Principal Software Engineer II - Interoperable Foundations

Snowflake; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 304,000 - 437,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Snowflake is seeking an experienced architect to lead the redesign of core metadata systems and drive innovations in Apache Iceberg. With over 15 years of experience in large-scale distributed services and deep expertise in database internals, you will contribute significantly to building foundational capabilities for AI. Join a world-class team that focuses on challenging problems in security and distributed systems while enjoying a competitive salary range of $304,000 - $437,000 along with comprehensive benefits.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience designing and supporting large-scale distributed services.
• Comprehensive knowledge of metadata management and query optimization.
• Excellent understanding of durability and correctness fundamentals.

Responsibilities

• Lead the ground-up redesign of core metadata systems.
• Drive innovation on Apache Iceberg for analytics and AI workloads.
• Build foundational metadata capabilities for AI navigation.

Skills

Large-scale distributed services design

Cloud-scale solutions

Deep database internals

Distributed systems mastery

Data structures and algorithms

Education

BS in Computer Science

Advanced degree preferred

Job description

At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don't just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low‑ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset—who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.

The Mission: Building the Data Foundations for AI

We are the Snowflake Interoperable Foundations organization—the foundational layer that powers Snowflake's AI, Analytics and Data Engineering capabilities. We lead innovations across open table formats such as Apache Iceberg, helping customers build petabyte‑scale multi‑cloud data lakes on Snowflake. We deliver core metadata capabilities that power Snowflake's industry‑leading performance, AI, governance and platform features.

We are embarking on a 0→1 redesign of our core systems across Interoperable Foundations. While we already manage exabyte‑scale data supporting Snowflake's AI capabilities, the next frontier is providing the foundational data layer that accelerates agentic innovation in an open, multi‑format data world. You will be setting the technical vision across our investments in metadata platforms, Apache Iceberg and AI‑ready storage.

Your Impact: From Redesign to Reality

• 0→1 Architectural Leadership: Lead the ground‑up redesign of our core metadata systems, influencing the transaction frameworks that power query, DML, and AI‑driven data interactions in addition to extending our lead on platform capabilities such as Zero Copy Cloning and Cross‑Region / Cross‑Cloud Replication.
• Iceberg Innovation: Drive industry‑leading innovation on Apache Iceberg, ensuring it serves as a first‑class citizen for analytics, data engineering, and high‑performance AI workloads.
• AI & Agentic Foundation: Build the foundational metadata capabilities—from richer metadata for AI workloads, to lifecycle management and global replication (Snowgrid)—that allow AI agents to navigate, understand, and act upon massive datasets in a secure and governed fashion.
• Scalability & Resilience: Solve “impossible” challenges in fault‑tolerance, scalability, high availability, and performance for services that must meet the demands of a rapidly growing global ecosystem.
• Strategic Influence: Own the end‑to‑end architecture, influence the product roadmap, and identify the next innovations that will keep Snowflake at the cutting edge of the AI era.
• Mentorship: Grow the next generation of engineers, fostering a culture of rigorous innovation and technical excellence.

What You Bring

• 15+ years of experience designing and supporting large‑scale distributed services.
• Deep Database Internals Expertise: Comprehensive knowledge of metadata management, query optimization, clustering, compaction, catalogs, and large‑scale data management.
• Systems Mastery: Excellent understanding of distributed systems, durability and correctness fundamentals, multi‑threading, memory management, and storage performance.
• Cloud‑Scale Track Record: A history of implementing creative, 0→1 solutions for complex problems at massive scale.
• CS Fundamentals: Strong mastery of data structures, algorithms, and the trade‑offs between consistency and performance.
• Education: BS in Computer Science; an advanced degree is preferred.

Why Snowflake?

Build an industry‑leading cloud data and AI platform, solving challenging technical problems related to security, parallelism, distributed systems, and large‑scale system maintenance. Join a world‑class team and innovate with rigor.

Compensation and Benefits

The following represents the expected range of compensation for this role:

• The estimated base salary range for this role is $304,000 - $437,000.
• Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Snowflake's bonus and equity plan.

This role is also eligible for a competitive benefits package that includes: medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending & health savings account; at least 12 paid holidays; paid time off; parental leave; employee assistance program; and other company benefits.