Senior Staff Engineer

Business Area:

Seniority Level:

Job Description: 

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry.  Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

At Cloudera, our Data Services Pillar is the heart of data innovation. We don’t just work with technology; we build it. Our mission is to empower data practitioners by creating seamless, enterprise-grade experiences for data engineering, warehousing, streaming, operational databases, and AI.

We are seeking a Senior Staff Engineer with a strong technical background in Spark to lead the Cloudera Data Engineering Spark experience for all customers using Cloudera Data Services, Machine Learning services, and more. This high-impact IC role offers the opportunity to shape the future of Cloudera’s Spark space across multiple cloud environments, impacting thousands of customers worldwide.

As a Senior Staff Engineer in the Cloudera Data Engineering space, you will:

• Gain deep technical knowledge across the Cloudera Data Engineering Experience stack, with a strong focus on Spark, and apply this expertise in your daily work.

• Build new features and improve Spark scale and performance to deliver a seamless experience for Cloudera’s data engineering customers.

• Work with a team of talented Spark and infrastructure engineers. Help hire and mentor engineers while supporting their career growth.

• Drive architecture and design discussions, providing strong technical direction for the team.

• Collaborate with product, engineering, and cross-functional partners, leading the delivery of several large, critical features in Cloudera’s Spark space.

• Work on large-scale distributed systems, ranging from hundreds to thousands of nodes in production clusters.

• Bring passion for programming, clean coding practices, attention to detail, and a strong focus on quality.

We are excited about you if you have:

• BE, MS, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or equivalent experience.

• 8+ years of experience as a software engineer building infrastructure systems.

• Experience developing Apache Spark or related technologies.

• Experience as a technical lead, from proposing new features to coordinating work across team members through product delivery.

• Ability to drive architecture and design discussions and provide technical direction.

• Strong understanding of at least one of the following languages: Java, Scala, Rust, C++, or Python.

• Excellent collaboration and communication skills.

It’s a plus if you have:

• Experience with one of the public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP) and/or private cloud platforms (OpenShift, Rancher).

• Experience with concurrent and distributed systems, especially on the JVM.

• Experience building and maintaining containerized applications on Kubernetes.

• Contributions to open-source projects.

This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

Why this role matters:

This is your opportunity to build cloud-native solutions that are deployable anywhere whether in massive clusters on any cloud provider or in private data centers. You’ll work with cutting-edge technologies like Trino, Spark, Airflow, and advanced AI inferencing systems to shape the future of analytics. Your code will directly influence how data engineers, analysts, and developers worldwide find value in their data.

We believe in the power of open source. You’ll collaborate with project committers, contributing upstream to keep technologies like Apache Hive and Impala evolving. You’ll harden these engines for rock-solid security, optimize them for peak performance, and make them effortlessly run across all environments.  Join us and help build the trusted, cloud-native platform that powers insights for the most data-intensive companies on the planet.

What you can expect from us:

• Generous PTO Policy 

• Support work life balance with Unplugged Days

• Flexible WFH Policy 

• Mental & Physical Wellness programs 

• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program 

• Access to Continued Career Development 

• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages 

• Paid Volunteer Time

• Employee Resource Groups

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