Software Engineer/Researcher, AI-Native Database Systems Technology - Infrastructure San Jose R[...]

ByteDance; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 156,000 - 387,600; Full time

Job summary

ByteDance is seeking a Software Engineer/Researcher to build AI-native database systems in San Jose. You will architect databases that fuse structured, unstructured and vector data, design fast storage engines and scalable vector search, and develop LLM-driven query processors.

The role involves RAG infrastructure work and contributions to open-source communities. The team values strong systems or AI research background and collaboration across research, engineering and product teams to

Qualifications

• Experience in core database systems or ML systems.
• Strong system-level coding in C++, Rust or Go.
• Ability to translate ideas into production systems across teams.

Responsibilities

• Architect AI-native databases integrating structured, unstructured, and vector data.
• Design storage engines for embedding ingestion and multimodal retrieval.
• Build scalable vector search systems with low latency.
• Develop AI-augmented query processors using LLMs for semantic parsing.
• Collaborate on RAG infrastructure and memory backends.
• Advance learned index structures and AI-integrated transactions.
• Publish and contribute to research and open-source communities.

Skills

C++

Rust

Go

Distributed systems

Storage engine design

Vector retrieval/ANN

AI infra/LLMs

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s/PhD in CS or related field

Tools

Faiss

Milvus

DuckDB

ClickHouse

TiKV

RocksDB

Job description

Software Engineer/Researcher, AI-Native Database Systems

Location: San Jose

Employment Type: Regular

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement AI-native databases that seamlessly integrate structured, unstructured, and vectorized data.
• Design storage engines optimized for embedding ingestion, multimodal retrieval, and real‑time AI interaction.
• Build scalable and distributed vector search systems with low‑latency guarantees.
• Develop AI‑augmented query processors that leverage large language models (LLMs) for semantic parsing, intent understanding, and cost estimation.
• Collaborate on developing retrieval‑augmented generation (RAG) infrastructure and LLM agent memory backends.
• Drive innovations in learned index structures, self‑optimizing databases, and AI‑integrated transaction systems.
• Publish and contribute to broader research and open‑source communities.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related fields with strong systems or AI research experience.
• 2+ years in core database systems, large‑scale distributed infrastructure, or machine learning systems.
• Strong coding and system‑level design skills in C++/Rust/Go.
• Deep expertise in one or more of the following areas: Storage engine architecture (LSM‑trees, column stores, HTAP systems); Vector retrieval systems, similarity search, and ANN indexing; AI infra or model‑serving infrastructure (especially for embeddings/RAG/LLMs); Semantic search, agent systems, or AI‑native memory frameworks.
• Ability to collaborate across research, engineering, and product teams to translate ideas into production systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with open‑source systems such as Faiss, Milvus, DuckDB, ClickHouse, TiKV, RocksDB.
• Publications at conferences (e.g., SIGMOD, VLDB, NeurIPS, MLSys, ICDE).
• Familiarity with GCP, AWS, or Azure’s database and AI integration strategies.
• Prior contributions to RAG, memory‑augmented models, or self‑tuning database components.

Job Information

The base salary range for this position in the selected city is $156,000 - $387,600 annually.

Compensation may vary outside of this range depending on a number of factors, including a candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies and experience, and location. Base pay is one part of the Total Package that is provided to compensate and recognize employees for their work, and this role may be eligible for additional discretionary bonuses/incentives, and restricted stock units.

Benefits

Benefits may vary depending on the nature of employment and the country work location. Employees have day one access to medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) savings plan with company match, paid parental leave, short‑term and long‑term disability coverage, life insurance, wellbeing benefits, among others. Employees also receive 10 paid holidays per year, 10 paid sick days per year and 17 days of Paid Personal Time (prorated upon hire with increasing accruals by tenure).

The Company reserves the right to modify or change these benefits programs at any time, with or without notice.

EEO & Legal

Los Angeles County (unincorporated) Candidates

Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state, and local laws including the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. Our company believes that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship on the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment:

1. Interacting and occasionally having unsupervised contact with internal/external clients and/or colleagues;
2. Appropriately handling and managing confidential information including proprietary and trade secret information and access to information technology systems;
3. Exercising sound judgment.

Diversity & Inclusion

ByteDance is committed to creating an inclusive space where employees are valued for their skills, experiences, and unique perspectives. Our platform connects people from across the globe and so does our workplace. At ByteDance, our mission is to inspire creativity and enrich life. To achieve that goal, we are committed to celebrating our diverse voices and to creating an environment that reflects the many communities we reach. We are passionate about this and hope you are too.

Reasonable Accommodation

ByteDance is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our recruitment processes for candidates with disabilities, pregnancy, sincerely held religious beliefs or other reasons protected by applicable laws. If you need assistance or a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to us at https://tinyurl.com/RA-request