Principal Software Engineer - Capella Control Plane

Couchbase, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 204,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous Time Off Program

Wellness Benefits

Financial Planning

Fun Perks

Job summary

A cloud service provider is seeking a Principal Software Engineer based in San Jose, California, to lead the architecture of Capella's Control Plane. The successful candidate will mentor engineers, enhance platform capabilities, and address complex distributed system challenges. Strong expertise in Golang and cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure) is required. The role offers a competitive salary range of $204,000 to $225,000 USD, along with generous benefits including wellness programs and flexible time off.

Qualifications

• Proven experience building distributed, cloud-native systems in Golang.
• Hands-on experience designing and implementing multi-cloud deployments.
• Strong knowledge of high availability and fault tolerance.

Responsibilities

• Define the control plane architecture for reliability and performance.
• Develop and deliver critical platform services in Golang.
• Lead design and delivery of core capabilities like provisioning.

Skills

Expertise in Golang

Cloud infrastructure knowledge (AWS, GCP, Azure)

System design

Kubernetes experience

Mentoring and leadership

AI/ML platform architecture

Problem-solving skills

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

Couchbase Capella is a fully managed Database‑as‑a‑Service (DBaaS) platform that powers mission‑critical applications. The Control Plane Platform team builds and operates the foundational systems that deliver reliability, scalability, and seamless experiences across cloud environments.

Location: San Jose, California

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the architecture of Capella’s Control Plane – the platform that orchestrates SaaS interactions with major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure). In this role, you will mentor engineers, deliver core platform capabilities, and combine hands‑on development with deep expertise in distributed systems and cloud architecture leadership, while contributing to the architecture and integration of state‑of‑the‑art AI/ML knowledge and process execution into the Capella Control Plane.

Responsibilities

• System Design & Architecture: Define and evolve the control plane architecture for scalability, reliability, performance, and security.
• Hands‑on Development: Develop and deliver production‑quality Golang code for critical Capella platform services. Participate in guiding the team on Golang coding standards and practices.
• Cloud Infrastructure & Networking: Architect and optimize multi‑cloud deployments, networking models, VPC/VNet peering, load balancing, and secure connectivity for Capella.
• Cloud‑First SaaS Expertise: Build and scale multi‑tenant control plane services that orchestrate Couchbase clusters across cloud providers.
• Technical Standards: Establish and enforce coding standards with strong code reviews, CI/CD practices, and design patterns.
• Observability & Reliability: Define and implement monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting standards for operational excellence.
• High‑impact Features: Lead design and delivery of core platform capabilities such as provisioning, lifecycle management, and security controls.
• Problem Solving: Tackle complex distributed systems challenges and resolve scaling, networking, and performance bottlenecks.
• Cross‑functional Collaboration: Work with product, SRE, quality engineering, and operations teams to align technical direction with business goals.
• Multi‑geo Team Collaboration: Partner effectively with global engineering teams across geographies, driving alignment and execution.
• Mentorship & Leadership: Guide junior and mid‑level engineers, conduct reviews, and set a high bar for engineering culture. Perform code reviews in your area of influence.
• Innovation: Research and evaluate cloud‑native technologies, frameworks, and architectures for Capella’s evolution. Lead the technical strategy, design, and integration of AI/ML services and foundational models into the control plane to enhance platform capabilities and execution efficiency.
• Support & Troubleshooting (Tier 3): Lead root cause analysis and deliver long‑term solutions for critical production issues.
• Define and optimize processes for AI model deployment, lifecycle management, and observability within the multi‑cloud architecture.

Required Skills & Experience

• Expertise in Golang with proven experience building distributed, cloud‑native systems.
• Strong knowledge of system design, high availability, fault tolerance, and performance tuning.
• Hands‑on experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure), including networking (VPCs, routing, load balancing, firewalls, private connectivity).
• Experience with Kubernetes, container orchestration, and multi‑cloud deployments.
• Experience designing and building platform and microservice components for control plane of SaaS platforms.
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing the engineering culture.
• Hands‑on problem solver who can balance strategic architecture with execution.
• Demonstrated experience with AI/ML platform architecture and integrating advanced AI/ML services (e.g., vector databases, foundational models) into large‑scale, production‑ready SaaS platforms.
• Strong understanding of data pipelines and model serving infrastructure necessary for state‑of‑the‑art AI process execution.

Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 5+ years in cloud/distributed systems.
• Prior principal or staff engineer‑level experience leading architecture and platform initiatives in DBaaS, cloud infrastructure, or large‑scale SaaS environments.

Base Pay Range

$204,000 - $225,000 USD

Benefits

• Generous Time Off Program – flexibility to care for you and your family.
• Wellness Benefits – a variety of world‑class medical plans to choose from, along with dental, vision, life insurance, and employee assistance programs.
• Financial Planning – retirement program and business travel insurance.
• Fun Perks – ergonomic and comfortable in‑office / WFH setup. Food & snacks for in‑office employees.
• And much more!

We value diverse educational and career backgrounds. If your experience aligns with the role’s goals—even if it doesn’t follow a traditional path—we’d love to hear from you.

Couchbase is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you require reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please let your recruiter know – we’re happy to support you.