Senior Backend Engineer - Databases - Analytics | UK | Remote

grafanalabs; United States; Remote; USD 121,000 - 161,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

100% remote role

30 days annual leave

In-person onboarding

Job summary

grafanalabs seeks a Senior Backend Engineer to help build the storage layer of a new general-purpose data platform blending analytical and time-series workloads. The role sits in a small, high-autonomy skunkworks team extending observability tooling into enterprise data intelligence for both humans and AI agents.

Candidates must be based in the UK. Responsibilities include designing, implementing, testing, and operating distributed database components, shaping tenant isolation and service

Qualifications

• Significant experience as a backend or database engineer on distributed systems.
• Deep familiarity with database internals: query planning, storage layouts, ingestion pipelines, and execution engines.
• Experience with OLAP and streaming/OTLP-style data paths and separation of compute and storage.
• Strong collaboration and communication in a remote, cross-functional environment.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, test, and operate parts of a distributed database.
• Shape the multi-tenant SaaS architecture with isolation, quotas, audit logs, and service boundaries.
• Build APIs and database interfaces for AI agents, MCP tools, CLIs, and internal apps.
• Collaborate to balance rapid prototyping with long-term reliability as production approaches.
• Own reliability, performance, and on-call responsibilities for the systems you build.

Skills

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

Database internals

OLAP

Streaming data paths

Compute/storage separation

Remote collaboration

Job description

Role overview

A fully remote position for a Senior Backend Engineer to help build the storage layer of a new general-purpose data platform that blends analytical and time-series workloads. The role sits inside a small, high-autonomy skunkworks team extending observability tooling into broader enterprise data intelligence for both humans and AI agents. Candidates must be based in the UK.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, test, and operate parts of a distributed database, including ingestion, query planning, distributed execution, and storage and data formats.
• Shape the multi-tenant SaaS architecture, covering tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, background jobs, and service boundaries.
• Build APIs and database interfaces that let AI agents, MCP tools, CLIs, and internal apps retrieve data quickly.
• Collaborate with product and infrastructure teammates to balance rapid prototyping against long-term reliability as the system moves from internal dogfooding to production.
• Operate the systems you build, taking ownership of reliability, performance, and on-call responsibilities.

Requirements

• Significant professional experience as a backend or database engineer working on distributed systems.
• Deep familiarity with database internals such as query planning, storage layouts, ingestion pipelines, and execution engines.
• Comfort working with OLAP and streaming/OTLP-style data paths, including separation of compute and storage.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, make pragmatic architectural calls, and evolve prototypes into production-grade services.
• Strong collaboration and communication skills in a remote, cross-functional environment.

Nice to have

• Experience building multi-tenant SaaS database services.
• Background running systems across multiple cloud providers.
• Familiarity with agentic or AI-driven retrieval workflows and metadata systems.

Benefits and work setup

• 100% remote role with a globally distributed team.
• 30 days of annual leave, with three reserved as company-wide shutdown days.
• In-person onboarding to ramp up alongside new teammates.
• Country-specific compensation and benefits discussed at the start of the process.