Senior Backend Engineer - Databases - Analytics

Details

Grafana Labs is seeking a Senior Software (Database) Engineer to help build the underlying storage system for a general-purpose data platform. The database will support both OLAP and OTLP workloads, separation of compute and storage, and deployment across multiple cloud providers. This is an early-stage, high-autonomy role focused on evolving systems from internal dogfooding to production-grade SaaS.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, test, and operate database components, including ingestion, query planning, distributed query execution, data formats, and storage formats.
• Help define and build a scalable, multi-tenant database service with tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, background jobs, and reliable service boundaries.
• Build APIs and database interfaces for AI agents, MCP tools, command-line interfaces, and internal applications to retrieve data quickly.
• Make practical trade-offs between rapid experimentation and long-term reliability as the project moves from prototype to production.
• Instrument database services with metrics, logs, traces, alerts, and dashboards.
• Shape architecture, service boundaries, storage choices, API contracts, deployment patterns, and engineering practices.
• Take ownership of database solutions to ensure they are scalable, maintainable, innovative, and aligned with user workflows.
• Communicate effectively and collaborate across teams in a dynamic environment.

Requirements

• Strong experience building production-grade, user-facing software systems.
• Ability to tackle complex engineering problems and make design decisions with minimal supervision.
• Familiarity with AI technologies and frameworks, with a practical focus on delivering reliable solutions.
• Comfort with prototyping, experimentation, feedback collection, and rapid iteration.
• Proven initiative, ownership, and ability to work through ambiguity and define scope.
• Effective communication and a collaborative, solutions-oriented approach.
• Experience with distributed systems, catalogs and table formats, and query engines.
• Mastery of a programming language such as Golang, C++, or Rust.
• A proven track record of delivering software that reached production and is actively used.
• Exposure to cloud-native environments such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Experience using observability tools to understand and troubleshoot system behavior.

Bonus Points

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

Work Arrangement

This is a remote opportunity for applicants located in Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, or Germany. Grafana Labs is a remote-first company that works primarily asynchronously and in writing, with regular video meetings.

Compensation And Benefits

• Sweden base compensation: SEK 775,000–SEK 969,000 per year.
• Equity, bonus where applicable, and other benefits.
• Global annual leave policy of 30 days per year, including three Grafana Shutdown Days.
• In-person onboarding.
• Career growth opportunities and a transparent, collaborative, open-source-oriented culture.