Senior Software Engineer - Datapath

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build and improve the performance-critical software behind our cloud-native file data platform. This role is for a hands-on C++/Linux engineer who enjoys solving deep systems problems involving concurrency, latency, throughput, reliability, debugging, and scale. You will work on core data-path capabilities that affect how enterprise customers access, move, and protect file data across distributed environments. You will contribute to designing and implementing production-quality software, investigate complex issues, and partner with QA, Performance Engineering, Support, and other engineering teams to improve platform behavior.
This role is a strong fit for someone who wants meaningful technical ownership while continuing to code, debug, test, and optimize complex systems. It is not a fit for someone looking primarily for people management, high-level architecture without implementation, or general application development without systems depth.
Responsibilities:
Design, implement, test, and maintain C++/Linux software for performance-sensitive data-path components.
Improve throughput, latency, concurrency, reliability, and resource usage in core platform workflows.
Debug complex issues involving memory, threading, I/O behavior, protocol interactions, or system performance.
Use profiling, tracing, logs, core dumps, and other diagnostic tools to identify root causes and validate fixes.
Partner with QA and Performance Engineering to reproduce issues, strengthen test coverage, and confirm release readiness.
Collaborate with Support and senior engineers on customer-impacting escalations and durable product fixes.
Participate in design reviews, code reviews, and technical planning for data-path features.
Use AI-assisted engineering tools where appropriate for code exploration, test ideas, debugging hypotheses, documentation, and analysis, while independently validating correctness, security, and maintainability.
Requirements:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
6+ years of professional software engineering experience.
3+ years working on storage systems, databases, distributed systems, networking software, or performance-critical infrastructure.
Strong C++ and/or C programming experience on Linux.
Experience with multi-threaded programming, concurrency, memory management, and systems debugging.
Hands-on experience using debugging, profiling, tracing, or diagnostic tools to resolve complex issues.
Solid understanding of networking fundamentals and application-level protocols.
Clear written and verbal communication skills.
Preferred:
Experience with file systems, NAS, object storage, caching, replication, snapshots, metadata services, or distributed storage.
Python or Go experience for tooling, automation, test frameworks, or service integration.
Experience supporting production or customer-impacting technical investigations.
Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, SaaS product engineering, CI/CD, and secure development practices.
Practical use of AI-assisted development tools with disciplined validation.
Ideal Candidate:
Shipped measurable improvements in throughput, latency, reliability, or resource efficiency.
Owned a production data path, storage, database, or distributed systems component across multiple releases.
Known for strong debugging discipline, thoughtful tradeoffs, and high-quality code reviews.
Most aligned candidates will have 6-10+ years of total software engineering experience, including 3-6+ years in systems, storage, distributed infrastructure, database internals, or similarly performance-critical software.
Candidates with more experience may still be a fit if they remain hands-on and are motivated by Senior-level component ownership.

Experience
6-10 yrs