Engineering Manager (Rust)

TL;DR

Engineering Manager (Rust): Leading the SmithDB team to build and scale a high-performance storage and query layer for AI observability with an accent on systems-level architecture and production-grade Rust development. Focus on solving complex challenges in storage layout, query execution, and distributed system performance on Kubernetes.

Location: On-site in San Francisco, CA

Salary: $215,000–$260,000 USD

Company

A leading AI infrastructure company building the foundation for agent engineering, backed by top-tier investors and used by major Fortune 500 companies.

What you will do

• Write and review production Rust code across ingestion, query execution, and storage layers.
• Lead architectural decisions regarding storage format, compaction, indexing, and query planning.
• Drive performance investigations using memory and CPU profiling tools to ship fixes.
• Design and harden distributed SmithDB services on Kubernetes for high-throughput and low-latency.
• Manage and mentor a growing team of systems engineers, setting goals and technical roadmaps.
• Communicate technical progress, risks, and tradeoffs to the broader organization.

Requirements

• 7+ years in systems or database engineering, with at least 2 years in a technical lead or management role.
• Production Rust experience with the ability to structure code at scale.
• Deep understanding of database internals including query execution, storage layouts, and indexing.
• Proficiency in systems performance analysis (memory allocators, CPU hotspots, lock contention, async runtimes).
• Experience deploying and operating distributed services on Kubernetes in a multi-tenant environment.
• Familiarity with cloud object storage (S3-compatible APIs, consistency models).

Nice to have

• Experience with columnar storage formats (Parquet, Arrow) or OLAP query engines.
• Background in observability infrastructure (OpenTelemetry, ClickHouse, Prometheus).
• Experience scaling systems to handle trillions of records.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive compensation including base salary, variable pay, and meaningful equity.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
• 401(k) plan for US employees.
• Flexible vacation policy.
• Meals provided on in-office days.