Staff Software Engineer, Data Loading Infrastructure at Asana

The Briefed; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 248,000 - 282,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Mental health, wellness benefits

Career coaching and professional dev.

Inclusive family-building benefits

Long-term savings and retirement plans

In-office culinary options

Job summary

Asana seeks a Staff Software Engineer to join its Data Loading Infrastructure team and drive LunaDb, the core reactive data loading platform that powers real-time updates across web, mobile, and external APIs. You will set technical direction, modernize the technology stack, and build reliable distributed services focused on performance, isolation, and scalability while ensuring data correctness.

This role emphasizes architectural leadership, cross-team mentorship, and on-call participation to

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed backend services.
• 2+ years building and scaling high-throughput data pipelines, relational or non-relational databases, and real-time streaming systems.
• Proven experience operating mission-critical production systems with high reliability.
• Demonstrated technical leadership in defining architecture, building cross-team consensus, and mentoring senior engineers.
• Strong architectural judgment and the ability to communicate technical trade-offs clearly to engineering teams and cross-functional partners.
• Hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Redis, and cloud-native infrastructure design.
• Curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with willingness to apply them to improve productivity and collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technical roadmap to improve scalability, reliability, developer productivity, and operational simplicity.
• Design, build, and operate highly available distributed services, caching layers, and real-time data pipelines processing millions of events per second.
• Improve query performance, cache invalidation, workload isolation, and resource utilization while preserving data consistency and correctness.
• Collaborate with product engineers to deliver new platform capabilities and make complex data access faster and more predictable.
• Lead major technical initiatives through architecture, implementation, safe migrations, deployment, and long-term production operations.
• Mentor engineers, guide cross-team architectural decisions, and establish high standards for system design and engineering quality.
• Participate in on-call rotations and lead incident investigations to identify root causes and prevent recurring issues.
• Turn operational insights into lasting improvements in tooling, automation, infrastructure architecture, and reliability.
• Challenge existing architectural assumptions and modernize infrastructure to support future platform growth.

Skills

Distributed backend systems

Data pipelines

Production reliability

Technical leadership

Architectural judgment

AI tools curiosity

Tools

Kubernetes

Redis

Cloud-native design

Job description

Asana is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join its Data Loading Infrastructure team and lead the continued development of LunaDb, its core reactive data loading platform.

LunaDb powers Asana's GraphQL-like query model, delivering real-time updates across web, mobile, and external API platforms while handling billions of queries daily.

In this role, you will establish technical direction, modernize the technology stack, and develop reliable, highly available distributed services. You will focus on improving query performance, workload isolation, resource efficiency, and system scalability while maintaining data correctness.

You will also collaborate with product engineering teams to expand platform capabilities, lead complex infrastructure initiatives, and strengthen operational reliability. Through architectural leadership, mentorship, and continuous improvement, you will help ensure Asana's data infrastructure remains fast, dependable, and scalable.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the technical roadmap to improve scalability, reliability, developer productivity, and operational simplicity.
• Design, build, and operate highly available distributed services, caching layers, and real-time data pipelines processing millions of events per second.
• Improve query performance, cache invalidation, workload isolation, and resource utilization while preserving data consistency and correctness.
• Collaborate with product engineers to deliver new platform capabilities and make complex data access faster and more predictable.
• Lead major technical initiatives through architecture, implementation, safe migrations, deployment, and long-term production operations.
• Mentor engineers, guide cross-team architectural decisions, and establish high standards for system design and engineering quality.
• Participate in on-call rotations and lead incident investigations to identify root causes and prevent recurring issues.
• Turn operational insights into lasting improvements in tooling, automation, infrastructure architecture, and reliability.
• Challenge existing architectural assumptions and modernize infrastructure to support future platform growth.

Required Qualifications

• At least 7 years of software engineering experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed backend services.
• At least 2 years of experience building and scaling high-throughput data pipelines, relational or non-relational databases, and real-time streaming systems.
• Proven experience operating mission-critical production systems and maintaining high reliability standards.
• Demonstrated technical leadership in defining architecture, building cross-team consensus, and mentoring senior engineers.
• Strong architectural judgment and the ability to communicate technical trade-offs clearly to engineering teams and cross-functional partners.
• Practical experience with Kubernetes, distributed caching technologies such as Redis, and cloud-native infrastructure design.
• Curiosity about AI tools and emerging technologies, with a willingness to apply them to improve productivity, collaboration, and decision-making.

Work Location and Hybrid Schedule

This position is based in Asana's San Francisco office and follows an office-centric hybrid work arrangement.

The standard in-office schedule is Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Most employees have the option to work from home on Wednesdays, while Friday arrangements depend on the nature of the work and team collaboration requirements.

Candidates should confirm the specific office attendance requirements with their recruiter during the interview process.

Salary and Compensation

The estimated annual base salary range for this position is $248,000–$282,000.

The final salary depends on market conditions and the candidate's qualifications, as objectively assessed during the interview process. The stated range serves as a guideline and may be adjusted.

Additional compensation may include equity, other role-dependent incentives, and employee benefits.

Asana conducts annual pay equity audits to support fair compensation practices and ensure that pay reflects the market value and impact of each role.

Employee Benefits

Asana offers a comprehensive benefits package designed to support employees' professional development, health, and financial well-being.

Benefits include:

• Mental health, wellness, and fitness benefits.
• Career coaching and professional development support.
• Inclusive family-building benefits.
• Long-term savings and retirement plans.
• In-office culinary options that accommodate different dietary preferences.

Benefit availability may vary depending on the role, country, and applicable local regulations. Candidates can contact their recruiter for details about the complete compensation and benefits package.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Asana is committed to building an inclusive workplace where individuals from diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences feel respected and valued.

The company provides equal employment opportunities without discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability, genetic information, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.