote best practices, and contribute to the community.

Skills

Ownership

Communication

Open source experience

Documentation

Engagement with customers

Job description

Principal Software Engineer - OpenTelemetry Instrumentation

What is Grafana Cloud?

Grafana Cloud is a composable observability platform that integrates metrics, logs, and traces with Grafana. It enables customers to leverage open source observability software such as Prometheus, Mimir, Loki, and Tempo without the overhead of managing their own stack.

The Observability department helps developers understand the health and performance of their applications and infrastructure through tools that instrument code, ingest data into Grafana Cloud, and visualize it.

The OpenTelemetry instrumentation team ensures users succeed in instrumenting applications with OpenTelemetry, collaborating with OpenTelemetry SIGs to improve SDKs and libraries. Team members are experts in at least one programming language and knowledgeable about others.

Grafana is a remote-first, global company that values diversity and unique perspectives. We seek passionate engineers who enjoy working with data and contributing to open source communities.

What will you be doing?

At Grafana Labs, individual contributors (ICs) have clear career paths and can advance without becoming managers. The Principal Software Engineer role is a leadership position with director-level scope and technical depth.

• Support and lead the technical direction of the team, and influence OpenTelemetry strategy at Grafana Labs.
• Be recognized as an OpenTelemetry expert. Educate others, promote best practices, and contribute to the broader community.

As a remote-first organization, we rely on regular virtual meetings and independent work, so strong communication skills are essential.

What are we looking for?

• Ability to take ownership and drive both technical and business initiatives at a director level.
• Passion for observability, with a knack for documentation and blogging.
• Engagement with customers and a collaborative spirit.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Open source experience, preferably with OpenTelemetry or Prometheus.
• Willingness to actively participate in the OpenTelemetry community.
• Curiosity and enthusiasm for learning new languages and frameworks.
• Understanding of production environments, including operational responsibilities and on-call experience.
• Mentoring skills to help grow team capabilities.

The UK base salary ranges from £96,124 to £120,156, with additional benefits such as equity and bonuses. Compensation varies based on experience and skills. For applicants outside the UK, specific pay and benefits will be discussed during recruitment.