Software Engineer 3, Atlas Vector Search

MongoDB; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 109,000 - 215,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Flexible paid time off

20 weeks fully-paid parental leave

401(k) plan

Health benefits offerings

Job summary

MongoDB is seeking an experienced engineer for the Vector Search team in San Francisco, CA, to develop new features for MongoDB's $search and $vectorSearch aggregation. The role requires expertise in Java or JVM languages and emphasizes performance optimization. Candidates will work cross-functionally and contribute to significant system improvements. A hybrid work model is offered, along with a competitive salary range of $109,000 to $215,000 USD and diverse benefits including flexible paid time off and health coverage.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience working on large-scale back-end systems.
• Experience writing high-performance applications in Java or another JVM language.
• Growth mindset and desire to learn quickly.

Responsibilities

• Implement new features within MongoDB’s $search and $vectorSearch aggregation.
• Work cross-functionally with product teams.
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks.
• Lead projects and own subsystems.
• Perform code reviews and mentor junior developers.

Skills

Java

Problem solving

Performance optimization

Team collaboration

Tools

Apache Lucene

Job description

Join the Vector Search team and help build a cutting-edge vector database on top of MongoDB. Our team is responsible for the syntax and implementation of MongoDB’s $vectorSearch aggregation, which enables approximate nearest neighbor queries over high‑dimensional vectors.

We are a small team with a large and rapidly growing customer base, providing engineers an opportunity to make a highly‑visible, broad impact. When scaling search to billions of vectors, performance is paramount. We’re looking for engineers who enjoy solving complex and open‑ended problems that directly impact users’ performance.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA with a hybrid work model.

Responsibilities

• Implement new features within MongoDB’s $search and $vectorSearch aggregation operators
• Work cross‑functionally with product teams to define new query and index syntax
• Identify and address performance bottlenecks in filter queries and nearest‑neighbor search
• Lead projects and own subsystems
• Perform code reviews with peers, review technical designs, and mentor junior developers

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience working on large‑scale back‑end systems
• Experience writing high‑performance applications in Java or another JVM language
• A growth mindset and the desire to learn quickly through taking on challenges, reflecting on outcomes, and incorporating feedback
• Passionate about optimization, code quality, and problem solving
• Bonus: experience with Apache Lucene, vector databases, or high‑throughput web services

Success Measures

• In 3 months you’ll have a solid high‑level understanding of what our team does and how we operate
• You’ll have contributed to the development of an existing project and completed several small improvements or bug fixes
• In 6 months you’ll be reviewing code and project designs, and be an active participant in team meetings
• In 12 months you’ll have a thorough understanding of the systems our team owns and have led a small project. You’ll have proposed small improvements to our code, product, or team processes

Benefits

MongoDB’s base salary range for this role is $109,000—$215,000 USD. Other benefits for eligible employees may include equity, participation in the employee stock purchase program, flexible paid time off, 20 weeks fully‑paid gender‑neutral parental leave, fertility and adoption assistance, 401(k) plan, mental health counseling, access to transgender‑inclusive health insurance coverage, and health benefits offerings. Please note, the base salary range listed is only applicable to U.S.‑based candidates.

MongoDB, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and makes all hiring decisions without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.