Principal Engineer, Hybrid HPC DB & In-Database ML

Circana; Chicago, Northern (IL, KY); Hybrid; USD 225,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus pay

Health benefits

401(k)

Job summary

Circana is seeking a Principal Engineer to drive the design, evolution, and execution of a high-performance MPP database engine (Whitebox) powering real-time analytics for Circana clients globally. You will bridge HPC and data systems, delivering low-latency, scalable kernel code across multi-node clusters.

You will implement vectorized algorithms, in-database ML, and ultra-fast data paths, profiling and tuning performance while collaborating across time zones. Location: Hybrid Chicago, IL.

Qualifications

• Minimum – 4 years Computer Science engineering degree from a reputed institute.
• Masters in HPC and Bigdata engineering areas preferred for Senior staff engineer and above roles.
• 12+ years of production experience writing hands‑on, low‑level systems in C++ (C++17/20/23 preferred).
• Cluster-scale distributed programming using MPI with OpenMP and MapReduce.
• Vectorization and manual SIMD intrinsics programming.
• Experience with kernel-level performance tuning and OS internals.

Responsibilities

• Architect distributed database kernel and roadmap for query execution engines and storage layers.
• Write and optimize backend C++20/23 code for ultra-low latency execution.
• Design MPI/OpenMP-based execution engines across dozens to hundreds of nodes.
• Implement SIMD vectorization and cache-friendly data layout strategies.
• Develop low-latency cluster communication subsystems using RDMA or kernel-bypass tech.
• Build in-database ML framework integrated with the MPP engine.
• Tackle performance issues and conduct architecture/code reviews.

Skills

C++20/23

MPI

OpenMP

Distributed systems

Performance optimization

In-database ML

Vectorization

Debugging

Template metaprogramming

Low-latency design

Education

Master's in HPC

BSc CS/Engineering

Tools

Valgrind

Purify

Profilers

RDMA

Job description

Circana is seeking a Principal Engineer to drive the design, evolution, and execution of a high-performance MPP database engine (Whitebox) powering real-time analytics for Circana clients globally. You will bridge HPC and data systems, delivering low-latency, scalable kernel code across multi-node clusters.

You will implement vectorized algorithms, in-database ML, and ultra-fast data paths, profiling and tuning performance while collaborating across time zones. Location: Hybrid Chicago, IL.