Lead Software Engineer

Backblaze External Website; United States; Remote; USD 205,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare for family

401K

RSU grants

ESPP program

Flexible vacation policy

Maternity & paternity leave

MacBook Pro

Commuter benefits

Healthy work-life balance

Job summary

Backblaze is seeking an experienced backend engineer to join our storage platform team in San Mateo, CA or remote within three time zones. You will lead design discussions, implement large features, and drive performance improvements for host-managed SMR storage while optimizing throughput and cost.

You should have 10+ years of enterprise backend experience, strong OOP skills, and a track record delivering scalable systems across thousands of servers.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of OOP experience in an enterprise backend environment.
• Experience building host-managed SMR support for storage systems.
• Experience benchmarking IO performance and bottlenecks.
• Experience building large scale software across thousands of servers.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (Gemini, Cursor, Claude Code).
• Comfortable with the full software development lifecycle.
• Strong remote communication and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead technical design discussions and produce clear design documents
• Drive the implementation on large features
• Shape coding methodologies and best practices
• Define

Tools

Gemini

Cursor

Claude Code

Job description

Company Description:

Backblaze is the object storage leader in the open cloud movement, fueling customer success with cloud storage built purposefully to unlock budgets, unburden administrators, and unleash innovators. Together with our partners, we’re helping customers break free from the restrictive, overpriced legacy solutions that hold them back, and blaze forward with the full power of the open cloud in their hands.

Founded in 2007, we scaled the business with less than $3 million in outside funding until 2021, when we did a traditional IPO on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Today, Backblaze generates over $100m in revenue and is the leading specialized storage cloud - managing over three billion gigabytes of data storage for 500K+ customers in 175+ countries, including businesses, developers, IT professionals, and individuals.

Want to know what you’ll be doing?

You will work on our storage platform which supports the B2 Object Storage and Computer Backup products, responsible for reliably storing the customer data. You will develop host-managed SMR support for the storage platform, optimizing for throughput and costs.

Responsibilities:

• Lead technical design discussions and produce clear design documents
• Drive the implementation on large features
• Shape coding methodologies and best practices
• Define

The Right Fit:

• 10+ years of OOP (Java, Rust, C++, C#, etc) in an enterprise environment, with a heavy focus on backend development
• Experience building host-managed SMR support for storage systems
• Experience benchmarking IO performance and resolving bottlenecks
• Experience building large scale software systems running on thousands of servers
• Professional experience incorporating AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Gemini, Cursor, Claude Code)
• Comfortable with all aspects of the software development lifecycle, including design, implementation, testing, and rollout
• Exhibits curiosity and seeks to understand before offering solutions
• Communicates proactively in a remote environment by keeping the team informed, surfacing blockers early, and moving work forward
• Applies analytical thinking to ambiguous problems

Bonus points for:

• Experience with discovering and implementing performance improvements, including CPU and IO
• Familiarity with hard drive performance and optimization
• Experience building and interpreting models, dashboards, or reports
• Understanding of Linux internals and file systems

Required for all Backblaze Employees:

• Good attitude and willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done
• Strong desire to work for a small, fast-paced company
• Desire to learn and adapt to rapidly changing technologies and work environment
• Rigorous adherence to best practices
• Relentless attention to detail
• Excellent interpersonal skills and good oral/written communication
• Excellent troubleshooting and problem solving skills
• This position is located in San Mateo, California but will also consider remote work as long as you’re no more than three time zones away and can come to San Mateo now and then.

Backblaze Perks:

• Healthcare for family, including dental and vision
• Competitive compensation and 401K
• RSU grants for full-time employees
• ESPP program
• Flexible vacation policy
• Maternity & paternity leave
• MacBook Pro to use for work plus a generous stipend to personalize your workstation
• Childcare bonus (human children only)
• Fertility treatment and support
• Learning & development program
• Commuter benefits
• Culture that supports a healthy work-life balance

To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base pay ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. We set standard base pay ranges for all roles based on function, level, and country location, benchmarked against similar-stage growth companies. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors, including candidate location, skills, depth of work experience, and relevant licenses/credentials, and may vary from the amounts listed below.

The base pay range for this position is:

• Non-Bay: $205,000 - $230,000
• Bay Area: $245,000 - $265,000

At Backblaze, we value being fair and good to our customers, partners, and employees. That’s why diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the core of our values. We are committed to fostering a workforce where all employees feel a sense of belonging regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, socio-economic status, ability, veteran status, and education. We believe that our dedication to cultivating a diverse workspace not only allows us to better serve our customers in over 175 countries, but further reinforces our commitment to doing the right thing. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

To understand more about the data we collect and process as part of your application, please view our Backblaze Employee Privacy Notice.