Senior Staff Software Engineer

Optimizely; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimizely Analytics, located in Austin, TX, seeks a Senior Staff Engineer to shape the core platform, including the query compilation engine and NetScript DSL. You will scale these systems to support a growing customer base, mentoring engineers and setting engineering standards across teams.

You will collaborate with Product and UX to deliver impactful features while ensuring architectural soundness and performance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software development with strong foundations in data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.
• 7+ years backend experience building, deploying, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production.
• Deep expertise in system design, API design, scalability, and performance tuning with strong SQL.
• Proficiency in Java and hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures and CI/CD.
• Experience with query engines, compilers, interpreters, or DSL design.
• Experience building enterprise-grade analytics infrastructure or data platforms.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve architecture of query compilation engine and NetScript DSL, ensuring scale and security.
• Set standards for code quality, performance, observability, and operational best practices.
• Collaborate with Product, UX, and Engineering to deliver features with architectural soundness.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers to grow the team’s technical capabilities.
• Address complex system challenges like query optimization, SQL compilation, fault tolerance, and analytics workloads.
• Influence product direction and architecture across multiple teams.

Skills

Backend development

Distributed systems

SQL proficiency

Java

CI/CD

Cloud-native architectures

Containerization

DSL design

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science

Tools

Snowflake

BigQuery

Redshift

Databricks

Job description

Introduction

Optimizely Analytics is the industry leading warehouse native analytics platform. We are used by Canva, Grammarly, Capital One, and many more to unlock data-driven decisions for experiment analysis, product analytics, sales analytics and beyond. You will work in a small, nimble team.

Location: Austin, US 78705; Minneapolis, MN 55401; Nashua, US 3063

What You Will Do

As a Senior Staff Engineer, you will be a technical leader responsible for shaping the foundation of Optimizely Analytics' core platform — including the query compilation engine and our custom DSL, NetScript — and scaling these systems to meet the needs of our rapidly growing customer base.

Job Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the architecture of Optimizely Analytics' query compilation engine and NetScript DSL, ensuring they scale reliably and securely across diverse warehouse environments.
• Drive technical excellence across the engineering organization by setting standards for code quality, query performance, system design, observability, and operational best practices.
• Collaborate closely with Product, UX, and Application Engineering teams to deliver impactful features while ensuring architectural soundness and scalability.
• Mentor and guide senior and mid-level engineers, fostering technical growth and elevating the overall team’s capabilities.
• Anticipate and address complex system challenges such as query optimization, SQL compilation, fault tolerance, and data-intensive analytical workloads.
• Influence product and platform direction, leveraging deep technical insight in analytics and query languages to shape roadmap decisions and ensure backend systems align with long-term business strategy.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software development experience with strong foundations in data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.
• 7+ years of backend experience building, deploying, and operating large-scale distributed systems in production.
• Deep expertise in system design, API design, scalability, and performance tuning, with strong SQL proficiency and an understanding of analytical query patterns.
• Proficiency in at least one modern backend programming language (Java preferred).
• Hands-on experience with cloud-native architectures, containerization, orchestration, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with query engines, compilers, interpreters, or domain-specific language (DSL) design.
• Prior experience as a staff or principal engineer, driving large cross-functional initiatives to completion with org-wide technical influence.
• Experience building enterprise-grade analytics infrastructure or data platforms that handle high-volume, low-latency analytical workloads.
• Proven ability to influence architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams.
• A track record of mentoring engineers and scaling engineering organizations.
• Familiarity with warehouse-native architectures (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks) and advanced SQL optimization techniques.
• Passion for working in fast-paced environments where you wear multiple hats and influence both product and technology.

We Would Love to See

• Prior experience as a staff or principal engineer, driving large cross-functional initiatives to completion with org-wide technical influence.
• Experience building enterprise-grade analytics infrastructure or data platforms that handle high-volume, low-latency analytical workloads.
• Proven ability to influence architecture and technical strategy across multiple teams.
• A track record of mentoring engineers and scaling engineering organizations.
• Familiarity with warehouse-native architectures (Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks) and advanced SQL optimization techniques.
• Passion for working in fast-paced environments where you wear multiple hats and influence both product and technology.

Education

Bachelor’s Degree (Computer Science or engineering preferred) or equivalent work experience

Optimizely is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Optimizely is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, protected veteran status, disability, age, or other legally protected status.