Senior Software Engineer, Model Serving

Databricks; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 166,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual performance bonus

Equity options

Comprehensive benefits package

Job summary

A leading data and AI company is seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Model Serving to design and implement core systems that ensure scalability and operational excellence. You will drive architectural decisions for high-throughput, low-latency inference and collaborate with cross-functional teams. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience in distributed systems and model serving. A competitive salary range of $166,000—$225,000 USD is offered with additional benefits.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong foundation in algorithms and system design.
• Proven ability to deliver complex, high-impact initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement core systems and APIs ensuring scalability and reliability.
• Drive architectural decisions for performance optimization.
• Collaborate cross-functionally to translate customer needs into systems.

Skills

Large-scale distributed systems

Model serving

Algorithms and data structures

System design

Collaboration

Customer-focused mindset

Job description

Senior Software Engineer, Model Serving at Databricks

Join to apply for the Senior Software Engineer, Model Serving role at Databricks. At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating the development of medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best data and AI infrastructure platform so our customers can use deep data insights to improve their business.

Databricks’ Model Serving product provides enterprises with a unified, scalable, and governed platform to deploy and manage AI/ML models — from traditional ML to fine‑tuned and proprietary large language models. It offers real‑time, low‑latency inference, governance, monitoring, and lineage. As AI adoption accelerates, Model Serving is a core pillar of the Databricks platform, enabling customers to operationalize models at scale with strong SLAs and cost efficiency.

As a Senior Engineer, you’ll play a critical role in shaping both the product experience and the foundational infrastructure of Model Serving. You will design and build systems that enable high‑throughput, low‑latency inference across CPU and GPU workloads, influence architectural direction, and collaborate closely across platform, product, infrastructure, and research teams to deliver a world‑class serving platform.

The Impact You Will Have

• Design and implement core systems and APIs that power Databricks Model Serving, ensuring scalability, reliability, and operational excellence.
• Drive architectural decisions and trade‑offs to optimize performance, throughput, autoscaling, and operational efficiency for CPU and GPU serving workloads.
• Contribute directly to key components across the serving infrastructure — from model container builds and deployment workflows to runtime systems like routing, caching, observability, and intelligent autoscaling — ensuring smooth and efficient operations at scale.
• Collaborate cross‑functionally with product, platform, and research teams to translate customer needs into reliable and performant systems.
• Lead technical initiatives that improve latency, availability, and cost‑effectiveness across both customer‑facing and foundational serving layers.
• Establish best practices for code quality, testing, and operational readiness, and mentor other engineers through design reviews and technical guidance.

What We Look For

• 5+ years of experience building and operating large‑scale distributed systems.
• Experience in model serving, inference systems, or related infrastructure (e.g., routing, scheduling, autoscaling, and observability).
• Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and system design as applied to large‑scale, low‑latency serving systems.
• Proven ability to deliver technically complex, high‑impact initiatives that create measurable customer or business value.
• Experience building architecture for large‑scale, performance‑sensitive CPU/GPU inference systems.
• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across teams in fast‑moving environments.
• Customer‑focused mindset with the ability to align implementation details with product goals.
• Passion for mentoring, growing engineers, and fostering technical excellence.

Pay Range Transparency

Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role are listed below and represent the expected salary range for non‑commissionable roles or on‑target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job‑related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed below.

Local Pay Range: $166,000—$225,000 USD

About Databricks

Databricks is the data and AI company. More than 10,000 organizations worldwide — including Comcast, Condé Nast, Grammarly, and over 50% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform to unify and democratize data, analytics, and AI. Databricks is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the globe and was founded by the original creators of Lakehouse, Apache Spark™, Delta Lake and MLflow.

Benefits

At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region, please visit https://www.mybenefitsnow.com/databricks.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio‑economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export‑controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within the Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and the Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.