PalantirSoftware Engineer – Query Engines
Palantir is hiring a Software Engineer – Query Engines in New York, United States. It pays $135k-$200k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Palantir.
Level's read on this job
- Little AI ●○○○ is how Level rates this software engineer role: aI is not part of the work.
- Tools and skills the posting cites include Java, Scala and Rust.
- Level classifies it as a senior role.
- Level lists 304 other open roles at Palantir.
AI in this role
Build and optimize core data processing infrastructure, query engines, and table formats for distributed data platforms.
JavaScalaRustPythonApache SparkApache DatafusionApache IcebergApache ArrowApache ParquetGradleCargoGitHub
query-optimizationdistributed-systemsdata-processingperformance-tuning
The Role We are a software engineering team applying open-source data technologies to some of the world’s hardest and most important problems. We build the data processing infrastructure that underpins Palantir Foundry, supporting applications that help hospitals care for more patients, help clinical teams coordinate timely diagnoses, and keep essential supplies moving through global disruption. You will work deep inside the systems that make this possible: how computations are represented, how query plans are optimized, how operators execute, and how data is read and written efficiently. We build on and extend Apache Spark, Apache DataFusion, and Apache Iceberg, bringing advances in open-source engines and table formats into the demanding environments our customers operate in. Our work serves many products and workloads across Foundry, including no-code pipelines, interactive analysis, and the processing that keeps the Ontology up to date. You will own improvements from design through production, whether that means developing a planning rule, extending a native execution engine, or improving the way large tables are scanned and updated. Correctness, compatibility, and predictable performance are central to everything we build. A change in a shared engine can benefit applications across the platform and the people who rely on them. Join us if you want to advance the capabilities of modern data systems and apply that work to consequential problems.
Technologies We Use
- Java, Scala, Rust, and Python
- Apache Spark, Apache DataFusion, Apache Comet, and Velox for data processing and query execution
- Apache Iceberg for table management and catalog interoperability
- Apache Arrow and Apache Parquet for in-memory data processing and columnar storage
- Industry-standard build tooling, including Gradle, Cargo, and GitHub
Core Responsibilities
- Designing and implementing query planning and optimization capabilities that turn complex computations into efficient execution plans
- Extending execution engines with new capabilities and improving query operators, parallelism, memory management, and data movement
- Developing Foundry’s Iceberg catalog and engine integrations, including table metadata, transactions, and efficient reads and writes
- Building shared transformation semantics and execution interfaces for workloads across Foundry’s products and platform services
- Improving incremental processing so pipelines can reuse previous results and process new data efficiently while preserving correctness
- Evaluating and integrating advances in open-source data systems, validating their behavior and performance against real-world workloads
- Investigating correctness and performance issues across planning, execution, and storage, and building tests and benchmarks that prevent regressions
- Working with product teams and customers to translate operational needs into engine capabilities that integrate with Foundry’s security, data management, and build infrastructure
What We Value
- Ownership mindset and a high bar for correctness. Our systems support decisions and operations that customers depend on.
- Curiosity about how data systems work, from query optimizers and execution operators to table formats and distributed processing.
- Strong debugging skills and motivation to follow a problem across languages, services, and layers of the stack.
- A practical approach to performance, grounded in profiling, representative workloads, and measurable improvements.
- Interest in applying deep systems engineering to real-world problems, with empathy for the people who use and depend on our software.
- Experience building or extending systems such as Spark, DataFusion, Iceberg, or comparable technologies, and an interest in learning across the stack.
- Ability to collaborate across teams and work effectively with the open-source projects we build on. Experience contributing to open-source projects is valued, but not required.
What We Require
- 4+ years of professional software engineering experience developing database engines, distributed data processing systems, storage systems, or comparable infrastructure, with depth in areas such as query planning, execution, or performance optimization. Operating on top of these technologies alone does not qualify.
- Experience diagnosing correctness and performance problems in complex systems.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to work effectively across teams, incorporate feedback, and hold a high bar for quality.
Our benefits aim to promote health and wellbeing across all areas of Palantirians’ lives. We work to continuously improve our offerings and listen to our community as we design and update them. The list below details our available benefits and some of the perks that can be enjoyed as an employee of Palantir Technologies. Benefits • Employees (and their eligible dependents) can enroll in medical, dental, and vision insurance as well as voluntary life insurance • Employees are automatically covered by Palantir’s basic life, AD&D and disability insurance • Commuter benefits • Relocation assistance • Take what you need paid time off, not accrual based • 2 weeks paid time off built into the end of each year (subject to team and business needs) • 10 paid holidays throughout the calendar year • Supportive leave of absence program including time off for military service and medical events • Paid leave for new parents and subsidized back-up care for all parents • Fertility and family building benefits including but not limited to adoption, surrogacy, and preservation • Stipend to help with expenses that come with a new child • Employees can enroll in Palantir’s 401k plan Life at Palantir We want every Palantirian to achieve their best outcomes, that’s why we celebrate individuals’ strengths, skills, and interests, from your first interview to your longterm growth, rather than rely on traditional career ladders. Paying attention to the needs of our community enables us to optimize our opportunities to grow and helps ensure many pathways to success at Palantir. Promoting health and well-being across all areas of Palantirians’ lives is just one of the ways we’re investing in our community. Learn more at Life at Palantir and note that our offerings may vary by region. In keeping consistent with Palantir’s values and culture, we believe employees are “better together” and in-person work affords the opportunity for more creative outcomes. Therefore, we encourage employees to work from our offices to foster connectivity and innovation. Many teams do offer hybrid options (WFH a day or two a week), allowing our employees to strike the right trade-off for their personal productivity. Based on business need, there are a few roles that allow for “Remote” work on an exceptional basis. If you are applying for one of these roles, you must work from the state in which you are employed. If the posting is specified as Onsite, you are required to work from an office. If you want to empower the world's most important institutions, you belong here. Palantir values excellence regardless of background. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer for all, including but not limited to Veterans and those with disabilities. Palantir is committed to making the application and hiring process accessible to everyone and will provide a reasonable accommodation for those living with a disability. If you need an accommodation for the application or hiring process, please reach out and let us know how we can help. Please note that you will never be asked to submit a payment or share financial information to participate in our interview process. If you suspect that you've been contacted by a scammer, we recommend you cease all communication with the individual and consider reporting them to the relevant authorities, such as the US FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).
If you would like to understand more about how your personal data will be processed by Palantir, please see our Privacy Policy.
How we rate this
Software Engineer – Query Engines at Palantir rates 0 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.
Classification
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. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.
Prepare for this job
Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.
Skills and AI tools this role asks for
Query OptimizationDistributed SystemsData ProcessingPerformance TuningJavaScalaRustPython
Also common in software engineer jobs at this level
Pay
- This job starts at
- $135k
- Typical software engineer job
- $167k
This posting starts 19% below the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs
Questions you could be asked
- Tell me about a project where query optimization was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where data processing was part of your work. What did you do?
- Tell me about a project where performance tuning was part of your work. What did you do?
- Walk me through how you've used Java in your day-to-day work.
Adapt your resume
- List these exact terms on your resume: Query Optimization, Distributed Systems, Data Processing, Performance Tuning, and Java. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
- Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
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