Staff Software Engineer, Cortex AI Search Infrastructure

Snowflake; Menlo Park (CA); On-site; USD 236,000 - 309,750; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

401(k) retirement plan

Paid time off

Parental leave

Job summary

Snowflake is seeking an experienced professional to architect and scale backend infrastructure in Menlo Park, California. The candidate will build high-performance systems for AI products, oversee orchestration engines, and collaborate on converting LLM capabilities into microservices. A Bachelor’s degree and 5+ years of relevant experience in distributed systems and backend infrastructure are required. An attractive benefits package, including insurance, paid time off, and retirement plans, is offered as part of the compensation package.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building distributed systems, high-throughput APIs, or backend infrastructure for AI/ML products.
• Strong understanding of database internals, distributed state management, and cloud-native architecture.

Responsibilities

• Architect orchestration engines with low-latency and robust state management.
• Design high-performance systems for Retrieval-Augmented Generation.
• Develop automated infrastructure for golden set simulations and error analysis.
• Convert raw LLM capabilities into production-grade microservices.
• Direct infrastructure strategy for efficient AI features.

Skills

Distributed systems

High-throughput APIs

Backend infrastructure for AI/ML

Go proficiency

Java proficiency

Python for AI orchestration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related technical field

Job description

At Snowflake, we are building the future of AI for enterprise data. The Cortex Apps team focuses on backend infrastructure that powers flagship products like Snowflake Intelligence, Cortex Agents, and Search.

What you will do in this role

• Architect Agentic Runtimes: Build and scale orchestration engines that execute complex agentic workflows, ensuring low-latency tool execution and robust state management.
• Scale Context Engineering Infra: Design high-performance systems for Retrieval-Augmented Generation, including vector database integration, scalable search indexing, query processing, result ranking, semantic caching, and automated metadata extraction.
• Build the "Evals Engine": Develop automated infrastructure to run massive-scale golden set simulations, error analysis pipelines, and hillclimbing experiments.
• Productionize AI Workflows: Collaborate with the modeling team to convert raw LLM capabilities into hardened, multi-tenant microservices with strict guardrails and observability.
• Optimize Performance & Cost: Direct infra strategy for model routing, prompt caching, and token optimization to ensure efficient AI features.

Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related technical field.
• Experience: 5+ years building distributed systems, high-throughput APIs, or backend infrastructure for AI/ML products.
• Technical Stack: Deep proficiency in Go or Java for systems and Python for AI orchestration.
• Systems Thinking: Strong understanding of database internals, distributed state management, and cloud-native architecture (Kubernetes, FoundationDB, etc.).
• Domain Expertise: Familiarity with vector indices, agent platforms, and building scalable data pipelines.

Bonus (optional)

• Query optimization and SQL engine internals.
• Designing multi-tenant systems for sensitive enterprise data at scale.
• Developing search infrastructure for large-scale applications.
• Direct experience with any of the subsystems outlined above.

Compensation

The estimated base salary range for this role is $236,000 - $309,750. Additionally, this role is eligible to participate in Snowflake’s bonus and equity plan.

Benefits

The role includes a competitive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance; 401(k) retirement plan; flexible spending & health savings account; at least 12 paid holidays; paid time off; parental leave; employee assistance program; and other company benefits.