Senior Backend Engineer - Databases - Analytics | US | Remote

grafanalabs; United States; Remote; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Fully remote work

Job summary

Grafana Labs is seeking a senior database platform engineer to build and own storage, ingestion, and query execution components for an AI-native data intelligence system. The role involves shaping a multi-tenant service that spans multiple cloud providers, with strong emphasis on reliability, observability, and scalable APIs for AI agents and developer tools.

You will collaborate across product, infrastructure, and research teams, balancing rapid experimentation with production-grade stability

Qualifications

• Senior-level background designing and building database internals such as query planning, distributed execution, ingestion pipelines, or storage formats.
• Experience building cloud-native systems that run across multiple providers.
• Ability to write production-quality code in languages common to database or systems engineering work.
• Strong collaboration across product, infrastructure, and research teams.

Responsibilities

• Own one or more parts of the database, designing and operating ingestion, query planning, distributed query execution, data formats, and storage formats.
• Help define and ship the architecture for a multi-tenant database service, including tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, and background jobs.
• Build APIs and database interfaces for AI agents, developer tools, and internal applications to retrieve context quickly.
• Partner with product and infrastructure teams to balance rapid experimentation with long-term reliability as the system moves to production.
• Operate what is built, instrumenting systems for observability and on-call readiness.
• Make pragmatic architectural decisions as the system evolves from prototype to managed service.

Skills

Query planning

Distributed execution

Ingestion pipelines

Storage formats

Cloud-native systems

Production-quality code

Job description

Role overview

Build the storage layer for a new general-purpose database powering an AI-native data intelligence system that gives agents and applications reliable, governed access to enterprise context. The role sits on an early-stage, high-autonomy skunkworks team shaping a platform with both analytical query and freshly-ingested data capabilities across multiple cloud providers.

Responsibilities

• Own one or more parts of the database, designing and operating ingestion, query planning, distributed query execution, data formats, and storage formats
• Help define and ship the architecture for a multi-tenant database service, including tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, background jobs, and reliable service boundaries
• Build APIs and database interfaces that let AI agents, developer tools, and internal applications retrieve context quickly
• Partner with product and infrastructure teammates to balance rapid experimentation against long-term reliability as the system moves from prototype to production
• Operate what is built, instrumenting systems for observability and on-call readiness
• Make pragmatic architectural decisions in a setting that evolves from internal use to production-grade managed service

Requirements

• Senior-level background designing and building database internals, such as query planning, distributed execution, ingestion pipelines, or storage formats
• Comfort working through ambiguity and making pragmatic tradeoffs in an early-stage, high-autonomy environment
• Experience building cloud-native systems that embrace separation of compute and storage and run across multiple providers
• Ability to write production-quality code in languages common to database or systems engineering work
• Strong collaboration skills for partnering across product, infrastructure, and research functions
• Open-source values and a learning mindset around how AI agents and humans consume data

Benefits and work setup

• Fully remote role open to applicants in the United States
• Global remote culture with in-person onboarding to learn the work and the team
• 30 days of annual leave, with three reserved for organization-wide shutdown days to encourage real disconnection
• Restricted Stock Units tying employees to long-term outcomes
• Transparent communication, high-autonomy team structure, and defined career growth pathways
• Equal opportunity employer with a commitment to diversity and inclusion