Middle Software Engineer (Java/C++) — Query Engine / Data Platform
About Our Client:
Our client is a leading enterprise data platform company building an open, high-performance data lakehouse for AI and analytical workloads. The platform combines an intelligent SQL query engine, an AI-ready semantic layer, and an open catalog built on Apache Iceberg — enabling Fortune 500 companies across finance, energy, manufacturing, and logistics to unify, query, and govern data at massive scale across cloud and on-premise sources.
About the Role:
We are looking for a Middle-level Software Engineer to work on the core query engine of a large-scale distributed data platform. You will develop features across query planning, optimization, and execution, contribute to performance-critical components, and help investigate and fix production issues reported by real enterprise customers.
This is a systems-level, backend engineering role focused on distributed data processing internals — not application development or CRUD services.
Responsibilities:
- Develop and maintain features across the query engine — planning, optimization, execution, and data access layers
- Write performance-conscious code in Java and/or C++
- Investigate and fix production and customer-reported issues under the guidance of senior engineers, including fixes delivered across multiple supported release lines
- Work with SQL semantics, query plans, and execution operators over large-scale distributed data
- Integrate with columnar formats, open table formats, and connectivity drivers
- Contribute to CI/CD and automated testing in Jenkins
- Deploy and validate changes on Kubernetes (GKE/EKS/AKS) across GCP, AWS, or Azure with Docker
- Debug issues across query planning, distributed execution, memory management, and I/O; collaborate with US-based teams on design and code reviews.
Required Qualifications:
- B.S. or M.S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field
- 3+ years in backend / systems software engineering
- Strong proficiency in Java or C++ with solid OOP and software design fundamentals, including concurrency and asynchronous programming (comfort with both languages is especially valued)
- Strong SQL and understanding of relational and analytical data systems, including query execution concepts
- Hands-on experience with data processing systems: query engines, distributed databases, ETL/ELT, or analytical platforms
- Experience with Jenkins pipelines and modern development workflows
- Docker and basic Kubernetes (running workloads, debugging pods, kubectl fluency)
- Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud (GCP, AWS, or Azure)
- Confident Git/GitHub workflows
- Comfortable with AI-assisted development workflows — using modern AI tools for code comprehension, debugging, and test generation, and critically validating their output
- English Upper-Intermediate or higher (B2+) — daily written and verbal communication with a US-based engineering team
- Availability to work EU business hours shifted 2–3 hours later for daily overlap with US West Coast mornings.
Desired Skills:
- Apache Arrow (columnar in-memory format) and SQL planner/optimizer frameworks such as Apache Calcite
- LLVM-based runtime expression compilation
- Open table formats — Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, or Hudi — and columnar file formats such as Parquet, Avro, or ORC
- MPP query engines (Presto, Trino, or similar); exposure to distributed data platforms such as Spark, Snowflake, or Databricks
- Messaging systems: Kafka, NATS, or cloud pub/sub services
- Query planning, optimization, and execution internals
- Connectivity drivers: JDBC, ODBC, Arrow Flight
- Managed Kubernetes (GKE/EKS/AKS), multi-cloud exposure; Terraform
- Performance profiling of latency-sensitive systems.
Details:
- Engagement: Long-term contract
- Location: Europe (EU / EEA / UK), remote
- Working hours: EU business hours, shifted 2–3 hours later for daily overlap with the US West Coast team