{"id":1291926,"url":"https://alion.io/job/netapp-principal-engineer-data-path-metadata-performance-storagegrid","title":"Principal Engineer, Data Path / Metadata / Performance (StorageGRID)","company":{"id":58700,"name":"NetApp","domain":"netapp.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/netapp","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":92,"open_postings":25,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.12,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":61,"computed_at":"2026-10-01T05:45:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Jose, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":227800,"max":338800,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":338800},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":15,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[{"name":"Amazon S3","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"Cassandra","optional":false},{"name":"Linux","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-25T02:21:20Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-16","last_verified_at":"2026-10-01T13:00:06Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":37,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":37},"description":"Job Summary\nJob Summary\nNetApp is pioneering object storage-S3-compatible, software-defined storage that powers the exponential growth of AI data lakes, analytics, and exabyte-scale enterprise data. As a Principal Engineer for Datapath / Performance, you will own the architecture and technical direction of the StorageGRID S3 data path and its end-to-end performance.\nThis role is ideal for a deeply hands-on technical leader who thrives at the intersection of distributed systems, storage internals, and high-scale performance engineering. You will set the bar for a mission-critical product deployed at hundreds of nodes and exabytes of capacity across the world’s largest enterprises and hyperscalers.\nRole Overview\nAs a Principal Engineer on the StorageGRID team, you will be the technical authority for the S3 data path including metadata and performance. You will define the architectural north star for how StorageGRID moves and serves data and resolve the hardest performance and scaling problems affecting AI data lakes.\nAt the Principal level, the role requires exceptional hands-on technical depth, sound architectural judgment, and the ability to influence direction across engineering, QA, product management, and field teams.\nJob Responsibilities\nDatapath Architecture \nOwn the architecture and technical implementation of the StorageGRID S3 data path - from ingest/retrieve/delete to metadata storage to the on-disk replicated/erasure-coded data flow. \nLead performance analysis, benchmarking then identify performance improvements and deliver. \nDesign for scale and geo-distribution-multi-site, cross-grid replication, and global/federated namespace behavior at hundreds of nodes and exabyte scale \nDrive large, cross-cutting data path initiatives from architecture through implementation, validation, and release readiness \nHands-On Technical Leadership \nStay deep in the code and the hardest bugs; set the technical bar through high-quality design, reviews, root-cause analysis, and pragmatic engineering standards \nLead StorageGRID designs and drive architectural alignment across data path engineering. \nJob Requirements\n12+ years of experience in systems, storage, distributed systems, or performance engineering, with a track record of technical leadership \nStrong hands-on programming skills in one or more of C/C++, Go, or Python, and experience debugging distributed software in Linux-based environments \nBuilt or owned an object storage system, S3 implementation, or large-scale distributed storage/database product including request data path, data placement, replication/erasure coding, consistency, and failure handling \nExperience with Apache Cassandra or comparable distributed databases at scale \nProven ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority \nMentor Senior and MTS engineers on data path internals, performance optimization, distributed-systems design, and debugging practices \nCollaborate with quality engineering, product management, supportability, support, and field teams to translate customer requirements into data path and performance improvements \nNice to Have Qualifications\nExperience with S3 protocol semantics (multipart, versioning, Object Lock/WORM) and the data path implications of the API contract \nExperience with load balancing, network, storage media (NVMe/SSD/HDD), and x86 hardware \nExperience with AI-assisted development and observability tooling for analysis, debugging, testing, and documentation \nEducation\nIC - Typically requires a minimum of 15 years of related experience.Mgr & Exec - Typically requires a minimum of 10 years of related experience.\nCompensation:\nThe target salary range for this position is 227,800 - 338,800 USD and for Vancouver, Canada $225,250 - $291,500 CAD.The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range. The range is based on 'On Target Earnings’ (OTE) representing the total potential earnings, which is the sum of the base salary and potential commission earned when performance targets are achieved. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off, various Leave options, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU’s). These offerings are subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. We will provide detailed information about the specific benefits for your region during the recruitment process.","description_format":"text","description_chars":4693,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":15,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Health insurance","Life insurance","Retirement plans"],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Cybersecurity","Natural Resources","Cloud Platforms (IaaS & PaaS)","Digital Storage"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-26T07:57:33Z"}],"liveness":{"score":74,"band":"hot","label":"Hiring now","p_open":1,"p_active":0.823,"p_room":0.9,"age_days":37,"expected_fill_days":61,"reasons":["conf:3","velocity","win:mid","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-01T05:45:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":338800,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/netapp-principal-engineer-data-path-metadata-performance-storagegrid","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/netapp-principal-engineer-data-path-metadata-performance-storagegrid.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-01T18:24:20Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","usage":{"tier":"crawler","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":751,"day_limit":5000,"remaining_today":4249,"minute_limit":60,"resets_at":"2026-10-02T00:00:00Z"}}}