Senior Software Engineer - Observe Data Management

Senior Software Engineer · Senior · Full Time

US-CA-Menlo ParkUSD 200k – 288k4mo ago
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Role

What you'll do.

Snowflake is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for its Observe Data Management team, responsible for designing and scaling high-throughput data ingestion pipelines that process over 1 petabyte of telemetry data daily. The role involves developing performance-critical distributed systems components and contributing to OpenTelemetry's open-source ecosystem while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and low-latency data processing.

Responsibilities

  • Data Pipeline Engineering: Design, build, and scale high-throughput data ingestion and processing pipelines handling petabyte-scale telemetry including logs, metrics, traces, and events
  • System Development: Develop performance-critical, distributed systems components in Go and/or C++ that operate reliably across AWS and Azure cloud environments
  • Open-Source Contribution: Contribute to OpenTelemetry and drive the company's open-source strategy, including external community engagement and upstream contributions
  • System Reliability: Architect solutions that maintain enterprise-grade availability and low latency under extreme data volumes
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Work with SRE, product, and platform teams to define data reliability standards and improve detection-to-resolution times for customers
  • Technical Leadership: Help shape the technical roadmap for the Data Management team and mentor engineers across the organization

Qualifications

What we look for.

Technical

  • Programming Languages

    Proficiency in Go and/or C++, with ability to write high-performance, production-grade systems code

  • Distributed Systems

    Deep expertise in distributed systems architecture and development

  • Cloud Platforms

    Hands-on experience building and running services across AWS and Azure

Education

  • Academic Qualification

    B.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience

Experience

  • Software Engineering

    5+ years of software engineering experience with focus on distributed systems

  • Data Pipeline Experience

    Demonstrated experience designing and operating large-scale data ingestion or stream processing pipelines

Skills

Required

  • Go Programming

    Proficient system-level programming in Go

  • C++ Programming

    Advanced development capabilities in C++

  • Distributed Systems

    Strong understanding of distributed system design and implementation

  • Systems Programming

    Expertise in concurrency, memory management, networking, and I/O

Preferred

  • OpenTelemetry

    Nice to have

    Experience with OpenTelemetry SDKs, instrumentation, or ecosystem tooling

  • Open Source Contribution

    Nice to have

    Track record of open-source project contributions or maintainership

  • Data Lakehouse

    Nice to have

    Familiarity with Apache Iceberg or other open table formats and data lakehouse architectures

Tech stack

Languages

GoC++

Databases

Apache Iceberg

Tools

AWSAzure

Other

OpenTelemetry

Compensation

Pay and benefits.

Base·USD 200,000 – 287,500

Benefits

  • Innovative Work Environment

    Opportunity to work with cutting-edge AI-powered observability platform at a leading data cloud company

  • Ownership Culture

    High-impact role with genuine system ownership and direct influence on enterprise customer reliability

  • Professional Growth

    Chance to work on petabyte-scale data infrastructure and contribute to open-source technologies

Process

Interview steps.

  1. 01

    Initial Screening

    Recruiter phone screen to assess candidate background and fit

  2. 02

    Technical Interview

    In-depth technical discussion focusing on distributed systems, systems programming, and problem-solving skills

  3. 03

    Systems Design Challenge

    Evaluate candidate's ability to design scalable, reliable data processing architectures

  4. 04

    Team Fit Interview

    Discussion with team members to assess cultural alignment and collaborative potential

  5. 05

    Final Interview

    Meeting with senior leadership to discuss long-term potential and strategic contributions

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.

Observe by Snowflake is an AI-powered observability platform built on the Snowflake AI Data Cloud and engineered for scale. We ingest and store logs, metrics, traces, and events on an open, scalable data lakehouse using open formats like Apache Iceberg — at dramatically lower cost. A dynamic Context Graph and chat-based AI SRE provide rich context and automated workflows so teams can move from detection to root cause and resolution 10x faster.

Leading engineering teams at companies like Capital One, Topgolf, and Dialpad rely on Observe to troubleshoot hundreds of terabytes of telemetry daily while maintaining reliability at enterprise scale. As part of Snowflake, Observe combines startup-style ownership and velocity with the global reach, operational excellence, and ecosystem of one of the world's leading data platforms.

We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer for the Observe Data Management team. This team owns the core pipelines that ingest and process over 1 petabyte of telemetry data per day — the foundational infrastructure powering Observe's entire observability stack. You'll be working at the intersection of massive scale, open-source innovation, and real-world reliability challenges for enterprise customers around the globe.

AS A SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER - OBSERVE DATA MANAGEMENT AT SNOWFLAKE, YOU WILL:

  • Design, build, and scale high-throughput data ingestion and processing pipelines handling petabyte-scale telemetry — logs, metrics, traces, and events

  • Develop performance-critical, distributed systems components in Go and/or C++ that operate reliably across AWS and Azure

  • Contribute to OpenTelemetry and drive Observe's open-source strategy, including external community engagement and upstream contributions

  • Architect solutions that maintain enterprise-grade availability and low latency under extreme data volumes

  • Collaborate with SRE, product, and platform teams to define data reliability standards and improve detection-to-resolution times for customers

  • Debug and resolve complex distributed systems issues at the deepest layers of the stack

  • Help shape the technical roadmap for the Data Management team and mentor engineers across the organization

OUR IDEAL SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER - OBSERVE DATA MANAGEMENT WILL HAVE:

  • 5+ years of software engineering experience with deep expertise in distributed systems

  • Proficiency in Go and/or C++, with an ability to write high-performance, production-grade systems code

  • Demonstrated experience designing and operating large-scale data ingestion or stream processing pipelines

  • A strong sense of user empathy and product intuition — you think beyond APIs and care about end-to-end data onboarding and management experience.

  • Hands-on experience building and running services across major cloud providers (AWS and/or Azure)

  • Strong fundamentals in systems programming: concurrency, memory management, networking, and I/O

  • A track record of solving hard infrastructure or platform engineering problems at scale

  • B.S. in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience

BONUS POINTS FOR THE FOLLOWING:

  • Experience with OpenTelemetry SDKs, instrumentation, or ecosystem tooling

  • Prior open-source contributions or project maintainership

  • Familiarity with Apache Iceberg or other open table formats and data lakehouse architectures

  • Background in observability, monitoring, or SRE

  • Experience with multi-cloud data infrastructure or telemetry platforms at petabyte scale

WHY JOIN OUR OBSERVE TEAM AT SNOWFLAKE?

The Observe team is building the future of AI-powered observability — from the ground up, at a scale few engineering teams ever touch. You'll have genuine ownership over systems that ingest and make sense of a petabyte of data per day, with a direct line from your work to the reliability and speed of enterprise customers who depend on Observe every hour of every day. And as part of Snowflake, you'll do it with the backing of one of the world's leading data platforms, while still moving with the velocity and ownership culture of a focused product team.

How do you want to make your impact?

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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