--- title: 'Staff Engineer SQL Engine at YugabyteDB' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-engineer-sql-engine-yugabytedb-sunnyvale-krdjsgkm7s46' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-13' --- # Staff Engineer SQL Engine at YugabyteDB - **Company:** YugabyteDB - **Location:** Sunnyvale, CA - **Posted:** 2026-02-05 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-13 - **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/yugabyte/jobs/4651508006 ## Job description Yugabyte is the company behind YugabyteDB, the AI-ready, multi-modal, distributed PostgreSQL database for cloud-native apps. Trusted by industry leaders including Shopify, Paramount+, GM, Kroger, Fiserv, and NPCI, YugabyteDB has been deployed in over 100 countries and powers more than 5 million clusters worldwide. Together, our hard-working team of experts and our industry-leading technology are uniquely positioned to meet the demands of modern workloads: geo-distributed, ultra-resilient, and built to scale without limits. Our Yugabeings (distributed, like our database) span 12+ countries and multiple time zones, sharing expertise from diverse backgrounds and industries. Staff Engineer – Languages & Relational Technologies (LRT) ## Role Overview As a Staff Engineer on the Languages & Relational Technologies (LRT) team, you will help design, build, and scale core database features that power YugabyteDB’s SQL layer. You will collaborate with cross-functional engineering teams to solve complex problems affecting distributed query planning, execution, and performance, ensuring YugabyteDB remains robust, reliable, and performance at scale. ## Key Responsibilities - Lead the design, development, testing, and release of new database features and enhancements in YugabyteDB. - Write high-quality C/C++ code (and contribute in other languages as needed) with comprehensive automated tests; participate actively in code reviews. - Identify and implement performance improvements — including plan optimization, batching/parallelism, and advanced push-downs to data nodes. - Improve database scalability and throughput as cluster sizes and transaction volumes grow. - Contribute to the open source YugabyteDB project and help strengthen our distributed SQL capabilities across releases. - Troubleshoot and resolve correctness, stability, and performance issues in complex distributed query planning and execution paths. - Mentor and influence other engineers in best practices for database internals, distributed systems, and performance-oriented software development. Required Qualifications - 8+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with a strong foundation in compiled languages such as C/C++. - Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science (or related field), or equivalent practical experience. - Deep understanding of systems engineering fundamentals, including operating systems, distributed systems, and databases. - Experience with database internals, compilers, or query planning/optimization is a strong plus. - Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to operate effectively in a collaborative, distributed team environment ## Preferred Skills - Experience building large-scale distributed systems and transactional engines. - Familiarity with PostgreSQL internals or other relational database engines. - Contributions to open source database or systems projects. - Prior leadership in technical architecture, performance tuning, and mentoring engineers. We work in a hybrid model, with the team together in our Sunnyvale office 2–3 days per week. We feel strongly about equal pay for equal work, and transparency in compensation is one way to help achieve that. The cash compensation for this role is market competitive, with a range of USD 150,000 - USD 250,000, inclusive of variable/incentive for some roles. As well as equity (when applicable), and benefits including health plans, retirement plans, and unlimited paid time off (PTO). The pay range for this position is a general guideline only and not a guarantee of compensation or salary. The actual pay will vary based on factors including experience, qualifications, and skill level. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: As an equal opportunity employer, Yugabyte is committed to a diverse workforce. Employment decisions regarding recruitment and selection will be made without discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state and local laws. #LI-Hybrid Due to the Proclamation, “Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers”, which went into effect on September 21, 2025, at this time we are no longer able to sponsor new H-1B visa petitions filed after September 21, 2025 for new hires. We are still able to consider candidates who require H-1B extensions, changes of employer, or other types of work authorization. Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: As an equal opportunity employer, Yugabyte is committed to a diverse workforce. Employment decisions regarding recruitment and selection will be made without discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, genetic information or characteristic, gender identity and expression, veteran status, or other non-job related characteristics or other prohibited grounds specified in applicable federal, state and local laws. To review Yugabyte's Privacy Policy please visit [Yugabyte Privacy Notice](https://www.yugabyte.com/privacy-policy/#:~:text=Communicate%20with%20Customers%3A%20We%20use,up%20to%20date%20with%20what%27s). ## About YugabyteDB ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: YugabyteDB is an AI-ready, high-performance, distributed PostgreSQL-compatible database for cloud-native, mission-critical transactional applications. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series C) - **Headquarters**: Sunnyvale, California, USA - **Founded**: 2016 - **Founders**: Kannan Muthukkaruppan, Karthik Ranganathan, and Mikhail Bautin (former Facebook engineers) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Database / Infrastructure Software - **Target customers**: B2B, Enterprise, and SMB; organizations running cloud-native, transactional, and global-scale applications (Fortune 100 companies, leading retailers, auto manufacturers, fintech, and financial services firms). - **Mission or purpose**: To provide a data platform that is infinite, everlasting, and adds value—empowering organizations to realize the full potential of a cloud-native world with a modern distributed database. ## Products & Services - **[YugabyteDB (Open Source)]**: A fully open-source (Apache 2.0), distributed SQL RDBMS that is PostgreSQL-compatible. It offers high availability, disaster recovery, seamless scalability, and advanced vector indexing for GenAI and RAG applications. Designed for cloud-native apps, it supports Kubernetes, microservices, and multi-cloud deployments. - **[YugabyteDB Aeon]**: A fully managed Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) platform introduced in 2021, available on public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP). It enhances data infrastructure flexibility and reduces operational overhead. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed. - **Key Metric**: Total Funding — Over $280 million raised. - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sapphire Ventures, Dell Technologies Capital, Alkeon Capital, Meritech Capital, 8VC, Wipro Ventures, and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. Advisors include Scott McNealy (co-founder of Sun Microsystems). - **Growth Signals**: Over 1 million transactions per second processed; more than 10,000 GitHub stars; deployed in 100+ countries; trusted by Fortune 100 companies; strong community of 11,000+ members; expanding globally with offices in Sunnyvale, Bangalore, Pune, Singapore, and Tokyo. ## Competitive Advantages - **PostgreSQL Compatibility**: Offers a drop-in replacement for PostgreSQL with built-in distributed capabilities, allowing developers to use familiar tools and extensions. - **Open Source Core**: Fully open-source (Apache 2.0) with no proprietary licensing, fostering a strong community and developer trust. - **Cloud-Native & Multi-Model**: Combines a high-performance document store, auto-sharding, per-shard distributed consensus replication (inspired by Google Spanner), and multi-shard ACID transactions. - **AI-Ready**: Advanced vector indexing for RAG and GenAI applications, with integrations for LangChain, LlamaIndex, and major AI platforms. ## Strategic Focus - **AI & GenAI Integration**: Expanding capabilities for enterprise-grade, ultra-resilient RAG and GenAI applications. - **Cloud-Native Growth**: Deepening support for Kubernetes, microservices, and multi-cloud/hybrid deployments. - **Enterprise Adoption**: Targeting mission-critical workloads for large enterprises, with a focus on database modernization and cloud-native application development. - **Global Expansion**: Growing presence across North America, Asia-Pacific (India, Singapore, Japan), and Europe. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Built on three core values: Trust (transparency, integrity, humility), Relationships (with colleagues, customers, and community), and Outcomes (technical excellence and positive impact). - **Work Models**: Offers flexible work arrangements including fully remote, hybrid, and in-office options depending on role and location. - **Global Team**: Distributed engineering and sales teams providing 24/7 follow-the-sun support. Offices in Sunnyvale, Bangalore, Pune, Singapore, and Tokyo. - **Perks**: Unlimited PTO, health insurance, company stock options, retirement plans, home office setup reimbursement, professional development reimbursement, bi-annual wellness days, and childcare benefits. - **Engineering Culture**: Emphasis on technical excellence, ownership, and building high-performance distributed systems. Founded by engineers with a track record at Facebook (Cassandra, HBase). - **Growth Opportunities**: Diverse career paths in engineering, product management, sales, and marketing. Fast-paced environment with a focus on innovation. ## Sources 1. [yugabyte.com](https://www.yugabyte.com/) 2. [yugabyte.com/careers](https://www.yugabyte.com/careers/) 3. [yugabyte.com/about](https://www.yugabyte.com/about/) 4. [greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/yugabyte) 5. 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