Database Engineer — Storage & Query Execution
Database Engineer — Storage & Query Execution at ParadeDB — San Francisco, CA, US
- Company: ParadeDB
- Location: San Francisco, CA, US
- Employment type: FULL_TIME
- Salary: USD 150000–250000 / year
- Posted: 2026-07-17
About this role
What we do
ParadeDB is a Postgres-native alternative to Elasticsearch. We build state-of-the-art search (full-text, vector, and hybrid) and columnar analytics as a Postgres extension.
Companies like Modern Treasury, BILT Rewards, Alibaba Cloud, and many others use ParadeDB to:
Eliminate ETL/change data capture tools
Add transactional guarantees to their search indexes
Perform JOINs on their search data
Unify their search & transactional stack for agentic workloads
We're a small, focused team of engineers dedicated to creating an inclusive and enjoyable work environment. We’re primarily distributed across the United States and Canada, with a small office in San Francisco. We’re a Series A company with a flat structure, strong backing from investors, and plenty of room for growth.
What we want
We're looking for a database engineer to join our team full-time. The ideal candidate should have:
A solid foundation in database systems and internals
Meaningful experience working on databases, query engines, storage engines, indexing systems, or similarly complex infrastructure software
Proficiency in systems programming with C/C++/Rust/Zig and the ability to navigate large, complex codebases effectively (bonus points for Rust)
Experience designing, profiling, optimizing, and debugging systems with a focus on performance, scalability, and maintainability
Experience with Postgres internals, database extensions, or related systems is a plus
Familiarity with query optimization, vectorized execution, columnar storage, or analytical query processing is a plus
Familiarity with search systems is a plus
Familiarity with technologies such as Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, Arrow, Parquet, or pgrx is a plus
Contributions to high-quality open-source projects are a plus
Prior experience at a small, high-performing startup is a plus
We're seeking someone creative, independent, and excited by difficult technical challenges. You'll bring thoughtful opinions, learn quickly, engage directly with customers, and help us build a world-class product.
What you want
You want to be part of the core team of a fast-growing infrastructure startup
You want to wear many hats and interface directly with customers
You’re passionate about databases, query engines, search technologies, and data systems
You’re excited about diving deep into the internals of Postgres and writing high-performance, safe Rust code
You’re excited to build state-of-the-art search and analytical capabilities on top of Postgres
You’re excited to learn about, draw inspiration from, and contribute to systems like Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, PostgreSQL, Parquet, and Arrow
You believe in open-source and want to contribute to building a sustainable open-source business
You want autonomy over your work and the opportunity to make impactful design decisions
What you'll do
Develop and optimize the ParadeDB PostgreSQL extension using Postgres APIs via pgrx
Build features that interface with Postgres storage, indexing, query planning, query execution, and extension infrastructure
Work with the internals of Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, and other open-source systems to implement new search and analytics capabilities
Contribute upstream to Tantivy, DataFusion, and our other dependencies
Design and implement efficient data structures and algorithms for search and analytical workloads
Optimize query performance and resource utilization using profiling tools
Contribute to the evolution of ParadeDB's search, analytics, indexing, and query processing capabilities
Develop and maintain documentation, including API references and user guides
Engage directly with our customers and the open-source community on GitHub and Slack
Contribute to technical writing, product demos, and content marketing
Help shape ParadeDB's product roadmap and technical direction
Official listing: https://paradedb.notion.site/