Senior Software Engineer — Backend (Files Team)
AI in this role
The Opportunity
At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating the development of medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best data and AI infrastructure platform so our customers can use deep data insights to improve their business.
The filesystem has emerged as the preferred runtime interface for agentic AI. AI agents use the filesystem for context, memory management, artifact (dashboard, code etc) authoring, version control, sandboxing, and interacting between systems and agents. It is the foundational layer to accelerate AI adoption
As a Senior Software Engineer on the Files team, you will innovate at the intersection of storage, performance, and distributed systems, directly shaping our filesystem strategy to power next-generation agentic workloads.
The Impact You’ll Have
- Design, build, and operate the the filesystem platform powering tens of thousands of data, AI and agentic workloads daily
- Push filesystem performance for the most demanding workloads — profiling and optimizing across the stack, from the API layer down to the Linux kernel
- Partner with teams across the platform to design and evolve next-generation compute and storage architectures
- Set the technical direction for how content is organized across Databricks, standardizing around filesystem primitives that apply to every product surface
What We’re Looking For
- Bachelor's degree (or higher) in Computer Science or a related field
- 5+ years of production-level experience in Java, Scala, C++, Go, Rust, or a similar language
- 3+ years of experience developing large-scale distributed systems
- Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, or MicroVM technologies (e.g., Firecracker) and a strong grasp of cloud provider internals (AWS/Azure/GCP).
- You aren't just a user of tools; you understand how to build them from the ground up when existing solutions fail at our scale.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with filesystems and FUSE
- Experience building object/blob storage (S3, Azure Blob Storage, GCS etc)
- Systems performance engineering across microservices, down to the Linux level
- Background in high-scale content, storage, or file-sync products
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.
How we rate this
Senior Software Engineer — Backend (Files Team) at Databricks rates 22 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Little AI (AI Level 1 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.
Little AI. AI is not part of the work.
- ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
- ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
- ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
- ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39
Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Open the description and count.
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