# Software Engineer - Postgres
**Company:** [Snowflake](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/snowflake)
Join Snowflake's Postgres team to build managed Postgres experiences inside the data cloud platform. This role focuses on control plane development, working on distributed systems at scale with research-grade optimizations across provisioning, security, and operational infrastructure. You'll design backend services that power lifecycle management and configuration while tackling complex challenges in database infrastructure, security, and operational excellence at one of the world's leading cloud data platforms.
**Role:** Backend Engineer
**Seniority:** Mid
**Locations:** US-CA-Menlo Park
**Salary:** 160000–230000 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/snowflake/6e96b818-2350-4601-8bdd-7ddd6c4a5f6d)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/snowflake/software-engineer-postgres-6e96b818
---
## Responsibilities

- Design and Build Backend Services: Architect and develop scalable backend services that power provisioning, lifecycle management, and configuration of Snowflake Postgres instances, ensuring high availability and performance at scale.
- Develop Access Control and User Management Features: Implement features in access models and authorization systems, including secure administration flows, role-based access control (RBAC), and customer-facing management capabilities for Postgres instances.
- Improve System Reliability and Observability: Enhance reliability, observability, and operability of asynchronous workflows and background systems through monitoring, logging, tracing, and performance optimization to maintain service health.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with product, security, and adjacent engineering teams to translate complex infrastructure requirements into simple, intuitive customer experiences and features.
- Production Issue Investigation and Resolution: Investigate production incidents, participate in on-call rotations, debug complex distributed systems issues, and implement resilience improvements that reduce operational burden and mean time to resolution.
- Technical Leadership and Mentoring: Contribute to technical design decisions, conduct thorough code reviews, mentor junior engineers, and help establish engineering best practices across the team.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Computer Science or Engineering Degree","description":"Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related technical field."}
- {"name":"Equivalent Practical Experience","description":"Equivalent professional experience in backend engineering, distributed systems, or infrastructure engineering may substitute for formal degree requirements."}

### technical

- {"name":"Production Backend Systems Experience","description":"2+ years of hands-on experience designing, building, and operating production backend systems, infrastructure services, or distributed systems in cloud environments."}
- {"name":"Programming Language Proficiency","description":"Strong programming skills in one or more languages including Java, Go, C++, or Python, with the ability to write clean, maintainable, and performant code."}
- {"name":"Computer Science Fundamentals","description":"Deep understanding of core CS concepts including concurrency, multithreading, networking protocols, API design, data structures, algorithms, and system design patterns."}
- {"name":"Production Operations and Debugging","description":"Demonstrated experience designing and operating reliable services in production, including proficiency in debugging tools, monitoring solutions, metrics collection, and incident response procedures."}

### experience

- {"name":"Backend or Infrastructure Engineering","description":"2+ years of professional experience in backend software engineering, infrastructure development, or distributed systems environments with focus on production reliability."}
- {"name":"Cross-Functional Collaboration","description":"Experience working effectively across technical boundaries with product managers, security teams, and other engineering disciplines to deliver integrated solutions."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Backend Service Architecture","description":"Ability to design and implement scalable backend services, microservices, or service-oriented architectures with consideration for distributed systems challenges."}
- {"name":"Java, Go, C++, or Python","description":"Proficiency in at least one statically or dynamically typed programming language commonly used in backend and systems development."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Concepts","description":"Strong understanding of distributed systems principles including eventual consistency, consensus algorithms, fault tolerance, and CAP theorem implications."}
- {"name":"Database and System Observability","description":"Hands-on experience with monitoring, logging, metrics, and tracing tools to diagnose system behavior and troubleshoot production issues."}
- {"name":"Production Debugging and Incident Response","description":"Ability to investigate complex production issues, use profiling and debugging tools effectively, and implement systematic improvements based on incident learnings."}

### preferred

- {"name":"PostgreSQL Expertise","description":"Experience with PostgreSQL internals, query optimization, replication, backup/recovery mechanisms, or operational management of Postgres clusters."}
- {"name":"Identity and Authorization Systems","description":"Background in designing or operating identity management, authorization frameworks, RBAC systems, or other security-sensitive infrastructure components."}
- {"name":"Cloud Platform Infrastructure","description":"Experience provisioning, managing, and operating services on major cloud providers including AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform, including Kubernetes or similar orchestration."}
- {"name":"Workflow Orchestration and Control Planes","description":"Experience with workflow orchestration platforms, control plane systems, event-driven architectures, or highly asynchronous service patterns."}
- {"name":"Managed Database Platforms","description":"Experience building or operating managed database services, cloud-native databases, or Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) platforms."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Kubernetes and Container Orchestration","description":"Experience managing containerized applications, scaling policies, and cloud-native infrastructure patterns for service deployment and management."}
- {"name":"Monitoring and Observability Stack","description":"Proficiency with logging, metrics collection, distributed tracing, and alerting tools commonly used in cloud-scale systems like Prometheus, Grafana, or similar platforms."}
- {"name":"Cloud Infrastructure Tools","description":"Familiarity with AWS, Azure, or GCP tooling for infrastructure provisioning, networking, security, and resource management."}
- {"name":"Version Control and CI/CD","description":"Strong experience with Git-based workflows and continuous integration/deployment pipelines for efficient software delivery and collaboration."}

### others

- {"name":"Security Best Practices","description":"Understanding of secure system design, authentication mechanisms, authorization patterns, secrets management, and security-focused code review practices."}
- {"name":"Asynchronous and Event-Driven Architectures","description":"Experience designing and debugging systems with complex asynchronous workflows, message queues, event streams, and eventual consistency patterns."}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Core database technology; deep understanding of Postgres architecture, query execution, transaction handling, and replication mechanisms essential for this role."}
- {"name":"Cloud Data Warehousing","description":"Familiarity with Snowflake's data warehouse architecture and how Postgres integrates into the broader cloud data platform ecosystem."}

### languages

- {"name":"Java","description":"Primary language for backend services in Snowflake environments, used extensively in control plane and data management systems."}
- {"name":"Go","description":"Used for systems programming, cloud infrastructure tooling, and high-performance concurrent services at scale."}
- {"name":"Python","description":"Utilized for infrastructure automation, scripting, testing frameworks, and operational tools within the Postgres team."}
- {"name":"C++","description":"Potential use in performance-critical components and low-level database operations within the Postgres integration layer."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"Distributed Systems Frameworks","description":"Experience with frameworks supporting service-to-service communication, distributed tracing, and resilience patterns relevant to control plane architectures."}
- {"name":"REST APIs and gRPC","description":"Design and implementation of modern API frameworks for backend service communication and customer-facing management interfaces."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Comprehensive Health Insurance","description":"Medical, dental, and vision coverage with plans available for employees and families, with Snowflake contributing significantly to premiums."}
- {"name":"401(k) Retirement Plan","description":"Employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement savings plan with company matching contributions to support long-term financial planning."}
- {"name":"Equity and Stock Options","description":"Competitive equity grants and stock options packages that allow employees to participate in Snowflake's long-term value creation."}
- {"name":"Paid Time Off","description":"Generous paid time off policy including vacation days, sick leave, and company holidays to support work-life balance and employee wellness."}
- {"name":"Professional Development","description":"Access to learning resources, technical conferences, training programs, and professional development opportunities to advance engineering careers."}
- {"name":"Collaborative Work Environment","description":"Access to flexible work arrangements, collaborative office spaces, and technology infrastructure supporting distributed and hybrid teams."}
- {"name":"Employee Assistance Programs","description":"Wellness programs, mental health support, fitness benefits, and employee assistance programs promoting holistic well-being."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 245000
- **min:** 185000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

- {"name":"Initial Screening","description":"Phone or video screening call with a technical recruiter to discuss background, experience, and alignment with the role requirements and team dynamics."}
- {"name":"Technical Phone Interview","description":"First technical assessment with a senior engineer covering distributed systems concepts, database fundamentals, system design thinking, and practical problem-solving approach."}
- {"name":"System Design Interview","description":"Deep-dive technical conversation focused on designing scalable backend systems, discussing tradeoffs in architecture decisions, and evaluating production considerations like reliability and observability."}
- {"name":"Technical Coding Interview","description":"Live coding assessment in your preferred language (Java, Go, C++, or Python) evaluating algorithmic thinking, code quality, debugging ability, and communication of your thought process."}
- {"name":"Behavioral and Cross-Functional Interview","description":"Conversation with product or cross-functional team members assessing collaboration skills, communication style, ability to work across technical boundaries, and alignment with Snowflake culture."}
- {"name":"Engineering Leadership Interview","description":"Discussion with engineering leadership about technical vision, mentoring philosophy, approach to technical challenges, and long-term career growth aspirations within the team."}

## 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.

The **Snowflake Postgres team** is building a managed Postgres experience inside Snowflake.This role is focused on the control plane, where you have the opportunity to work on both on distributed systems at scale and also to work on research grade optimizations at various layers of the software stack **including but not limited to provisioning, managing, securing, and operating Postgres in Snowflake**. You will work on core backend systems that sit at the intersection of distributed systems, database infrastructure, security, and operational excellence.

## **In this role, you will:**

* Design and build backend services that power provisioning, lifecycle management, and configuration of Snowflake Postgres instances.
* Develop features in the access and user model, including authorization, secure administration flows, and customer-facing management capabilities.
* Improve the reliability, observability, and operability of asynchronous workflows and background systems that keep the service healthy.
* Partner with product, security, and adjacent engineering teams to deliver simple customer experiences on top of complex infrastructure.
* Investigate production issues, participate in on-call, and drive fixes that improve resilience and reduce operational burden.
* Contribute to technical design, code review, and mentoring while helping raise the engineering bar across the team.

## **Our ideal candidate will have:**

* 2+ years of experience building production software in backend, infrastructure, or distributed systems environments.
* Strong programming skills in one or more of Java, Go, C++, or Python.
* Strong computer science fundamentals, including concurrency, networking, APIs, and data structures.
* Experience designing and operating reliable services in production, including debugging, monitoring, and incident response.
* Experience working across technical boundaries with product, security, and other engineering teams.
* BS/MS in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

## **Nice to have:**

* Experience with PostgreSQL, database internals, or managed database platforms.
* Experience with identity, authorization, RBAC, or other security-sensitive systems.
* Experience with cloud infrastructure on AWS, Azure, or GCP.
* Experience with workflow orchestration, control plane systems, or highly asynchronous service architectures.

## **Why join this team?**

* Work on a strategic product area that expands Snowflake into transactional and operational database workloads
* Build systems that directly shape how customers create, manage, and secure Postgres inside Snowflake
* Tackle a mix of product engineering, infrastructure, reliability, and security problems.
* Join a collaborative team with meaningful ownership, strong technical challenges, and room to grow

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)