Staff Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure

Salesforce; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Salesforce, the world’s leading AI CRM, is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join Slack’s Data Infrastructure team. You’ll design, build, and operate scalable data platforms powering analytics, ML, and data-driven decisions.

You will serve as DRI for core data services (e.g., Pinot, Trino) and ensure uptime, reliability, and cost efficiency while driving security and developer experience across the stack.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software, platform, or infrastructure engineering experience.
• Experience with data-intensive systems or data platforms.
• Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate reliable and scalable data infrastructure powering analytics, ML, and data-driven decision-making.
• Serve as DRI for multiple core data services (e.g., Pinot, Trino) ensuring uptime and performance.
• Drive improvements in security, cost efficiency, and developer experience across the data infrastructure.
• Build automation and self-service tools for data teams to manage data workflows.
• Collaborate with data engineering, platform, and security teams to design scalable, well-governed solutions.
• Mentor and coach engineers, promoting ownership and operational excellence.

Skills

Python

Golang

SQL

Kubernetes

Airflow

Terraform

Grafana

CI/CD

Big data

Observability

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience

Tools

EMR

Pinot

Trino

Hive Metastore

Airflow

Kubernetes

Job description

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category Software Engineering

Job Details About Salesforce Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all. Ready to level-up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce.

Slack is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join the Data Infrastructure team within the broader Data Engineering organization. The mission of our team is to build secure, reliable, performant, scalable, and cost-efficient infrastructure with an AI-forward approach that powers Slack’s data ecosystem. We design and operate the core data platforms that enable data engineers, analysts, and machine learning practitioners to deliver trusted insights and data products across Slack. Our systems power critical workflows — from batch and streaming ingestion to real‑time analytics and orchestration. We’re looking for strong technical leaders who can combine hands‑on expertise with strategic impact and mentorship‑driven leadership to scale, and evolve the backbone of Slack’s data infrastructure. You’ll play a key role in the design, development, and operation of services that underpin data ingestion, transformation, storage, compute and orchestration at a massive scale. As a Staff Engineer, you’ll be a Directly Responsible Individual (DRI) for multiple core data services, accountable for uptime, reliability, and performance, and a subject matter expert (SME) across multiple systems.

Here are a few examples of what we work on:

• Scaling our compute and orchestration layer with an AI-forward and data driven approach.
• Enabling more realtime OLAP capabilities for internal and external customers
• Creating and scaling agents, AI skills, and automation to enable engineers and users on their workflow and data needs

What you will be doing

• Design, build, and operate reliable and scalable data infrastructure powering Slack’s analytics, ML, and data‑driven decision‑making.
• Serve as DRI for multiple core data services specifically on our analytics infrastructure (e.g. Pinot, and Trino), ensuring uptime, reliability, and our compute and orchestration services (e.g., Airflow, Spark on Kubernetes, EMR, Hive Metastore).
• Drive improvements in security, cost efficiency, and developer experience across our data infrastructure.
• Build automation and self‑service tools that empower our team and other data teams to easily adopt and manage data workflows.
• Collaborate closely with data engineering, platform, and security teams to design scalable, well‑governed solutions.
• Build and enhance our observability, monitoring, and alerting on our services via Grafana and related tooling.
• Partner with other staff and senior engineers to define best practices, technical standards, and support models for Slack’s data ecosystem.
• Mentor and coach other engineers, modeling ownership, collaboration, and operational excellence.

What you should have

• 10+ years of software, platform, or infrastructure engineering experience, including time spent supporting data‑intensive systems or data platforms.
• First‑class communication skills and the ability to collaborate across cross‑functional teams.
• Proven experience in building, deploying, and operating distributed infrastructure at scale.
• Strong technical background with big data and infrastructure technologies — such as EMR, Airflow, Pinot, Trino, Hive Metastore, Kubernetes, or equivalent systems.
• Proficiency in Python, Golang, Bash, and SQL.
• Proficiency with CI/CD (GitHub Actions), Vault, Terraform, Chef, and Grafana.
• Deep understanding of infrastructure reliability, observability, and cost efficiency principles.
• Hands‑on experience supporting data pipelines or data engineering workflows is a strong plus.
• A strong sense of ownership and a drive to deliver high‑impact, autonomous results.
• Hands‑on experience building, managing, and integrating agentic workflows, custom AI skills, automated software factory pipelines, MCP
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

What we value Slack has a positive, diverse, and supportive culture—we look for people who are curious, inventive, and collaborative. We seek engineers who care deeply about craftsmanship, reliability, and empowering others. In our work together, we strive to be smart, humble, hardworking, and—above all—collaborative.

This candidate must be a U.S. citizen (U.S. born or naturalized) who does not hold dual citizenship and agrees to complete a U.S. federal government Minimum Background Investigation (MBI) for a Moderate Public Trust position.

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you’ll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best , and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best . Together, we’ll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form .

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates’ resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any c