Distributed Systems Software Engineer - Public Cloud (Mid/Senior/Lead/Principal)

salesforce.com, inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 117,200 - 344,700; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits site guidance

Job summary

Salesforce.com, inc. is seeking a Distributed Systems Software Engineer for Public Cloud at Senior/Lead/Principal levels.

You will build and operate large-scale back-end systems powering tens of millions of users, with a strong focus on reliability, security, and performance. Join a team delivering cloud infrastructure automation, Kubernetes-based microservices, and AI‑driven tooling, applying modern engineering practices and Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform to ship production-grade

Qualifications

• A related technical degree is required.
• 3+ years of backend software development experience.
• Deep knowledge of programming in Java, Go, Python, or Ruby.
• Experience owning and operating multiple instances of a critical service.
• A demonstrated AI‑first approach to engineering; using AI to move faster and build fluency across the stack.
• Experience using AI tools (Claude, Copilot, Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, OpenAI API).
• Advanced prompt engineering skills for reliable, secure AI outputs.
• Experience with Agile development and Test‑Driven Development.
• Experience with monitoring, alerting, logging, and reporting applications.
• Experience with distributed databases and PostgreSQL is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Deliver cloud infrastructure automation tools, frameworks, workflows, and validation platforms on our public cloud platforms.
• Design, develop, debug, and operate resilient distributed systems across data centers.
• Use and contribute to open source technology (Spinnaker, Zookeeper, etc.).
• Develop Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform.
• Write microservices on Kubernetes, Docker, Mesos.
• Build and ship high‑quality, production‑grade software with AI as a core part of development workflows.
• Design and orchestrate complex systems where AI agents integrate into human workflows.
• Contribute to building and maintaining the shared system context for AI reliability.
• Critically evaluate code (Human or AI‑generated) for correctness, security, and performance.
• Resolve complex technical issues and drive innovations for availability and resilience.
• Balance live‑site management, feature delivery, and retirement of technical debt.
• Participate in the team’s on‑call rotation to keep services operational.

Skills

Java

Go

Python

Ruby

Backend development

Service ownership

AI-first engineering

AI tools (Claude, Copilot, Codex)

Prompt engineering

Agile

Monitoring/logging

PostgreSQL

Distributed databases

Kubernetes

Docker

Spinnaker

Terraform

Zookeeper

Education

A related technical degree is required

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

Docker

Spinnaker

Zookeeper

PostgreSQL

GitHub Copilot

Codex

Cursor

Windsurf

OpenAI API

Job description

Distributed Systems Software Engineer - Public Cloud (Senior/Lead/Principal)

Note: By applying to the Public Cloud – Distributed Systems Software Engineer posting, recruiters and hiring managers across the organization hiring software engineers will review your resume. Our goal is for you to apply once and have your resume reviewed by multiple hiring teams.

Information for students graduating within the last 12 months: Please visit Future Force for opportunities.

Our Public Cloud engineering teams are responsible for innovating and maintaining a large‑scale distributed systems engineering platform that ships hundreds of features to production for tens of millions of users across all industries every day. Our users count on our platform to be highly reliable, lightning fast, supremely secure, and to preserve all of their customizations and integrations every time we ship.

You will need deep experience with concurrency, large‑scale systems, proficiency with solving real‑world data management challenges, a strong understanding of how to craft solutions that are highly available, and a proven ability to design, develop, and optimize the core back‑end systems. This role also requires advanced prompt engineering skills – the ability to write precise, structured prompts and cultivate the system context that makes AI outputs reliable, secure, and production‑ready.

Your Impact

• Deliver cloud infrastructure automation tools, frameworks, workflows, and validation platforms on our public cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, Azure, or Alibaba
• Design, develop, debug, and operate resilient distributed systems that run across thousands of compute nodes in multiple data centers
• Use and contribute to open source technology (Spinnaker, Zookeeper, etc.)
• Develop Infrastructure-as-Code using Terraform
• Write microservices on containerization frameworks such as Kubernetes, Docker, Mesos
• Build and ship high‑quality, production‑grade software using modern engineering practices, with AI as a core part of your development workflow by pushing the boundaries of AI development tools (Cursor, Windsurf, Claude, OpenAI API) to deliver secure, optimized, and high‑quality code
• Design and orchestrate complex systems where AI agents integrate seamlessly into human workflows, driving efficiency and innovation at scale
• Contribute to building and maintaining the shared system context, an explicit repository of system designs, constraints, and standards that enables AI to operate accurately and reliably
• Critically evaluate code (Human or AI‑generated) for correctness, quality, security, and performance
• Resolve complex technical issues and drive innovations that improve system availability, resilience, and performance
• Experience balancing live‑site management, feature delivery, and retirement of technical debt
• Participate in the team’s on‑call rotation to address complex problems in real‑time and keep services operational and highly available

Required Skills

• A related technical degree is required
• 3+ years of backend software development experience
• Deep knowledge of programming in Java, Go, Python, or Ruby
• Experience owning and operating multiple instances of a critical service
• A demonstrated genuine AI‑first approach to engineering; using AI to move faster, build fluency across the stack, and contribute well beyond your core specialty
• Experience using AI tools (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Codex, Cursor, etc.) in development workflows
• Advanced prompt engineering skills and the ability to write precise, structured prompts that cultivate system context to make AI outputs reliable, secure, and production‑ready
• Experience with Agile development methodology and Test‑Driven Development
• Experience with critical infrastructure services including monitoring, alerting, logging, and reporting applications
• Experience with distributed database systems and relational databases like PostgreSQL is a plus

Benefits & Perks

Check out our benefits site which explains our various benefits, including wellbeing reimbursement, generous parental leave, adoption assistance, fertility benefits, and more.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or recruiting process, please submit a request via the Accommodations Request Form.

Privacy and Candidate Experience Note

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see the Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights.

Posting Statement (Equal Opportunity)

Salesforce is an equal‑opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. All employees and potential employees will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law.

Compensation is determined by location, job level, experience, etc. For this position, the typical base salary range is $117,200 – $313,700 annually; in select cities such as San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area the base salary range is $141,200 – $344,700 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include bonus, equity or benefits.