Senior Software Engineer - Observe by Snowflake, Metrics Platform

SnowflakeToday

Location

CH-Zurich-Observe

Type

Full Time

Salary

CHF 176,000 – 253,000

Level

Senior

Role

Senior Software Engineer

Posted

Apr 30, 2026

Full TimeSenior

The role

Summary

Snowflake is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for its Observe platform's Metrics team in Zurich, Switzerland. The role focuses on developing and optimizing a high-performance metrics platform that enables querying, visualization, and alerting on billions of time series, with a strong emphasis on distributed systems, performance optimization, and customer-centric engineering solutions.

What you'll do

Metrics Pipeline Ownership: Own and improve components of the metrics pipeline, including ingestion, storage, query execution, and caching optimizations

System Architecture: Contribute to the design of next-generation metrics systems, ensuring parallel development and future-proof architecture

Performance Experimentation: Design and run experiments to validate architectural changes, iterating quickly to find optimal solutions

Customer Performance Support: Investigate and resolve customer-reported performance issues, acting as a first responder for metrics latency challenges

Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate with the Metrics team on cross-cutting concerns, query execution, caching, and pipeline architecture

What we look for

Technical

Distributed SystemsProven experience building backend distributed systems with 5+ years of industry experience

Data Pipeline EngineeringHands-on experience building and optimizing data pipelines, query engines, or storage systems

Computer Science FoundationsStrong understanding of algorithms, data structures, and distributed systems architecture

Education

Technical DegreeBachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field

Experience

System AdaptabilityAbility to rapidly onboard to complex systems and drive meaningful improvements quickly

Customer-Centric ApproachProven track record of connecting backend engineering decisions to tangible user outcomes

Skills

Required skills

Distributed Systems DesignExpert-level understanding of designing and implementing scalable distributed systems

Performance OptimizationAdvanced skills in system performance tuning and optimization techniques

Backend EngineeringComprehensive expertise in backend system development and architectural design

Nice to have

Time-Series DatabasesExperience with Prometheus, InfluxDB, TimescaleDB, or similar time-series database technologies

Cloud Data WarehousingKnowledge of Snowflake or other cloud data warehouse platforms, with optimization expertise

Observability PlatformsPrevious work in monitoring, telemetry, or observability platform development

Compensation & benefits

Salary

CHF 176,000 – 253,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Global Career Opportunity

Work with a leading cloud computing company at the forefront of data and AI technologies

Innovation Environment

Startup-style ownership and velocity combined with enterprise-level resources

Professional Growth

Opportunity to work on cutting-edge observability and metrics platforms

Interview process

1
Initial Screening — Review of resume and initial qualification assessment
2
Technical Phone Screen — Detailed discussion of technical background and distributed systems expertise
3
Technical Interviews — Multiple rounds of in-depth technical interviews focusing on system design, coding, and problem-solving skills
4
Systems Design Challenge — Comprehensive evaluation of candidate's ability to design scalable, high-performance systems
5
Final Interview — Meeting with team leadership to assess cultural fit and strategic alignment