{"id":3860954,"url":"https://alion.io/job/cast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization","title":"Senior Software Engineer | Database Optimization","company":{"id":54,"name":"CAST AI","domain":"cast.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/cast-ai","size_band":"201-500","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Greenhouse","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":82,"open_postings":5,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.6,"repost_share":0.2,"time_to_fill_p50_days":41,"computed_at":"2026-11-06T05:58:05Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"remote","remote_scope":"stated_regions","remote_scope_basis":"board_field","remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"inferred","locations":[],"countries":[],"hiring_countries":["DE","FR","AT","BE","BG","HR","CY","CZ","DK","FI","HU","IE","IT","NL","PL","RO","ES","SE","EE","GR","LV","LT","LU","MT","PT","SK","SI"],"hiring_countries_total":27,"salary":{"min":6500,"max":9000,"currency":"EUR","period":"month","gross":true,"usd_annual":121248},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Akamai","optional":false},{"name":"Hugging Face","optional":false},{"name":"Kubernetes","optional":false},{"name":"MySQL","optional":false},{"name":"PostgreSQL","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false},{"name":"ArgoCD","optional":true},{"name":"AWS","optional":true},{"name":"Azure","optional":true},{"name":"GCP","optional":true},{"name":"GitLab CI","optional":true},{"name":"Grafana","optional":true},{"name":"gRPC","optional":true},{"name":"Loki","optional":true},{"name":"OpenTelemetry","optional":true},{"name":"Prometheus","optional":true},{"name":"Terraform","optional":true},{"name":"VictoriaMetrics","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-06T08:57:53Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-06","last_verified_at":"2026-11-07T03:11:28Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"About CAST AI\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">CAST AI is an automation platform that optimises cloud and AI infrastructure at scale. By embedding autonomous decision-making directly into Kubernetes and cloud environments, CAST AI continuously improves performance, reliability and efficiency in production.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">More than 2,100 companies already rely on CAST AI, including Akamai, BMW, Cisco, FICO, Hugging Face, NielsenIQ, Swisscom and TGS.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">CAST AI operates across 34 countries and has a remote-first culture built around small, highly technical teams. In January 2026, the company achieved unicorn status following a strategic investment from Pacific Alliance Ventures, bringing its valuation above $1 billion.\nAbout the role\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">Databases are still managed manually. Engineers monitor slow queries, decide which indexes to add, tune connection limits and introduce caching, often without being able to prove whether those changes will improve performance in production.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">CAST AI is building an autonomous database administrator that can identify problems, recommend improvements and validate that those improvements work before customers rely on them.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">As a Senior Software Engineer on the Database Optimisation team, you will work across two core components:\nDatabase Gateway: A high-performance Rust proxy that sits in front of customer databases and provides capabilities such as rate limiting and caching without requiring application changes.\nDatabase Agent: A Go-based service that analyses database workloads and produces recommendations such as index suggestions and query improvements.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">The focus is not simply producing recommendations. Every recommendation needs to be reliable and validated. A stale read, incorrect cache decision or poor index suggestion can affect a customer’s production system, so correctness is central to the role.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">You will help shape the architecture, technical direction and roadmap of the autonomous DBA product.\nWhat you will do\nDesign, build and operate the Database Gateway.\nDevelop high-performance services in Go and Rust.\nWork on database caching, rate limiting and other gateway capabilities.\nBuild the Database Agent’s recommendation engine.\nDevelop systems for index suggestions, query analysis and query improvements.\nWork on cache invalidation and data consistency, where correctness is critical.\nCreate methods for safely validating database recommendations before they are applied.\nDebug complex production issues across the gateway, agent and underlying database systems.\nAnalyse database performance, query behaviour and workload patterns.\nCollaborate with product and engineering teams on problems without established solutions.\nContribute to product direction, technical decisions and the engineering roadmap.\nHelp shape the next generation of automated database administration.\nWhat we are looking for\nStrong software engineering fundamentals, including clean abstractions and maintainable code.\nProfessional experience building production services in Go.\nIn-depth knowledge of PostgreSQL or MySQL.\nUnderstanding of how database clients, drivers and wire protocols work.\nStrong debugging, optimisation and performance-tuning skills.\nExperience with query profiling, index design and database tuning beyond ORM usage.\nExperience taking a complex technical project from design through to production.\nStrong written and spoken English.\nA proactive and adaptable approach to working in a fast-moving environment.\nComfort working with ambiguity and contributing to technical direction.\nNice to have\nRust experience, particularly with high-performance network services or proxies.\nExperience building or extending database proxies, gateways or poolers.\nExperience designing cache invalidation strategies at scale.\nExperience with index recommendation, query-plan analysis or query optimisation tooling.\nExperience validating technical changes through workload replay, shadow traffic or benchmarking.\nProduction experience with Prometheus, Grafana or OpenTelemetry.\nExperience working with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure.\nTechnology\nGo and Rust\nPostgreSQL and MySQL\nKubernetes\nAWS, GCP and Azure\nTerraform\ngRPC and REST\nPrometheus, Grafana, Loki, Tempo and VictoriaMetrics\nGitLab CI and Argo CD\nWhat we offer\n€6,500 to €9,000 gross per month, depending on experience and level\nRemote-first work environment\nEquity options\nGlobal team of cloud and infrastructure specialists\nFast feedback and short delivery cycles, with many feature projects completed within one to four weeks\n10% of working time for personal projects or professional development\nAnnual learning budget, including conferences and courses\nAnnual hackathon\nTeam-building budget and company events\nEquipment budget\nAdditional days off\nHiring process\nRecruiter screening call\nHiring Manager interview\nTechnical system design interview\nLive coding interview\nExecutive culture interview\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">A background check may be conducted at the final stage through our third-party provider, Checkr.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">CAST AI does not provide visa sponsorship or work permits for this position.\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">This opportunity is currently open to candidates residing in:\n&:first-child]:mt-0 [li>&:last-child]:mb-0\">\n*:first-child>&]:pt-0 [li>*:last-child>&]:pb-0 whitespace-pre-wrap u-break-words\">Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6733,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[{"language":"English","level":"All levels","optional":false}]},"benefits":["Company events","Equity","Professional development"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"Germany","iso":"DE","kind":"region"},{"name":"France","iso":"FR","kind":"region"},{"name":"Austria","iso":"AT","kind":"region"},{"name":"Belgium","iso":"BE","kind":"region"},{"name":"Bulgaria","iso":"BG","kind":"region"},{"name":"Croatia","iso":"HR","kind":"region"},{"name":"Cyprus","iso":"CY","kind":"region"},{"name":"Czech Republic","iso":"CZ","kind":"region"},{"name":"Denmark","iso":"DK","kind":"region"},{"name":"Finland","iso":"FI","kind":"region"},{"name":"Hungary","iso":"HU","kind":"region"},{"name":"Ireland","iso":"IE","kind":"region"},{"name":"Italy","iso":"IT","kind":"region"},{"name":"Netherlands","iso":"NL","kind":"region"},{"name":"Poland","iso":"PL","kind":"region"},{"name":"Romania","iso":"RO","kind":"region"},{"name":"Spain","iso":"ES","kind":"region"},{"name":"Sweden","iso":"SE","kind":"region"},{"name":"Estonia","iso":"EE","kind":"region"},{"name":"Greece","iso":"GR","kind":"region"},{"name":"Latvia","iso":"LV","kind":"region"},{"name":"Lithuania","iso":"LT","kind":"region"},{"name":"Luxembourg","iso":"LU","kind":"region"},{"name":"Malta","iso":"MT","kind":"region"},{"name":"Portugal","iso":"PT","kind":"region"},{"name":"Slovakia","iso":"SK","kind":"region"},{"name":"Slovenia","iso":"SI","kind":"region"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Virtualization & Containers","Cloud Cost & Multi-Cloud Management"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-06T09:21:17Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":86,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.86,"p_room":1,"age_days":0,"expected_fill_days":41,"reasons":["conf:1","win:early"],"computed_at":"2026-11-07T05:08:08Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":121248,"is_top_pay":false},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/cast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/cast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-07T05:08:08Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":12488,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-08T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":54},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=54"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fcast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fcast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fcast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/cast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fcast-ai-senior-software-engineer-database-optimization"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3860954}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"cast.ai","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3860954},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. Docs: https://alion.io/developers"}}