# Engineering Manager/Tech Lead Manager - Runtime Engineering
**Company:** [Snowflake](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/snowflake)
Lead a high-impact Spark Runtime Engineering team of 5-8 engineers at Snowflake, where you'll combine deep technical expertise in compilers, query processing, and runtime systems with strong people leadership. You'll drive the technical architecture for translating Spark workloads into efficient execution on Snowflake's cloud-native query engine while hiring, mentoring, and developing a world-class engineering team. This role requires 2+ years of engineering management experience and 5+ years of hands-on software engineering with substantial expertise in compiler infrastructure, query-processing systems, or runtime integration.
**Role:** Engineering Manager
**Seniority:** Manager
**Locations:** US-CA-Menlo Park
**Salary:** 236000–339200 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/snowflake/819f71d8-ee5f-429b-948d-46669a760edb)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/snowflake/engineering-manager-tech-lead-manager-runtime-engineering
---
## Responsibilities

- Set Technical Direction for Spark Compilation and Runtime: Establish and guide the architectural vision for Spark query compilation and runtime integration on Snowflake, encompassing intermediate representations (IRs), type resolution, semantic compatibility, query-plan transformations, and efficient SQL generation. Make critical decisions on compiler infrastructure that directly impact customer workload performance and system reliability.
- Optimize Performance and Cost-Efficiency: Lead initiatives to improve end-to-end workload performance and reduce operational costs through systematic profiling, compilation-latency reduction, metadata-access optimization, and strategic collaboration with query-engine teams. Translate performance gains into measurable customer value and competitive advantage.
- Ensure Correctness and Spark Compatibility: Establish and enforce strong correctness and compatibility practices by implementing differential testing against Apache Spark, comprehensive regression coverage, and clear documentation of unsupported behavior. Drive a culture of quality that prevents production issues and maintains customer trust.
- Own Production Quality and Observability: Take full ownership of the production quality of the team's compiler and runtime components, including designing observability systems, managing incident response, implementing fault recovery mechanisms, and establishing safe rollout practices. Ensure systems maintain high reliability under customer workloads at scale.
- Hire, Coach, and Develop Engineering Talent: Build and scale a high-performing engineering team of 5-8 engineers through strategic hiring, regular coaching, and actionable feedback. Actively manage performance, support career development across experience levels, and create a culture of technical excellence and growth.
- Cross-Team Collaboration and Roadmap Prioritization: Partner with senior technical leaders and Product Management to align investments, manage technical dependencies with adjacent teams, and deliver a realistic, customer-focused roadmap. Translate customer needs into prioritized engineering outcomes.
- Validate and Measure Customer Impact: Systematically validate engineering changes against representative customer workloads and track measurable improvements in compatibility, latency, reliability, and cost-efficiency. Ensure all technical decisions are grounded in real-world customer requirements and business outcomes.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Computer Science or Related Bachelor's Degree","description":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related field. Equivalent practical experience in systems engineering can substitute for formal education."}

### technical

- {"name":"Compiler Architecture and IR Transformations","description":"Deep expertise in compiler design, intermediate representation (IR) construction and optimization, and query-plan lowering. Ability to architect compiler components that translate high-level Spark semantics into efficient low-level code."}
- {"name":"Query Processing and Optimization","description":"Strong background in relational query processing, query optimization techniques, and execution planning. Understanding of how to transform and optimize query plans for performance on cloud-native systems."}
- {"name":"Runtime Systems and Integration","description":"Hands-on experience building and debugging runtime infrastructure, understanding memory management, concurrency patterns, and integration between high-level languages and execution engines."}
- {"name":"Systems Fundamentals and Performance Analysis","description":"Mastery of core systems concepts including concurrency, memory behavior, profiling techniques, and performance optimization. Demonstrated ability to debug complex production issues at scale."}
- {"name":"Proficiency in Implementation Languages","description":"Production-level expertise in Scala, Java, C++, or comparable systems programming languages. Ability to review and guide production code quality across the team."}

### experience

- {"name":"Engineering Management Experience","description":"Minimum 2+ years of direct engineering management experience with demonstrated success in developing engineers, shipping production systems, and building high-performing teams."}
- {"name":"Hands-On Systems Engineering","description":"Minimum 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience with substantial, proven work on compilers, query-processing systems, runtime infrastructure, or closely related systems."}
- {"name":"Production Systems Ownership","description":"Proven experience owning production systems through full lifecycle including design, implementation, debugging, and production support at scale."}
- {"name":"Cross-Functional Technical Leadership","description":"Demonstrated ability to translate technical requirements into engineering priorities, collaborate effectively across teams and locations, and partner with Product Management and stakeholders."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Compiler Design and Implementation","description":"Core expertise in compiler architecture, intermediate representations, semantic analysis, code generation, and optimization passes."}
- {"name":"Spark and Distributed Processing","description":"Working knowledge of Apache Spark's execution model, DataFrame/RDD APIs, and challenges in translating Spark semantics to alternative execution engines."}
- {"name":"Scala/Java Systems Programming","description":"Production experience with Scala or Java for building complex systems. Understanding of JVM internals, performance characteristics, and profiling."}
- {"name":"SQL and Query Languages","description":"Deep understanding of SQL semantics, relational algebra, query optimization, and the ability to translate domain-specific operations to SQL."}
- {"name":"Software Architecture and Design","description":"Ability to design scalable, maintainable system architectures for compiler and runtime components. Experience with separation of concerns and testing strategies."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership and Mentorship","description":"Proven ability to mentor engineers, guide technical decisions, conduct effective code reviews, and build psychological safety within engineering teams."}

### preferred

- {"name":"Apache Spark Internals Expertise","description":"In-depth knowledge of Spark Catalyst optimizer, Spark Connect, DataFrame API implementation, and modern Spark execution model."}
- {"name":"Query Optimization and Execution","description":"Experience with query optimization algorithms, cost-based planning, adaptive execution, and distributed query execution."}
- {"name":"Scala/JVM Performance Optimization","description":"Hands-on experience optimizing Scala/JVM applications, understanding GC behavior, native runtime integration, and compilation-performance tuning."}
- {"name":"Test Infrastructure and Observability","description":"Experience designing differential testing frameworks, building comprehensive test suites, creating performance benchmarks, and implementing production observability for data systems."}
- {"name":"Cloud Data Warehousing","description":"Familiarity with cloud-native data platforms, understanding of challenges in distributed data processing at scale, and experience with production data systems."}
- {"name":"Production System Hardening","description":"Experience leading systems through customer adoption, production hardening, staged rollouts, and managing technical debt."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Git","description":"Version control system for managing compiler and runtime code, facilitating code review and collaboration across the engineering team."}
- {"name":"Profiling and Debugging Tools","description":"Expertise with JVM profilers (JFR, async-profiler), debuggers, and performance analysis tools for identifying bottlenecks and optimizing systems."}
- {"name":"CI/CD Pipelines","description":"Experience with continuous integration and deployment systems for running test suites, performance benchmarks, and staged rollouts."}
- {"name":"Observability Platforms","description":"Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and metrics collection systems for production data systems."}

### others

- {"name":"Compiler Infrastructure","description":"Understanding of compiler construction principles including lexing, parsing, semantic analysis, code generation, and optimization."}
- {"name":"Intermediate Representations (IRs)","description":"Knowledge of designing and working with intermediate representations for capturing program semantics and enabling optimizations."}
- {"name":"Type Systems and Semantics","description":"Understanding of type inference, type checking, and semantic analysis for ensuring correctness of query execution."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Concepts","description":"Core knowledge of concurrency, synchronization, data consistency, and fault tolerance in distributed data processing."}

### databases

- {"name":"Snowflake","description":"Cloud-native data warehouse platform providing the underlying execution engine for Spark workloads. Understanding of Snowflake's query processing and cost model is essential."}
- {"name":"SQL Engines","description":"Knowledge of modern SQL execution engines, including distributed query execution, vectorized processing, and cost-based planning."}

### languages

- {"name":"Scala","description":"Primary implementation language for Spark and JVM-based systems. Required for compiler implementation, runtime integration, and framework extensions."}
- {"name":"Java","description":"Core language for JVM systems, essential for understanding Spark internals, building runtime components, and systems integration."}
- {"name":"C++","description":"Relevant for native runtime optimization, performance-critical components, and integration with low-level systems."}
- {"name":"SQL","description":"Essential for understanding query semantics, designing query-plan transformations, and validating SQL generation correctness."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"Apache Spark","description":"Core framework for distributed data processing. Deep understanding of Spark's APIs, Catalyst optimizer, execution engine, and compatibility requirements."}
- {"name":"Spark Connect","description":"Modern Spark API for client-server communication. Understanding of how Spark Connect abstracts execution and the challenges of supporting it across platforms."}
- {"name":"Query Optimization Frameworks","description":"Familiarity with rule-based and cost-based query optimization approaches, join ordering algorithms, and adaptive execution strategies."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Equity and Stock Options","description":"Competitive equity package with stock options aligning your personal success with company growth. Meaningful ownership stake in Snowflake's future as a leading cloud data platform."}
- {"name":"Comprehensive Health and Wellness","description":"Medical, dental, and vision coverage with choice of plans. Mental health support, wellness programs, and on-site fitness facilities."}
- {"name":"Retirement Planning","description":"401(k) matching program to support long-term financial planning and retirement security."}
- {"name":"Paid Time Off","description":"Competitive vacation policy, paid sick leave, and paid parental leave supporting work-life balance."}
- {"name":"Professional Development","description":"Learning and development budgets, conference attendance, technical training, and leadership development programs."}
- {"name":"Flexible Work Arrangements","description":"Work location flexibility between Bellevue, WA and Menlo Park, CA locations with options for hybrid arrangements."}
- {"name":"Relocation Assistance","description":"Support for relocating to Bellevue or Menlo Park area, including moving expenses and housing assistance."}
- {"name":"Technology and Equipment","description":"Latest development hardware, software licenses, and tools needed to perform at your best."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 270000
- **min:** 180000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

- {"name":"Initial Screening and Conversation","description":"Recruiter call to discuss your background, management philosophy, and technical expertise in compilers or query processing. 30 minutes focusing on alignment with role and team needs."}
- {"name":"Technical Leadership Discussion","description":"Conversation with hiring manager and current team members about your technical approach to compiler architecture, team building philosophy, and experience with complex production systems. Expect questions on your approach to technical decision-making and mentorship."}
- {"name":"System Design and Architecture","description":"Deep technical discussion on how you would approach translating Spark workloads to SQL, designing compiler components, and optimizing for performance and correctness. May include whiteboarding or discussing past architecture decisions."}
- {"name":"Team and Management Interview","description":"Conversation with senior leadership focusing on your people leadership philosophy, hiring approach, performance management, and experience scaling teams. Discussion of how you develop and mentor engineers."}
- {"name":"Cross-Functional Collaboration","description":"Meeting with stakeholders from product, query engine, and runtime teams to assess collaboration style, ability to translate customer needs into technical requirements, and experience working across organizations."}
- {"name":"Final Executive Interview","description":"Conversation with senior engineering leadership or executive to discuss strategic vision, how you approach transformational technical problems, and your career aspirations."}

## Full description
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.

# **Engineering Manager – Spark Runtime Engineering**

Location: Bellevue, WA or Menlo Park, CA

## **About the Team**

The Spark Runtime Engineering Team brings Snowflake’s performance, efficiency, and reliability to Spark workloads. Our mission is to help customers scale data processing while preserving the familiar Spark APIs and semantics they rely on. We build the compiler and runtime integration that translate Spark workloads into efficient execution on Snowflake’s cloud-native query engine. This includes tackling complex challenges in compiler infrastructure, query-plan lowering, Spark compatibility, execution integration, and end-to-end observability to deliver faster, more cost-efficient data processing at scale.

We are seeking a hands-on Engineering Manager who combines deep technical expertise with strong people leadership. You will shape the team’s technical direction, stay actively engaged in architecture and critical engineering decisions, and hire, mentor, and grow a high-performing engineering team to advance the future of Spark on Snowflake.

## **Role Overview**

You will lead a team of approximately 5–8 engineers building production compiler and runtime capabilities for Spark workloads on Snowflake. You will guide architectural decisions, review critical designs and code, and help investigate complex correctness, performance, and reliability issues. In partnership with compiler, query engine, runtime, and product teams, you will turn customer needs into a focused roadmap and measurable engineering outcomes.

## **Responsibilities**

* Set technical direction for Spark query compilation and runtime integration, including intermediate representations, type resolution, semantic compatibility, query-plan transformations, and efficient SQL generation.
* Improve end-to-end workload performance and cost-efficiency through profiling, compilation-latency reduction, metadata-access improvements, and collaboration with query-engine teams.
* Establish strong correctness and compatibility practices, including differential testing against Apache Spark, regression coverage, and clear handling of unsupported behavior.
* Own the production quality of the team’s components, including observability, incident response, fault recovery, and safe rollout practices.
* Hire, coach, and develop engineers; provide actionable feedback, manage performance, and support career growth across experience levels.
* Partner with senior technical leaders and Product Management to prioritize investments, manage dependencies, and deliver a realistic roadmap.
* Validate changes against representative customer workloads and track measurable improvements in compatibility, latency, reliability, and cost-efficiency.

## **Minimum Qualifications**

* 2+ years of direct engineering management experience, with demonstrated success developing engineers and delivering production systems.
* 5+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including substantial work on compilers, query-processing systems, or runtime infrastructure.
* Deep expertise in at least one relevant area, such as compiler architecture and IR transformations, relational query processing, language semantics and type systems, or runtime integration.
* Proficiency in Scala, Java, C++, or a comparable implementation language, with the ability to review production code and guide technical decisions.
* Strong systems fundamentals, including concurrency, memory behavior, and performance analysis, together with experience debugging complex production issues.
* Ability to translate technical and customer requirements into engineering priorities and collaborate effectively across teams and locations.

## **Preferred Qualifications**

* Experience with Apache Spark internals, Catalyst, Spark Connect, or DataFrame APIs.
* Experience with relational algebra, SQL generation, query optimization, or database execution systems.
* Experience with Scala/JVM performance, native runtime functions, metadata caching, or compilation-performance optimization.
* Experience building compatibility-test frameworks, differential testing, performance benchmarks, or production observability for data systems.
* Experience leading systems through customer adoption, production hardening, and staged releases.
* A degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

## **Why Join Us?**

Help shape how Spark workloads run on Snowflake. You will work on technically challenging compiler and runtime problems, grow a strong engineering team, and make a measurable difference to the correctness, reliability, and cost-efficiency of customers’ data processing.

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](http://careers.snowflake.com)