Owning the Critical Path: Lead the development of the lowest-dependency systems required to bootstrap and manage our massive compute platform.
Outcomes: The Impact You Will Deliver
This role is for an engineer who thrives on owning the most challenging and impactful outcomes:
High Availability: Achieve and maintain 99.99% availability for all batch and serving workloads.
Stellar Efficiency: Drive utilization to 60% or higher—a crucial metric that requires balancing high efficiency with unwavering tolerance for cloud failures.
Best-in-Class Isolation: Architect and enforce strong security and performance isolation across a diverse range of customer workloads.
Requirements: Are You Ready for this Challenge?
We are seeking a seasoned Principal Engineer who has not only built but successfully operated large-scale, mission-critical infrastructure systems in production. You must have a track record of:
Leading Transformative Projects: Taking ownership of complex, cross-team, cross-layer, and multi-quarter strategic engineering initiatives from concept to execution.
Distributed Systems Mastery: Deep, hands-on experience developing and operating high-scale distributed systems on at least one major public cloud.
Influence Without Authority: Proven ability to drive consensus, establish technical direction, and lead large technical efforts across organizational boundaries.
Execution Discipline: Exceptional strength in planning, tracking project progress, and managing complex cross-organizational dependencies.
The Edge: Highly Desirable Experience
Experience managing and scaling a massive fleet of GPUs for AI/ML workloads.
Experience with developing and operating large-scale distributed systems across all major clouds (AWS, Azure, and GCP).
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
Local Pay Range
$264,300—$322,300 USD
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here.
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.
