Senior Backend Engineer - Databases - Analytics | UK | Remote

Details

Grafana Labs is building an AI-native data intelligence system that provides agents with reliable, governed access to enterprise context, including data, metadata, definitions, lineage, quality signals, and institutional knowledge.

The database layer will support both OLAP and OTLP capabilities, separation of compute and storage, and deployment across multiple cloud providers. This early-stage role requires comfort with ambiguity, pragmatic architectural decision-making, and evolving systems from internal dogfooding to production-grade SaaS.

Responsibilities

• Own and build one or more parts of the database, including ingestion, query planning, distributed query execution, data formats, and storage formats.
• Help define and build a scalable, multi-tenant SaaS database service, including tenant isolation, usage tracking, quotas, audit logs, background jobs, and reliable service boundaries.
• Build APIs and database interfaces for AI agents, MCP tools, CLIs, and internal applications to retrieve data quickly.
• Partner across product and infrastructure teams to balance rapid experimentation with long-term reliability.
• Instrument database services with metrics, logs, traces, alerts, and dashboards; use observability tools to understand system behavior and improve reliability.
• Contribute to the architecture, service boundaries, storage choices, API contracts, deployment patterns, and engineering practices for a new product area.
• Communicate effectively and contribute across teams in a dynamic, collaborative environment.
• Take ownership of database solutions, ensuring they are innovative, scalable, maintainable, and aligned with user workflows.

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 high-quality real-world solutions.
• Comfortable releasing prototypes, collecting feedback, and iterating quickly.
• Proven initiative, ownership, and ability to define scope in ambiguous situations.
• Effective communication and a collaborative, solutions-oriented mindset.
• Experience with distributed systems, catalogs and table formats, and query engines.
• Mastery of a programming language such as Go, C++, or Rust.
• Proven track record of delivering software that reached production and is actively used by customers.
• Experience working in 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 and/or data lakes.
• Experience building tools for data engineering.

Work Environment

This is a remote opportunity for applicants located in Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Ireland, or Germany. Grafana Labs is a remote-first company; teams meet regularly over video and work primarily asynchronously and in writing.

Compensation and Benefits

The United Kingdom base compensation range is GBP 91,000–GBP 114,700 per year. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset. Benefits include equity, a bonus if applicable, and other company benefits.

Additional benefits and working conditions include:

• 100% remote work and a global culture.
• Career growth pathways.
• In-person onboarding.
• 30 days of annual leave per year, including three Grafana Shutdown Days, subject to local legislation.