Distributed Systems Engineer — Postgres Platform
Distributed Systems Engineer — Postgres Platform 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 distributed systems engineer to join our team full-time and help build ParadeDB Cloud.
ParadeDB Cloud is our managed database platform built on Kubernetes and CloudNativePG. We're building a cloud-native control plane and Kubernetes operators that make it easy for customers to deploy and operate ParadeDB at scale.
The ideal candidate should have:
Meaningful experience building distributed systems, cloud platforms, Kubernetes operators/controllers, or similarly complex infrastructure software
A solid understanding of Kubernetes internals, including reconciliation loops, controllers, CRDs, and cloud-native architecture
Experience designing and building APIs, control planes, orchestration systems, or automation frameworks that manage stateful infrastructure
Experience developing production software in Go and operating reliable production systems on Kubernetes
Familiarity with infrastructure tooling such as Terraform, Helm, and Bash/Python
Experience with CloudNativePG, database operators, database-as-a-service platforms, or other stateful systems is a plus
Familiarity with Elasticsearch-type workloads, analytical databases, or high-performance data systems is a plus
Contributions to high-quality open-source projects and prior experience at a small, high-performing startup are 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 build a cloud database platform from the ground up
You’re passionate about distributed systems, databases, Kubernetes, and cloud infrastructure
You’re excited to dive deep into Kubernetes and Postgres to build the best Postgres platform
You’re excited about designing controllers, automation systems, and platform infrastructure that operate databases at scale
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
Design and contribute to building the ParadeDB Cloud control plane
Design and implement Kubernetes controllers and operators for provisioning, operating, upgrading, and scaling ParadeDB clusters
Build automation around backups, replication, failover, maintenance operations, monitoring, and lifecycle management
Develop APIs, cloud integrations, and orchestration systems that power the ParadeDB Cloud platform
Work closely with CloudNativePG and the broader Postgres ecosystem, contributing upstream when required
Develop deployment, monitoring, and testing infrastructure around ParadeDB Cloud and the ParadeDB database product
Engage directly with customers to understand their requirements and help shape the product roadmap
Develop and maintain documentation, including API references and user guides
Contribute to technical writing, product demos, and content marketing
Help shape ParadeDB's product roadmap and technical direction
Official listing: https://paradedb.notion.site/