Sr. Staff Software Engineer - Apache Iceberg

Cloudera

Washington (Washington County)

On-site

USD 184,000 - 230,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Generous PTO

Unplugged days

Flexible WFH

Wellness programs

Phone & Internet reimbursement

Career development

Competitive benefits

Volunteer time

Employee resource groups

Job summary

Cloudera seeks a Staff Engineer to own the next generation of our Iceberg distribution. You will architect and scale systems handling petabytes of data across thousands of nodes in multi‑cloud environments.

You’ll contribute to Iceberg, improve performance in the Cloudera stack, and partner with Product Managers and customers to drive impactful features. Strong expertise in Java, distributed systems, and data processing is required.

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent, and 6+ years of experience; OR Master’s degree and 4-6 years; OR PhD and 2-4 years.
Hands‑on programmer with solid data‑structures and algorithms.
Experience with systems design, development.
Strong understanding of Java, Scala, C++, Python.
Proven ability to work in distributed, multi-node environments.

Responsibilities

Drive the future of data architecture by contributing to Apache Iceberg, shaping modern data lakes.
Improve performance across engines by implementing Iceberg features and collaborating with teams on queries.
Collaborate with Product Managers and Customers to prioritize Iceberg improvements for large-scale data lakes.
Develop new features in Java on modern platforms.
Gain deep technical knowledge of Cloudera stack focusing on Iceberg usage.

Skills

Java

Scala

C++

Python

Distributed systems

Open-source contributions

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Master’s degree in related field

PhD (relevant field)

Tools

Apache Iceberg

SQL optimization

Job description

Business Area

Engineering

Seniority Level

Mid-Senior level

Job Description

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we’re the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

The Data Platform Pillar is the bedrock of Cloudera’s technology, where we design and build the core components that let our customers store, manage, and process data with unmatched scalability, security, and performance.

Join the forefront of Big Data innovation at Cloudera! We are seeking a visionary Staff Engineer to take ownership of the next generation of our enterprise-grade Apache Iceberg distribution. This is a rare opportunity to architect, design, and scale the system that powers data processing for the world's largest companies, managing petabytes of data across thousands of nodes. If you are an experienced leader in distributed systems and data processing, ready to drive massive impact and define the future of Data Engineering, your mission starts here.

This is your chance to architect solutions that are responsible for managing Petabyte (PB) sized datasets across multi-cloud environments. You will gain deep technical experience in complex big data use cases and seize the unique opportunity to become a core contributor to the vibrant Apache Iceberg open-source community and directly influence the project's evolution.

As a Staff Engineer you will:

Drive the future of data architecture by becoming a core contributor to Apache Iceberg, the open-source project defining modern data lakes.
Bring performance improvements to all of the engines in the Cloudera stack, by implementing new features in Iceberg and working with other teams to leverage them during queries.
Work with Product Managers and Customers to determine ways Iceberg can be improved for Modern Data Lakes.
Develop new features in Java on a modern platforms.
Gain a solid understanding and deep technical knowledge of components across the Cloudera stack, but focusing on Iceberg, which you can utilize in your daily tasks.
Get to work on massive-scale distributed systems, spanning from 100s to 1000s of nodes in production clusters, leveraging Iceberg's capabilities for handling PB-scale data architectures.
Debug system level deployment issues, root cause analysis, perform system test analysis and resolve failures.
Collaborate with other team members and stakeholders.

We are excited if you have (Required Experience):

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent, and 6+ years of experience; OR Master’s degree and 4-6 years of experience; OR PhD and 2-4 years of experience.
Hands‑on programmer with solid data‑structures and algorithms.
Experience with systems design, development.
Strong understanding of at least one of the following languages: Java, Scala, C++, Python. And interested to learn the languages we’re using.
Passionate about programming, clean coding habits, attention to detail, and focus on quality.
Strong ability to research and solve problems independently without constant supervision.
Ability to work effectively both independently and as part of an international and virtual team.
Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
(Most importantly) Open‑minded attitude, desire to learn new things and build great products.

You might have:

Experience with using/developing Apache Iceberg or other related technologies.
Experience (or demonstrated interest) in distributed computing or high availability systems.
Contributions to open-source projects.
Experience with SQL optimization, from analyzing query plans to implementing optimization in SQL engines.

Why this role matters

You will tackle complex distributed systems challenges, crafting the foundational software for the control and data planes that powers CDP and keeps it running at massive scale. Working at the forefront of hybrid and multi‑cloud technology, you will empower data scientists, engineers, and analysts with the tools and infrastructure they need for advanced analytics and modeling.

Collaboration is key, you will work alongside brilliant minds across product, data science, and engineering to drive innovation, standardize best practices, and shape the future of enterprise AI and data platforms. This is your chance to build the future of data and see your work make a global impact.

This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

The expected base salary range for this role in