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Staff Software Engineer

San Francisco, CA

About Starburst

Starburst is the data platform for analytics, applications, and AI, unifying data across clouds and on-premises to accelerate AI innovation. Organizations—from startups to Fortune 500 enterprises in 60+ countries—rely on Starburst for fast data access, seamless collaboration, and enterprise-grade governance on an open hybrid data lakehouse. Wherever data lives, Starburst unlocks its full potential, powering data and AI from development to deployment. By future-proofing data architecture, Starburst helps businesses fuel innovation with AI.

About the role

Starburst is looking for an experienced Staff Software Engineer to sit at the intersection of software engineering and data engineering — building the internal platforms, pipelines, and data products that power how we understand our customers and our business. You'll work across Starburst Enterprise and Starburst Galaxy, using our own technology to solve real problems at scale, while also contributing software that other teams depend on.

Because data engineers are one of our primary target personas, you'll bring a uniquely valuable perspective: you'll use our products daily and feed that experience directly back into how we build and improve them. You'll work closely with a dynamic, talented, globally distributed team, writing production-quality software alongside building reliable data systems — with a consistent emphasis on quality, maintainability, and speed to insight.

As a Staff Software Engineer at Starburst you will:

  • Design, build, and operate a high-quality data lake and the software systems that feed it, supporting product management, finance, customer support, and engineering
  • Write production-grade software — services, APIs, tooling, and automation — that enables data workflows and integrations at scale
  • Find innovative ways to use Trino and Starburst to solve complex data management and software architecture challenges
  • Collaborate with technical leads, product managers, and data analysts to build robust data products and analytics
  • Leverage AI to democratize access to datasets for users throughout Starburst, including building and maintaining the software infrastructure that makes this possible
  • Enable dataset preparation and model evaluation for Starburst's AI projects
  • Define and evolve engineering processes and best practices that span both software and data domains, with a focus on reliability and actionable results
  • Work closely with leaders across teams to iterate on data architecture and the software systems that implement it, keeping quality high at every layer
  • Identify emerging patterns in data management and software engineering, and work with Starburst's product teams to bring those innovations to market

Some of the things we look for

  • A Trino enthusiast looking to push the bounds in an AI future
  • At least 7 years of combined experience in software engineering and/or data engineering, with genuine depth in both
  • Strong software engineering fundamentals: writing clean, testable, well-reviewed code in Java, Python, or Scala
  • Experience building and optimizing data pipelines using Trino, Spark, dbt, and related frameworks
  • Experience designing and building backend services, APIs, and data platform components
  • Experience managing data and application infrastructure in public clouds, particularly AWS (EMR, EC2, S3, IAM); multi-cloud experience (GCP/Azure) is a plus
  • Experience using and managing orchestration frameworks such as Apache Airflow or Dagster
  • Knowledge of RAG and other design patterns for AI-powered applications
  • Fluency in SQL and comfort moving between SQL and general-purpose programming as the task demands
  • Experience building API integrations for extracting data from third-party sources
  • Knowledge of data modeling techniques appropriate for modern data lakes
  • Proficiency with Configuration-as-Code and Infrastructure-as-Code tools such as Pulumi, Terraform, and/or Ansible
  • A track record of shipping reliable software and data systems on time, with disciplined practices around testing, code quality, and review
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the organizational ability to coordinate across teams

Where could this role be based?

  • San Francisco, US

Starburst is dedicated to maintaining fair and equitable compensation practices. The salary range provided for this role reflects the minimum and maximum targets for candidates across all U.S. locations and could be inclusive of variable compensation, such as commission or bonus. All employees receive equity packages (ISOs) and have access to a comprehensive benefits offering. Actual compensation packages are determined based on relevant skills, experience, education and training, and specific work location. For more information, connect with the recruiting team or Hiring Manager during the process as they can provide more detailed information about the salary range.

Pay Range

$190,000 - $250,000 USD

Build your career at Starburst

All-Stars have the opportunity and freedom to realize their true potential. By building alongside top talent, we’re empowered to take ownership of our careers and drive meaningful change. Anchored in industry-proven technology and unprecedented success, All-Stars are taking on the challenge everyday to disrupt our industry –  and the future. 

Our global workforce is supported by a competitive Total Rewards program that reflects our commitment to a rewarding and supportive work environment. This includes a variety of benefits like competitive pay, attractive stock grants, flexible paid time off, and more. 

We are committed to fostering an intentional, inclusive, and diverse culture that drives deep engagement, authentic belonging, and an exceptional All-Star experience. We believe that diversity of thought, perspective, background and experience will enable us to own what we do, drive our success and empower our All-Stars to show up authentically.

Starburst provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state
 or local laws.

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