Engineering Manager – Snowtrail
Engineering Manager · Manager · Full Time
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Role
What you'll do.
Snowflake is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead the Snowtrail infrastructure team, responsible for developing innovative testing and optimization infrastructure that ensures the reliability and performance of Snowflake's data platform. The ideal candidate will bring deep expertise in distributed systems, strong leadership skills, and a passion for building high-performing engineering teams.
Responsibilities
- Team Leadership: Lead and develop the Snowtrail infrastructure team, focusing on building high-performing engineering teams
- Infrastructure Development: Drive the evolution of Snowtrail infrastructure to support customer-specific workload testing and optimization
- Performance Optimization: Implement and improve query replay mechanisms, machine learning-driven query sampling, and workload analysis
- System Reliability: Ensure platform reliability, correctness, and performance through advanced testing and monitoring infrastructure
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Distributed Systems
10+ years of experience designing and building distributed data systems with deep understanding of architecture and complexity
Programming Languages
Fluency in one or more of: SQL, Java, C++, Python, or Go
Computer Science Fundamentals
Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems principles
Education
Computer Science Degree
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field preferred
Experience
Leadership Experience
Proven track record of leading distributed technical teams and mentoring junior engineers
Software Delivery
Demonstrated ability to ship high-quality software in fast-paced, high-velocity environments
Skills
Required
Distributed Systems Design
Expertise in designing scalable and reliable distributed computing architectures
Team Management
Strong leadership and team-building capabilities with ability to mentor junior engineers
Communication
Excellent interpersonal and cross-functional communication skills
Preferred
Telemetry Pipelines
Nice to haveExperience building at-scale telemetry or query replay pipelines
Database Query Engines
Nice to haveBackground in building or testing database query engines
Machine Learning Operations
Nice to haveKnowledge of operationalizing machine learning models
Tech stack
Languages
Databases
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 236,000 – 339,200
Benefits
Competitive Compensation
Salary range of $236,000 - $339,200 with potential for additional equity
Hybrid Work Model
Flexible work arrangement with options for on-site work in San Mateo, CA or Bellevue, WA
Professional Development
Opportunities for continuous learning and career growth in a cutting-edge cloud computing environment
Process
Interview steps.
- 01
Initial Screening
Phone or video call with recruiting team to assess initial qualifications
- 02
Technical Interview
In-depth technical discussion focusing on distributed systems, software design, and leadership experience
- 03
Leadership Assessment
Interview with engineering leadership to evaluate team management and strategic thinking skills
- 04
Team Interaction
Meeting with potential team members to assess cultural fit and collaboration potential
- 05
Final Executive Interview
Comprehensive discussion with senior leadership about vision and approach to engineering management
Full posting
Original listing.
At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.
We’re hiring a talented Software Engineering Manager to lead the Snowtrail infrastructure team at Snowflake. Snowtrail is the infrastructure that enables Snowflake to deliver dedicated coverage for customer-specific workloads. Its innovative approach allows Snowflake to precisely test and measure the impact of changes on individual customers, making it essential for ensuring the platform’s reliability, correctness, and performance. Through query replay, Snowtrail helps us catch regressions early. By leveraging machine learning models to intelligently sample queries and workloads, we continuously optimize for both cost and performance. Evolving Snowtrail to incorporate new engine features while improving scalability, efficiency, and reliability is central to our continued success
OUR IDEAL MANAGER WILL HAVE :
Strong passion and proven track record for shipping quality software in high code velocity environments
10+ years industry experience designing and building distributed data systems.
Excellent problem solving skills, and strong CS fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.
Fluency in SQL, Java, C++, Python or Go.
Ability to collaborate well across teams, build high-performing teams and mentor junior engineers.
Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
Ability to work on-site at our San Mateo, CA or Bellevue, WA offices.
BONUS POINTS FOR EXPERIENCE WITH THE FOLLOWING :
Building at-scale telemetry pipeline or query replay pipeline
Building or testing database query engine
Operationalizing Machine Learning models
Solid understanding of shipping end to end customer experiences across clients including browsers, apps and drivers
Multi-tenant systems, with focus on reliability, performance, isolation, security and scalability.
A track record of leading distributed technical teams
Every Snowflake employee is expected to follow the company’s confidentiality and security standards for handling sensitive data. Snowflake employees must abide by the company’s data security plan as an essential part of their duties. It is every employee's duty to keep customer information secure and confidential.
Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.
How do you want to make your impact?
For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com
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