Staff Backend Engineer - Mimir Query, Databases | Canada | Remote

grafanalabs; United States; Remote; USD 170,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Annual leave 30 days + 3 shutdowns

In-person onboarding

Diversity & pay transparency by region

Job summary

grafanalabs is hiring a Staff-level backend engineer focused on the query path of large-scale, multi-tenant telemetry databases. You will design, build, and operate high-performance Go services that ingest, store, and query time-series data, with emphasis on reliability and scale.

You will lead end-to-end projects, drive query performance, participate in design and code reviews, and mentor teammates in a globally distributed engineering culture.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience building and operating large-scale distributed backend systems in Go.
• Strong knowledge of Kubernetes and at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
• Deep understanding of database internals, query execution, and storage engine optimization.
• Proven track record of driving complex technical projects to completion and influencing technical direction.
• Comfort with production operations, on-call responsibilities, and high-availability SaaS environments.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate distributed database services that handle metrics, logs, traces, and profiles at very large scale.
• Lead projects end-to-end, from initial concept through production deployment and ongoing customer operations.
• Drive query performance, efficiency, and reliability improvements informed by production telemetry and incident learnings.
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and roadmap planning across the query sub-team and adjacent squads.
• Shepherd automated release rollouts and participate in a follow-the-sun on-call rotation for owned services.
• Mentor and support other engineers, contributing to a collaborative, low-ego engineering culture.
• Engage with the broader open-source community, including contributions to projects outside the immediate team scope.

Skills

Go backend engineering

Distributed systems

Production operations

On-call experience

Tools

Kubernetes

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Role overview

A Staff-level backend engineering position focused on the query path of large-scale, multi-tenant distributed telemetry databases. The work centers on designing, building, and operating systems that ingest, store, and query massive volumes of time-series data, with a heavy emphasis on performance optimization and production reliability. This is a fully remote role for candidates based in US time zones, embedded in a globally distributed engineering culture.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate distributed database services that handle metrics, logs, traces, and profiles at very large scale
• Lead projects end-to-end, from initial concept through production deployment and ongoing customer operations
• Drive query performance, efficiency, and reliability improvements informed by production telemetry and incident learnings
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and roadmap planning across the query sub-team and adjacent squads
• Shepherd automated release rollouts and participate in a follow-the-sun on-call rotation for owned services
• Mentor and support other engineers, contributing to a collaborative, low-ego engineering culture
• Engage with the broader open-source community, including contributions to projects outside the immediate team scope

Requirements

• Extensive experience building and operating large-scale, distributed backend systems in Go
• Strong working knowledge of Kubernetes and at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Deep understanding of database internals, query execution, and storage engine optimization
• Proven track record of driving complex technical projects to completion and influencing technical direction
• Comfort with production operations, on-call responsibilities, and high-availability SaaS environments
• Availability to collaborate during US time zones

Nice to have

• Prior contributions to open-source observability, databases, or distributed systems projects
• Experience operating multi-tenant systems where isolation and noisy-neighbor mitigation matter
• Familiarity with performance profiling, capacity planning, and cost optimization at scale

Benefits and work setup

• Fully remote position within a globally distributed organization
• Annual leave policy of 30 days per year, including 3 designated company-wide shutdown periods for collective rest
• In-person onboarding program for new hires
• Equal opportunity employer with an explicit commitment to diversity, inclusion, and pay transparency by region