Senior Software Engineer II, Managed Databases

DigitalOcean; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 167,000 - 209,000; Full time

Job summary

DigitalOcean in the San Francisco area is hiring a Senior Software Engineer II for the Managed Databases (DBaaS) organization. You will design and build scalable control-plane and infrastructure components for PostgreSQL/MySQL managed services, enabling reliable multi-region data workloads and AI-adjacent tasks.

The role emphasizes independent problem solving, hands-on architecture, mentoring engineers, on-call readiness, and driving cross-team design and reviews to raise the team's engineering

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering in large-scale distributed systems.
• Experience diagnosing and solving high-concurrency production problems.
• Working knowledge of PostgreSQL and/or MySQL internals.
• Strong concurrency, multi-region concerns, and performance optimization.
• Experience scaling data/AI workloads in cloud environments.
• Proven cross-team collaboration and mentorship track record.
• Growth mindset with focus on maintainability and architecture quality.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement DBaaS platform systems for scalability and reliability.
• Turn ambiguous requirements into concrete designs and workstreams.
• Own performance and resiliency through profiling and tuning.
• Improve automated failover, PITR, backups, and maintenance workflows.
• Scale control-plane/infrastructure for data-heavy workloads.
• Guide technical decisions and contribute design docs.
• Mentor engineers to raise coding and architectural standards.
• Operate and improve observability, failover, and on-call processes.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud engineering

Mentorship

Performance optimization

Observability

Cross-team collaboration

Failure handling

Architecture design

Tools

PostgreSQL

MySQL

Linux

Job description

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer II to join our Managed Databases (DBaaS) engineering organization. Managed Databases delivers fully managed Postgres, MySQL, and related database services so customers can run production data workloads—and increasingly AI inference and data-intensive applications—without operating clusters themselves.

In this high-impact IC4 role, you will apply advanced subject-matter expertise across distributed control planes, database platform infrastructure, and production reliability. You will bridge product and system requirements with concrete architecture, lead complex technical projects across DBaaS and adjacent platform boundaries (e.g., Networking, Droplets, Storage, engine teams), and mentor engineers to elevate standards on the team. You should be comfortable independently moving from ambiguous problems to design, implementation, launch, and long‑term operation.

What You’ll Do

• Architect and implement DBaaS platform systems: Design and build scalable control‑plane and infrastructure components that improve throughput, multi‑region operability, and reliability for managed database workloads.
• Turn ambiguous requirements into deliverable architecture: Deconstruct customer and system needs into clear technical designs and workstreams that drive predictable delivery with product and engineering partners.
• Own performance and resiliency outcomes on your services: Improve resource utilization, fault tolerance, and availability—using profiling and targeted changes against I/O, CPU, and network bottlenecks under real production load.
• Strengthen lifecycle capabilities: Ship improvements to automated failover, continuous backups, point‑in‑time recovery (PITR), and maintenance workflows so clusters handle higher data volumes and tighter SLAs.
• Scale for data‑heavy and AI‑adjacent demand: Expand and harden control‑plane and infrastructure pieces that support compute‑heavy and high‑concurrency customer workloads.
• Raise the team engineering bar: Guide technical decisions for engineers on the squad through design and code reviews; contribute clear design docs for the initiatives you lead.
• Mentor team members: Coach engineers through technical guidance, architectural reviews, and code‑quality standards to accelerate growth and execution velocity.
• Operate what you build: Establish observability, failover, and recovery practices; participate in on‑call; turn incident learnings into durable platform improvements.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating large‑scale distributed systems or data‑plane/control‑plane infrastructure (SaaS/PaaS or equivalent).
• Production depth: Proven track record diagnosing and solving complex, high‑concurrency engineering problems in production cloud environments.
• Database platform fluency: Working knowledge of relational database engine internals—specifically PostgreSQL and/or MySQL—including query performance, replication, and scale (preferred).
• Distributed systems mastery: Strong understanding of concurrency, failure modes, multi‑region concerns, and performance optimization in production Linux/cloud environments.
• Scale for data & AI workloads: Experience scaling services for compute, memory, and networking demands of data‑intensive or AI inference‑adjacent workloads (preferred).
• Collaboration & mentorship: Track record of driving complex cross‑team technical projects, mentoring engineers, and communicating tradeoffs clearly with partners and leadership.
• Growth mindset: Appetite for feedback and a “leave it better than you found it” approach to architecture and maintainability.

Compensation Range

• $167,200 - $209,000
• This is a remote role

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean

• We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting‑edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.
• We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high‑performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.
• We care about your well‑being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
• We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.
• DigitalOcean is an equal‑opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180‑day period. This policy promotes better role‑candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.