Distinguished Software Engineer, Systems Infrastructure - Storage

Linkedin3; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 253,000 - 416,000; Full time

Job summary

LinkedIn is seeking a Distinguished Engineer to shape the future of LinkedIn's Core Infrastructure platform. This role is based in Mountain View, CA or Bellevue, WA, and operates in a hybrid model combining remote work with on-site collaboration.

You will define long-term technical strategy for storage, messaging, fleet management, and control planes, leading multi-domain initiatives and mentoring engineers to raise the bar across the organization.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field.
• 10+ years of infrastructure engineering experience.
• Experience leading technical projects with multiple stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Define long-term technical strategy across LinkedIn's core infrastructure, including storage and messaging systems.
• Lead cross-team initiatives spanning distributed systems, storage platforms, and event-driven architectures.
• Mentor engineers and raise the bar for systems thinking and architectural quality.
• Contribute through design and implementation work with engineers on the team.
• Balance scalability, reliability, and cost in design decisions.

Skills

Infrastructure

Distributed Systems

Storage Systems

Technical Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

PhD in a relevant field

Job description

At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business.

The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.

This role will be based in Mountain View, CA OR Bellevue, WA.

We are seeking a Distinguished Engineer to help shape the future of LinkedIn's Core Infrastructure platform, which provides shared system services within a large-scale, private, on-premise distributed environment.

This role will focus on building technical strategy and raising the bar across multiple infrastructure domains, with particular emphasis on block, blob, and file storage; the individual will also contribute to adjacent areas such as streaming/messaging (e.g., Kafka), fleet management, and control plane systems.

Responsibilities

• You will partner directly with senior engineering leaders to define long-term technical strategy across LinkedIn's core infrastructure, including storage and messaging systems
• Lead cross-team and cross-functional initiatives spanning distributed systems, storage platforms, and event-driven architectures
• You will head cross team/cross functional discussions and drive alignment on technology strategy.
• You will contribute directly to initiatives through a combination of design and implementation activities, working directly with engineers on the team.
• You will actively improve the level of craftsmanship at LinkedIn by developing best practices and defining best strategies.
• You will define the bar for quality and efficiency of software systems while balancing business impact, operational impact and cost benefits of design and architectural choices.
• Influence and mentor engineers across the organization, raising the bar for systems thinking and technical depth
• Drive alignment across organizations on multi-domain infrastructure architecture, balancing scalability, reliability, and cost
• Help evolve LinkedIn's private cloud and fleet infrastructure strategy, enabling efficient operation at massive scale
• Foster a culture that values diverse perspectives while navigating complex, ambiguous technical decisions

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
• 10+ years of relevant work experience in infrastructure engineering
• Experience leading technical projects with multiple stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field or related discipline (machine learning, statistics, computer science etc.), or equivalent research experience
• 15+ years experience in building infrastructure at scale, with at least 5 of those years in a technical leadership position
• Experience building large scale infrastructure and distributed systems
• Deep expertise in the following domain, with working knowledge across others: Distributed Storage Systems (object storage, block storage, large-scale data systems)
• Experience with messaging and streaming systems (e.g., Kafka, pub/sub architectures, event-driven systems)
• Proven ability to operate across infrastructure domains, contributing to areas such as fleet management, control planes, and private cloud systems
• Experience designing and evolving high-scale, on-premise or hybrid cloud infrastructure
• Strong systems-level thinking, with the ability to move between domains (e.g., networking - storage - distributed systems)
• Proven track record of leading cross-company, high-impact infrastructure initiatives from concept through production at scale
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical direction across large organizations
• Experience leading high-impact, cross-company initiatives

Suggested Skills

• Infrastructure
• Distributed Systems
• Storage Systems
• Technical Leadership

You will Benefit from our Culture

We strongly believe in the well-being of our employees and their families. That is why we offer generous health and wellness programs and time away for employees of all levels.

LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range for this role is $253,000 to $416,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor.

The total compensation package for this position may also include annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit https://careers.linkedin.com/benefits

Equal Opportunity Statement

We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disabilit