Staff Software Engineer, Model Serving

Databricks; California (MO); On-site; USD 192,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Databricks is seeking a Staff Engineer to shape the Model Serving platform, designing scalable systems and APIs for high-throughput, low-latency inference on CPU and GPU. You will influence architectural direction and collaborate across platform, product, infrastructure, and research teams to deliver a world-class serving platform.

You will lead architectural decisions, drive performance optimizations, and mentor engineers, while ensuring operational excellence and adherence to best practices in

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems.
• Deep expertise in model serving, inference systems, and related infrastructure (routing, scheduling, autoscaling, observability).
• Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and system design for low-latency serving systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement core systems and APIs powering Databricks Model Serving, ensuring scalability and reliability.
• Define the technical roadmap and long-term architecture for serving workloads.
• Drive architectural decisions to optimize performance, throughput, and autoscaling for CPU and GPU workloads.
• Contribute to components across the serving infrastructure (model containers, deployment workflows, routing, caching, observability, autoscaling).
• Collaborate with product, platform, and research teams to translate customer needs into reliable systems.
• Lead initiatives to improve latency, availability, and cost-effectiveness across serving layers.
• Establish best practices for code quality, testing, and operational readiness; mentor engineers.

Skills

Distributed systems

Model serving

Inference systems

System design

CPU/GPU inference

Architectural direction

Leadership

Mentoring

Job description

At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating the development of medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best data and AI infrastructure platform so our customers can use deep data insights to improve their business.

Databricks’ Model Serving product provides enterprises with a unified, scalable, and governed platform to deploy and manage AI/ML models — from traditional ML to fine-tuned and proprietary large language models. It offers real-time, low-latency inference, governance, monitoring, and lineage. As AI adoption accelerates, Model Serving is a core pillar of the Databricks platform, enabling customers to operationalize models at scale with strong SLAs and cost efficiency.

As a Staff Engineer, you’ll play a critical role in shaping both the product experience and the foundational infrastructure of Model Serving. You will design and build systems that enable high-throughput, low-latency inference across CPU and GPU workloads, influence architectural direction, and collaborate closely across platform, product, infrastructure, and research teams to deliver a world-class serving platform.

The impact you will have:

• Design and implement core systems and APIs that power Databricks Model Serving, ensuring scalability, reliability, and operational excellence.

• Partner with product and engineering leadership to define the technical roadmap and long-term architecture for serving workloads.

• Drive architectural decisions and trade-offs to optimize performance, throughput, autoscaling, and operational efficiency for CPU and GPU serving workloads.

• Contribute directly to key components across the serving infrastructure — from model container builds and deployment workflows to runtime systems like routing, caching, observability, and intelligent autoscaling — ensuring smooth and efficient operations at scale.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, platform, and research teams to translate customer needs into reliable and performant systems.

• Lead technical initiatives that improve latency, availability, and cost-effectiveness across both customer-facing and foundational serving layers.

• Establish best practices for code quality, testing, and operational readiness, and mentor other engineers through design reviews and technical guidance.

• Represent the team in cross-organizational technical discussions and influence Databricks’ broader AI platform strategy.

What we look for:

• 10+ years of experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems.

• Deep expertise in model serving, inference systems, and related infrastructure (e.g., routing, scheduling, autoscaling, and observability).

• Strong foundation in algorithms, data structures, and system design as applied to large-scale, low-latency serving systems.

• Proven ability to deliver technically complex, high-impact initiatives that create measurable customer or business value.

• Experience leading architecture for large-scale, performance-sensitive CPU/GPU inference systems.

• Strong communication skills and ability to collaborate across teams in fast-moving environments.

• Strategic and product-oriented mindset with the ability to align technical execution with long-term vision.

• Passion for mentoring, growing engineers, and fostering technical excellence.

Pay Range Transparency

Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.

Local Pay Range

$192,000—$260,000 USD

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

Benefits

At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.

Compliance

If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.