Staff Software Engineer, Cloud Data Storage

Temporaltechnologies; United States; On-site; USD 212,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Medical/Dental/Vision coverage

401K plan

Learning & development

Lifestyle spending

In-home office setup

Work-from-home meals

Internet stipend

Job summary

Temporal Technologies seeks a Staff Engineer to design, build, and maintain large-scale backend components for Temporal Cloud. You will own the custom persistence stack, including a Write Ahead Log, metadata stores, caches, and tiered storage, enabling petabyte-scale workflow data to be stored and queried reliably.

You will lead design efforts, mentor engineers, drive reliability and performance, and collaborate with Server, Cloud, and DX teams to ship end-to-end features.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience as an Arranger/Builder/Enhancer of highly scalable distributed systems.
• Strong CS fundamentals in distributed systems, including multi-threading and concurrency.
• Production experience coding in Go or Java; other languages acceptable at high levels.

Responsibilities

• Design & build distributed data systems – APIs, schemas, replication paths.
• Drive reliability & performance – own SLOs, chaos testing, incident reviews.
• Provide technical leadership – break down roadmaps, mentor engineers, RFCs.
• Collaborate across teams (Server, Cloud, DX) to ship features end-to-end.

Skills

Design distributed systems

Reliability engineering

Technical leadership

Cross-team collaboration

Tools

Go

Java

AWS

Azure

GCP

Elasticsearch

ClickHouse

Job description

Summary

Cloud Data Store (CDS) owns the storage, retrieval, and lifecycle of all workflow data at planet scale. We design the persistence APIs, build storage abstractions that run across cloud vendors, and deliver the observability that lets customers trust their state machines for years.

As a Staff Engineer, you will get the chance to design, build, and maintain significant portions of our backend functionality for highly scalable, multi‑tenant services. You’ll own the custom persistence stack for Temporal Cloud which includes a Write Ahead Log, various metadata stores (Cassandra, etcd), multi‑level caches, tiered storage etc.

What You'll Do

• Design & build distributed data systems – craft APIs, schemas, and replication paths that keep petabytes of workflow history durable and query‑able. Clearly document design choices and operational knowledge to successfully deploy and run service with those features.
• Drive reliability & performance – own SLOs, create chaos‑test plans, profile hot paths, and lead incident reviews.
• Technical leadership – break down roadmap epics, mentor mid‑level engineers, steward design docs through RFC.
• Cross‑team collaboration – partner with the Server, Cloud, and DX teams to land features end‑to‑end.

What You'll Bring

• 5 or more years of experience as an "Arranger" and/or "Builder/Enhancer" of highly scalable distributed systems.
• Solid computer science fundamentals in distributed systems concepts including multi‑threading and concurrency.
• Experience writing concurrent code in production with languages like Go or Java or other applicable languages with skill level as "high end of Intermediate" and/or "Advanced" or "Expert" levels.
• Experience building and running services on AWS. Bonus: Microsoft Azure and Google GCP experience.
• Experience with Elastic Search and/or Clickhouse.

Nice to Have

• Prior contributions to Temporal, Cadence, or other workflow engines.
• Deep expertise in a storage domain (LSM trees, columnar stores, transactional logs, etc.).
• Operated multi‑region, ≥99.99 % uptime services.
• Experience working with Open Source Systems.
• Experience in building K8s controllers and/or CRDs is a plus.

Compensation

• The estimated pay range for this role is $212,000 - $286,000 depending on experience and location.
• Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Temporal’s equity plan.

U.S. Benefits

• Unlimited PTO, 12 Holidays + 2 Floating Holidays
• 100% Premiums Coverage for Medical, Dental, and Vision
• AD&D, LT & ST Disability, and Life Insurance (Standard & Supplemental Available)
• Empower 401K Plan
• Additional Perks for Learning & Development, Lifestyle Spending, In‑Home Office Setup, Professional Memberships, WFH Meals, Internet Stipend and more!

International Benefits

Paid Time Off (PTO) and Benefits outside the United States vary by country, and are issued in partnership with Remote.com. Additionally, Temporal offers perks to all international employees for learning & career development, a lifestyle spending account, in‑home office setup (in addition to company‑issued hardware), professional memberships, work‑from‑home meals, and access to the Calm app for mental wellness.

Travel

Temporal is a globally distributed, collaborative team that values opportunities for in‑person connection. Occasional travel may be required for company events, team offsites, and other meaningful moments that bring us together.

Additional Perks

• $3,600 / Year Work from Home Meals
• $1,800 / Year Professional Enrichment (Career Development & Professional Memberships)
• $1,200 / Year Lifestyle Spending Account
• $1,000 / Year In‑Home Office Setup (In addition to Temporal issued equipment – laptop, monitor, keyboard, mouse, trackpad, and extension power cable at no cost to you)
• $74 / Month Reimbursement for Internet
• Calm App Subscription for Mental Health & Wellness

Temporal Technologies is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Temporal Technologies does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, non‑disqualifying physical or mental disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, merit, and business need. We embrace and celebrate differences and diversity.

Temporal is committed to providing access, equal opportunity, and reasonable accommodation for individuals with disabilities in employment, its services, programs, and activities. If you need to request a reasonable accommodation, please let your Recruiter know so we can assist.