Senior Open-Source Software Engineer – Apache Cassandra

Jobtailor; California (MO); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor seeks a senior engineer to lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Cassandra and mentor the contributor community. You will own release management, contribute reviews, and translate customer needs into upstream proposals while shaping the project's direction with the dev@ mailing list.

You'll leverage deep expertise in Java and distributed systems to drive production-grade components, CI reliability, and testing coverage, collaborating across global teams and staying technically

Qualifications

• Deep experience with Apache Cassandra internals and core upstream work.
• Proven ability to lead complex technical work within Apache governance.
• Strong written communication for global, public collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Cassandra
• Provide binding committer reviews on upstream patches and community contributions
• Co‑own Apache Cassandra core release management as part of rotating committer pool
• Translate enterprise customer needs into credible upstream proposals
• Shape community direction through evidence-based participation on the dev@ mailing list
• Mentor engineers toward committer standing
• Improve upstream infrastructure - CI reliability, test coverage, contributor tooling, and release automation

Skills

Apache Cassandra

Java

distributed systems

release management

CI reliability

test coverage

contributor tooling

performance-sensitive systems

concurrent programming

observability

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Cassandra
• Provide binding committer reviews on upstream patches and community contributions
• Co‑own Apache Cassandra core release management as part of the rotating committer pool
• Translate enterprise customer needs into credible upstream proposals
• Shape community direction through evidence‑based participation on the dev@ mailing list
• Mentor engineers toward committer standing
• Improve upstream infrastructure - CI reliability, test coverage, contributor tooling, and release automation

Qualifications

• A minimum of 12 years of applicable professional software engineering experience
• Current Apache Cassandra committer status with a sustained and publicly verifiable upstream track record across patches, reviews, and community standing in Cassandra core or a closely related subproject
• Expert Java engineering capability in performance-sensitive, concurrent, and production-grade distributed systems
• Deep mastery of Apache Cassandra internals in at least one major domain: storage engine and compaction, indexing and SAI/vector, distributed consensus and repair, observability and virtual tables, or release management and CI
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical work through the Apache open source governance model
• Strong written communication for asynchronous, global, public technical collaboration
• Proven senior-level technical judgment.

Hard Skills

• Apache Cassandra
• Java
• distributed systems
• release management
• CI reliability
• test coverage
• contributor tooling
• performance-sensitive systems
• concurrent programming
• observability

Soft Skills

• leadership
• mentoring
• written communication
• technical judgment
• community participation