Principal Software Engineer - Semantic Views

Snowflake; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 264,000 - 380,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus and equity plan

Comprehensive benefits

Paid holidays

Paid time off

Parental leave

401(k)

FSA/HSA

Employee assistance program

Job summary

Snowflake is building the semantic views layer that powers analytics across BI, SQL, and AI agents. We’re seeking senior engineers who turn complex data models into fast, correct query pipelines at scale.

Join a world-class team focused on correctness, performance, and innovation. You’ll mentor others, shape the semantic layer roadmap, and collaborate across locations to deliver impactful features for enterprise customers.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of industry experience designing, building, and supporting large-scale data or systems software.
• Strong computer science fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and complexity analysis.
• Deep experience with at least one of: query compilation and optimization, database or query engine internals, semantic/metrics layers, or BI and analytics infrastructure.
• A strong grasp of SQL semantics and relational modeling, and an appreciation for why correctness of results is non-negotiable.
• Fluency in Java or another similar object-oriented language is preferred.
• A track record of identifying and implementing creative solutions to complex, ambiguous problems.
• Ability to work effectively across engineering teams in multiple locations.
• BS in Computer Science; Masters or PhD preferred.

Responsibilities

• Solve real business needs at large scale by applying your software engineering and analytical problem-solving skills.
• Design, develop, and support the semantic modeling layer that translates semantic queries into correct, high-performance SQL.
• Create architecture and design, influence the semantic layer roadmap, and take ownership over new capabilities spanning metrics, dimensions, relationships, and governance.
• Ensure semantic queries produce correct results while meeting the performance and scale demands of interactive analytics over petabyte-scale data.
• Partner with the Cortex and AI teams to make the semantic layer the reliable grounding source for natural-language and agent-driven analytics.
• Understand the trade-offs between expressiveness, correctness, performance, and cost, and build solutions that hold up as usage grows.
• Mentor and grow engineers, and raise the technical bar across the team.
• Ensure operational readiness of the features we ship and meet our commitments to customers on correctness, availability, and performance.

Skills

Strong CS fundamentals

Query compilation/optimization

Semantic/metrics layers

BI and analytics infrastructure

SQL semantics & relational modeling

Java or OO language

Cross-location collaboration

Problem solving in ambiguous env

Education

BS in Computer Science

MS/PhD 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.

We are the Snowflake Semantic Views team. We build the semantic layer at the core of the Snowflake platform — the system that lets customers define logical data models (tables, dimensions, metrics, and the relationships between them) once, and then query them consistently across BI tools, SQL, and AI agents. Semantic Views turn raw physical schemas into governed, reusable business definitions, so that "revenue," "active customer," or "gross margin" mean the same thing no matter who or what is asking. We own the semantic model itself, compiler elements and query rewriter that expand semantic queries into optimized SQL over petabyte-scale data, and the surfaces that expose this layer to Cortex Analyst and the broader agent ecosystem. Our work sits at the intersection of query language, metadata, and AI-driven analytics, and it is foundational to how Snowflake customers get trustworthy answers from their data.

Responsibilities

• Solve real business needs at large scale by applying your software engineering and analytical problem-solving skills.
• Design, develop, and support the semantic modeling layer that translates semantic queries into correct, high-performance SQL.
• Create architecture and design, influence the semantic layer roadmap, and take ownership over new capabilities spanning metrics, dimensions, relationships, and governance.
• Ensure semantic queries produce correct results while meeting the performance and scale demands of interactive analytics over petabyte-scale data.
• Partner with the Cortex and AI teams to make the semantic layer the reliable grounding source for natural-language and agent-driven analytics.
• Understand the trade-offs between expressiveness, correctness, performance, and cost, and build solutions that hold up as usage grows.
• Mentor and grow engineers, and raise the technical bar across the team.
• Ensure operational readiness of the features we ship and meet our commitments to customers on correctness, availability, and performance.

Ideal candidate

• 15+ years of industry experience designing, building, and supporting large-scale data or systems software.
• Strong computer science fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and complexity analysis.
• Deep experience with at least one of: query compilation and optimization, database or query engine internals, semantic/metrics layers, or BI and analytics infrastructure.
• A strong grasp of SQL semantics and relational modeling, and an appreciation for why correctness of results is non-negotiable.
• Fluency in Java or another similar object-oriented language is preferred.
• A track record of identifying and implementing creative solutions to complex, ambiguous problems.
• Ability to work effectively across engineering teams in multiple locations.
• BS in Computer Science; Masters or PhD preferred.

Why join the engineering team at Snowflake?

• Build an industry-leading Cloud Data and AI Platform.
• Work on one of the most strategically important layers for both traditional BI and the emerging world of AI agents that query enterprise data.
• Solve challenging technical problems in query compilation, semantics, performance at scale, and correctness.
• Work closely with our customers and partners, understand their use cases and needs, and think strategically about the right problem to solve at the right time.
• Join a world-class team of both industry veterans and rising stars.

Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.

How do you want to make your impact?

For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com

Compensation

• The estimated base salary range for this role is $264,000 - $379,500.
• Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Snowflake’s bonus and equity plan.

The successful candidate’s starting salary will be determined based on permissible, non-discriminatory factors such as skills, experience, and geographic location. 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.

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