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Snowflake

Staff Software Engineer - Query Processing (Snowtrail)

Snowflake is hiring a Staff Software Engineer - Query Processing (Snowtrail) in Menlo Park, United States. It pays $236k-$339k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Snowflake.

Level's read on this job

  • On Level's scale, this software engineer role is Little AI ●○○○: aI is not part of the work.
  • Pay on this posting starts 41% higher than the typical software engineer posting on Level.
  • The posting mentions SQL, MySQL and PostgreSQL among its tools and skills.
  • Level classes it as a senior role.
  • Snowflake has 360 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

Staff Software Engineer on the Snowtrail team at Snowflake focusing on query processing, database internals, and distributed systems infrastructure.

sqlmysqlpostgresql
distributed-systemsquery-optimizationcompiler-designdatabase-internals

At Snowflake, we are powering the era of the agentic enterprise. To usher in this new era, we seek AI-native thinkers across every function who are energized by the opportunity to reinvent how they work. You don’t just use tools; you possess an innate curiosity, treating AI as a high-trust collaborator that is core to how you solve problems and accelerate your impact. We look for low-ego individuals who thrive in dynamic and fast-moving environments and move with an experimental mindset — who rapidly test emerging capabilities to discover simpler, more powerful ways to deliver results. At Snowflake, your role isn't just to execute a function, but to help redefine the future of how work gets done.

Snowflake is a high-growth, cloud-native data platform company committed to empowering enterprises to achieve their full potential. With a culture built on impact, innovation, and collaboration, we offer an environment where you can build large-scale systems, move fast, and take your technology career to the next level.

As a Staff Software Engineer on the Snowtrail team, you will help Snowflake realize its mission and vision by accelerating the delivery of high quality software to production. You will have the opportunity to design and build software systems to help engineering teams increase their development velocity and provide quality validation, optimized for cost and performance. You will ensure that the team is executing towards serving the current needs of its customers, while also ensuring that we stay ahead of technological trends and future demands.

OUR IDEAL STAFF SOFTWARE ENGINEER WILL HAVE:

  • Experience with SQL or other database technologies including internal design and implementation

  • Experience with query optimization, query execution, compiler design and implementation

  • Experience with MySQL, PostgreSQL internals

  • Experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems infrastructure

  • Excellent problem solving skills, and strong CS fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems

  • Ability to work in a team environment, collaborate well, and mentor junior engineers

  • Ability to work on-site at our Bellevue, WA or Menlo Park, CA offices.

BONUS POINTS FOR EXPERIENCE WITH ONE OR MORE OF THE FOLLOWING:

  • Experience with Release Validation Pipelines, Test infrastructure in Production.

Snowflake is growing fast, and we’re scaling our team to help enable and accelerate our growth. We are looking for people who share our values, challenge ordinary thinking, and push the pace of innovation while building a future for themselves and Snowflake.

How do you want to make your impact?

For jobs located in the United States, please visit the job posting on the Snowflake Careers Site for salary and benefits information: careers.snowflake.com

How we rate this

Staff Software Engineer - Query Processing (Snowtrail) at Snowflake rates 10 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.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ 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

Distributed SystemsQuery OptimizationCompiler DesignDatabase InternalsSQLMySQLPostgreSQL

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

This job starts at
$236k
Typical software engineer job
$167k

This posting starts 41% above the typical software engineer job. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?
  2. Tell me about a project where query optimization was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where compiler design was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where database internals was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Walk me through how you've used SQL in your day-to-day work.

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: Distributed Systems, Query Optimization, Compiler Design, Database Internals, and SQL. 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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