Senior Software Engineer - Datapath

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build and improve the performance-critical software behind our cloud-native file data platform. This role is for a hands-on C++/Linux engineer who enjoys solving deep systems problems involving concurrency, latency, throughput, reliability, debugging, and scale. You will work on core data-path capabilities that affect how enterprise customers access, move, and protect file data across distributed environments. You will contribute to designing and implementing production-quality software, investigate complex issues, and partner with QA, Performance Engineering, Support, and other engineering teams to improve platform behavior.

This role is a strong fit for someone who wants meaningful technical ownership while continuing to code, debug, test, and optimize complex systems. It is not a fit for someone looking primarily for people management, high-level architecture without implementation, or general application development without systems depth.

Responsibilities:

• Design, implement, test, and maintain C++/Linux software for performance-sensitive data-path components.
• Improve throughput, latency, concurrency, reliability, and resource usage in core platform workflows.
• Debug complex issues involving memory, threading, I/O behavior, protocol interactions, or system performance.
• Use profiling, tracing, logs, core dumps, and other diagnostic tools to identify root causes and validate fixes.
• Partner with QA and Performance Engineering to reproduce issues, strengthen test coverage, and confirm release readiness.
• Collaborate with Support and senior engineers on customer-impacting escalations and durable product fixes.
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and technical planning for data-path features.
• Use AI-assisted engineering tools where appropriate for code exploration, test ideas, debugging hypotheses, documentation, and analysis, while independently validating correctness, security, and maintainability.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 3+ years working on storage systems, databases, distributed systems, networking software, or performance-critical infrastructure.
• Strong C++ and/or C programming experience on Linux.
• Experience with multi-threaded programming, concurrency, memory management, and systems debugging.
• Hands-on experience using debugging, profiling, tracing, or diagnostic tools to resolve complex issues.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals and application-level protocols.
• Clear written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred:

• Experience with file systems, NAS, object storage, caching, replication, snapshots, metadata services, or distributed storage.
• Python or Go experience for tooling, automation, test frameworks, or service integration.
• Experience supporting production or customer-impacting technical investigations.
• Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, SaaS product engineering, CI/CD, and secure development practices.
• Practical use of AI-assisted development tools with disciplined validation.

Ideal Candidate:

• Shipped measurable improvements in throughput, latency, reliability, or resource efficiency.
• Owned a production data path, storage, database, or distributed systems component across multiple releases.
• Known for strong debugging discipline, thoughtful tradeoffs, and high-quality code reviews.
• Most aligned candidates will have 6-10+ years of total software engineering experience, including 3-6+ years in systems, storage, distributed infrastructure, database internals, or similarly performance-critical software.
• Candidates with more experience may still be a fit if they remain hands-on and are motivated by Senior-level component ownership.