Aerospike · 2 months ago
Senior Principal Engineer, Core Database Technology
Mountain View, CA
Full-time
Onsite
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$225K/yr - $300K/yr
15+ years expAerospike is the real-time database for mission-critical use cases and workloads, including machine learning and AI. The Senior Principal Engineer will shape the technical vision and direction for Aerospike’s core database platform, focusing on scalability, performance, and reliability while mentoring engineers and influencing cross-functional stakeholders.
AnalyticsBig DataDatabaseReal TimeSoftware
Responsibilities
Partner with the VP to define and execute the long-term technical vision and strategy for Aerospike’s core database platform, focusing on scalability, performance, and reliability
Extending Aerospike reach to cloud deployment and taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the different cloud environments where Aerospike will be deployed
Provide architectural leadership across server, client, tools, and connector teams, ensuring alignment with business objectives and customer needs
Design and implement performance-critical components in C, optimizing for scalability, fault tolerance, replication, and low-overhead observability in distributed systems
Drive measurable outcomes, such as improvements in latency, throughput, or cost efficiency, through performance tuning and innovative system designs
Drive improvements in builder and operator experience through programming model and query language innovation
Lead through influence, driving consensus on technical decisions across diverse teams, resolving conflicts, and aligning priorities to deliver robust solutions
Collaborate with product, business, and customer-facing teams to align technical solutions with market demands and enterprise requirements
Mentor and develop engineering talent, fostering a collaborative, high-quality culture inspired by open-source principles
Conduct deep dives into database internals, including storage engines, indexing, query processing, consistency models, and cluster lifecycle management (e.g., creation, upgrades, recovery)
Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies in distributed systems and NoSQL databases to enhance platform capabilities
Contribute to industry thought leadership, potentially through open-source projects, publications, or standards in database technologies
Qualification
Required
15+ years of experience in software engineering, with a focus on distributed systems and high-performance database technologies
Expert-level proficiency in C programming, including low-level systems development, optimization, and debugging in performance-critical environments
Proven track record as a technical leader (e.g., Principal Engineer or equivalent), with experience setting architectural direction and influencing multiple teams
Deep expertise in database internals, such as storage engines, query optimization, indexing, replication, and fault-tolerant designs
Strong understanding of distributed systems principles, including consistency models (e.g., CAP theorem), partitioning, sharding, and observability in clustered setups
Experience delivering measurable performance improvements in collaborative, agile environments
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience)
Preferred
Experience with cloud-native database services or open-source distributed databases
Contributions to open-source database projects or involvement in standards bodies
Proficiency in additional languages like C++, Go, or Java for backend systems
Expertise in tools for cluster management, automation, and observability (e.g., Prometheus, Kubernetes integrations)
Ability to balance independent innovation with cross-team collaboration in fast-paced environments
Master's or Doctoral degree in database and/or distributed systems
Company
Aerospike
Aerospike is a NoSQL database designed for real-time and mission-critical applications.
201-500 employees
H1B Sponsorship
Aerospike has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
Represents job field similar to this job
Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (10)
2024 (1)
2023 (2)
2022 (11)
2021 (3)
2020 (5)
Funding
Current Stage
Late StageTotal Funding
$241MKey Investors
CIBC Innovation BankingSumeru Equity PartnersTriangle Peak Partners
2024-12-03Series Unknown
2024-04-04Series E· $109M
2021-01-01Debt Financing· $70M
Leadership Team
Srini V. Srinivasan
Chief Technology Officer
Recent News
2025-12-01
2025-09-30
Company data provided by crunchbase