Principal Software Engineer – OLTP

Snowflake

. Define and drive the long-term technical architecture for OLTP across Snowflake Postgres, Unistore and dependent infrastructure .

Posted 10/6/2026full-timeUnited StatesLead💰 $304,000 - $380,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates deep expertise in OLTP and database systems, with a strong focus on architectural design for low-latency, highly available transactional systems. Proven ability to lead complex engineering efforts and influence technical direction across teams while ensuring compliance with security standards.

Highest-signal resume keywords

OLTP ExpertiseDatabase Architecture DesignCloud Infrastructure KnowledgePostgreSQL ProficiencySystems Programming Experience

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Database SystemsDistributed SystemsStorage SystemsConcurrency ControlReplicationQuery ProcessingHigh AvailabilityElasticityResource IsolationCheckpointing

Soft Skills

Technical JudgmentCommunication SkillsMentoring

Tools & Technologies

SnowflakePostgresCC++Rust

Industry Keywords

Cloud InfrastructureAI-Native ApplicationsAutonomous AgentsTransactional EnvironmentsGovernance

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed SystemsPostgresRustC++

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Define and drive the long-term technical architecture for OLTP across Snowflake Postgres, Unistore and dependent infrastructure
Lead architectural decisions across transactions, storage, concurrency control, replication, recovery, query execution and database scalability
Shape compute and storage architecture for low-latency, highly available transactional systems
Design resource isolation, elasticity, networking, caching and container infrastructure
Build database primitives for agent-driven workloads, including isolated transactional environments, checkpointing, rollback and lifecycle management
Define safe agent interaction with operational state through consistency, recovery, access control and governance
Evaluate PostgreSQL compatibility versus alternative architectural approaches
Design programmatic, machine-speed database and transactional-environment creation and operation
Lead complex cross-organizational engineering efforts and establish technical direction across teams
Collaborate with product leaders, senior engineering leadership and strategic customers
Raise the technical bar through architecture reviews, mentoring and hands-on leadership

Requirements

What you’ll need

15+ years of experience building databases, distributed systems, storage systems or large-scale cloud infrastructure
Deep expertise in OLTP and database systems, including transactions, concurrency control, storage engines, indexing, query processing, replication, recovery and high availability
Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure for low-latency stateful systems, including compute, storage, networking, resource isolation and failure handling
Experience designing highly elastic, multi-tenant or rapidly provisioned stateful systems
Experience with database architecture for AI-native applications and autonomous agents
Experience making architectural tradeoffs across latency, throughput, consistency, availability, durability, scalability, isolation and cost
Track record of taking technically ambitious systems from architecture through production at meaningful scale
Experience influencing technical direction across multiple teams or a broad product area
Strong systems engineering experience across database internals and distributed infrastructure
Deep PostgreSQL expertise is a strong advantage; other sophisticated transactional or distributed database experience is relevant
Strong systems programming experience; C, C++ or Rust experience is a plus
Exceptional technical judgment and communication skills
Ability to work from or relocate within commuting distance of the local Snowflake office(s)
Current authorization to work in the country to which applying may be required
Compliance with Snowflake confidentiality and security standards

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive salary of $304K–$380K
Technical impact on Snowflake’s product direction
Opportunity to work on fundamental database and distributed-systems problems
Opportunity to build transactional systems for applications, AI and agents
Opportunity to influence Snowflake Postgres, Unistore and the broader Data & AI platform