Senior Software Engineer (Java/C++) — Query Engine / Data Platform KaaIoT

Job description

Level: Senior Engagement: Long-term contract Location: Europe (EU / EEA / UK), remote Working hours: EU business hours, shifted 2–3 hours later to ensure daily overlap with US West Coast (PST/PDT) mornings

About the Client

Our client is a leading enterprise data platform company building an open, high-performance data lakehouse for AI and analytical workloads. The platform combines an intelligent SQL query engine, an AI-ready semantic layer, and an open catalog built on Apache Iceberg — enabling Fortune 500 companies across finance, energy, manufacturing, and logistics to unify, query, and govern data at massive scale across cloud and on-premise sources.

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to design, build, and own significant components of the core query engine of a large-scale distributed data platform. You will lead work across query planning, optimization, and execution — driving architectural decisions, mentoring middle engineers, and pushing the platform's performance and scalability boundaries across all major clouds.

This is a systems-level, backend engineering role focused on distributed data processing internals — not application development or CRUD services.

Responsibilities

- Architect, design, and implement significant components of the query engine — planner, optimizer, execution operators, memory management, and data access layers.

- Write and review high-quality, performance-critical code in Java and/or C++.

- Own end-to-end delivery of features from technical design through production rollout.

- Drive performance optimization work — profiling, benchmarking, and eliminating bottlenecks in latency- and throughput-sensitive paths.

- Integrate deeply with columnar formats, open table formats, and connectivity drivers.

- Mentor middle engineers, lead code reviews, and set technical standards for the team.

- Contribute to CI/CD architecture and quality processes across Jenkins, containerization, and multi-cloud deployment ( GCP, AWS, Azure via Kubernetes / Docker ).

- Debug complex, cross-layer issues spanning query planning, distributed execution, memory management, and I/O.

- Partner with US-based engineering leads on design reviews, architectural decisions, and roadmap execution.

Required Qualifications

- Education: B. S. or M. S. in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field.

- Programming: Strong proficiency in Java or C++, with deep understanding of OOP, systems design, memory management, and concurrency. Candidates strong in both are especially valued.

- SQL & Data: Advanced SQL skills and strong understanding of query execution internals — planning, optimization, and operator implementation.

- Data processing systems experience: Demonstrated experience building or extending data processing systems — query engines, distributed databases, ETL/ELT frameworks, or analytical platforms.

- Engineering experience: 5+ years in backend/systems software engineering, with a track record of owning significant components.

- CI/CD & DevOps: Solid experience with Jenkins and modern engineering workflows.

- Containers & Orchestration: Strong working knowledge of Docker and Kubernetes.

- Cloud: Hands-on experience with at least one major cloud ( GCP, AWS, or Azure ); exposure to more than one is a strong plus.

- Version Control: Confident with Git / GitHub workflows and rigorous code review practices.

- English: Upper-Intermediate or higher ( B2+ ) — daily written and verbal communication with a US-based engineering team.

- Availability: Able to work EU hours with a 2–3 hour shift toward US West Coast time to ensure daily overlap with the client team.

- Leadership: Prior experience mentoring engineers, leading technical designs, or owning components end-to-end.

Desired Skills

- Deep experience with Apache Arrow (columnar in-memory format).

- Hands-on experience with Apache Calcite (SQL parsing, planning, optimization framework).

- Experience with Gandiva or LLVM -based expression compilation and code generation.

- Experience with open table formats — Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, or Hudi.

- Deep familiarity with distributed computing frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Kafka) and MPP SQL query engines (e.g., Presto, Trino, or similar).

- Deep understanding of query planning, optimization (cost-based, rule-based), and execution internals.

- Experience with data connectivity drivers: JDBC, ODBC, Arrow Flight.

- Kubernetes on managed services ( GKE / EKS / AKS ) and multi-cloud exposure.

- IaC tools such as Terraform.

- Track record of performance optimization at the systems level — profiling, vectorization, cache/memory-conscious design.

- Prior experience contributing to open-source data infrastructure projects.

Please note: We can consider only candidates currently residing in the EU, EEA, or the UK