Senior Backend Engineer - Databases - Analytics

We recently started a skunkworks initiative with a mission to bring observability to the rest of the business. Our goal is to make Grafana the single best place where humans and AI agents understand and act on real-time data from across the enterprise. As part of this initiative, we are building an AI-native data intelligence system that gives agents reliable, governed access to enterprise context. The new team is a mix of seasoned Grafanistas and new hires, operating with a high degree of autonomy and ownership.

We're looking for a Senior Software (Database) Engineer to help build the underlying storage system for our general purpose data platform. The database layer has both OLAP and OTLP capabilities to support classic analytics queries while also serving up freshly stored data. It embraces the separation of compute and storage and is designed to run on multiple cloud providers. This is an early-stage role on a high-autonomy team.

• Take ownership over and build one or multiple parts of the database: design, implement, test, and operate ingestion, query planning, distributed query execution, data formats, storage formats.
• Create a scalable SaaS foundation: help define and build the architecture for a multi-tenant database service, including tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, background jobs, and reliable service boundaries.
• Power agent-facing retrieval workflows: build APIs and database interfaces that allow AI agents, MCP tools, CLIs, and internal applications to retrieve data quickly.
• Work across product and infrastructure: partner with the team to make practical tradeoffs between fast experimentation and long-term reliability.
• Operate what you build: instrument database services with metrics, logs, traces, alerts, and dashboards.
• Contribute to technical direction: help shape the architecture, service boundaries, storage choices, API contracts, deployment patterns, and engineering practices.

• Strong engineering skills: solid experience building production-grade, user-facing software systems.
• AI experience with a practical mindset: familiar with AI technologies and frameworks.
• Quick iteration and experimentation: comfortable releasing prototypes, collecting feedback, and iterating.
• Proven initiative: take ownership and drive projects forward, able to deal with ambiguity.
• Collaborative attitude: communicate effectively with peers, open to feedback.
• Experience with distributed systems, catalogs and table formats, query engines.
• Mastery of a programming language like golang, C++, or Rust.
• Proven track record of delivering software that made it into production and is actively used by users.
• Exposure to working in cloud-native environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).
• Experience using observability tools to understand and troubleshoot system behavior.

• Experience building distributed query engines.
• Experience building data warehouses and/or data lakes.
• Experience building tools for data engineering.

In Germany, the base compensation range for this role is EUR 97,000 - EUR 121,000. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset as assessed in the interview process. Benefits include equity, bonus (if applicable) and other benefits listed here.

We are a remote-first team that meets regularly over video and does most of our work asynchronously, in writing. We value creativity, diverse perspectives, and clear communication.

• 100% Remote, Global Culture
• Scaling Organization
• Transparent Communication
• Innovation-Driven
• Open Source Roots
• Empowered Teams
• Career Growth Pathways
• Approachable Leadership
• Passionate People
• In-Person onboarding
• Balance is Key - We operate a global annual leave policy of 30 days per annum. 3 days of your annual leave entitlement are reserved for Grafana Shutdown Days.