Senior Software Engineer - Observe Data Management
Senior Software Engineer · Senior · Full Time
Opens Snowflake's application page
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 haveExperience with OpenTelemetry SDKs, instrumentation, or ecosystem tooling
Open Source Contribution
Nice to haveTrack record of open-source project contributions or maintainership
Data Lakehouse
Nice to haveFamiliarity with Apache Iceberg or other open table formats and data lakehouse architectures
Tech stack
Languages
Databases
Tools
Other
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.
- 01
Initial Screening
Recruiter phone screen to assess candidate background and fit
- 02
Technical Interview
In-depth technical discussion focusing on distributed systems, systems programming, and problem-solving skills
- 03
Systems Design Challenge
Evaluate candidate's ability to design scalable, reliable data processing architectures
- 04
Team Fit Interview
Discussion with team members to assess cultural alignment and collaborative potential
- 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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