[Hiring] Senior Principal Software Engineer @Rocket Companies

Role Description

The Senior Principal Software Engineer serves as a technical leader for the Vertica database platform, defining and driving the architecture, design, and implementation of strategic innovations across the core server. This role is responsible for advancing Vertica's foundational database technologies, including:

• Query optimization
• Distributed execution
• Storage
• Scalability
• Performance

As a recognized subject matter expert, the Senior Principal Software Engineer combines deep expertise in database internals with a proven track record of delivering innovative technologies that improve performance, reliability, and competitive differentiation in large-scale analytical data platforms. The role partners closely with:

• Engineering
• Product Management
• Support
• Sales Engineering
• Customers

This role is particularly well suited for engineers who have previously driven major innovations in commercial analytical database systems and can leverage deep domain expertise to shape the next generation of Vertica’s core platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Acts as the subject matter expert across multiple Vertica core server domains, including query optimization, distributed query execution, storage, concurrency, and database infrastructure.
• Responsible for the technical direction and architecture of one or more critical components of the Vertica database engine.
• Synthesizes customer requirements, market trends, product strategy, and engineering input into technical direction and product requirements.
• Advises on architectural decisions and their impact on product capabilities, scalability, performance, reliability, and business outcomes.
• Defines and drives the long-term architectural vision for core database technologies.
• Researches and evaluates state-of-the-art database algorithms, distributed systems techniques, and emerging technologies, driving their practical application within the Vertica platform.
• Identifies opportunities for innovation and delivers foundational enhancements that improve performance, scalability, reliability, and operational efficiency.
• Architects complex database features and infrastructure that support large-scale analytical workloads across distributed environments.
• Leads the design and implementation of highly concurrent, high-performance C++ software within mission-critical database systems.
• Guides the evolution of Vertica’s query optimizer, execution engine, distributed architecture, and related core server technologies.
• Documents and communicates complex technical concepts, architectures, and design decisions across the organization.
• Works effectively with all groups involved in the software development process to ensure solutions consider downstream impacts across the product lifecycle.
• Provides thought leadership and innovation within database systems and distributed data processing domains.
• Regularly proposes and implements innovative ideas that improve Vertica’s competitive position and customer value.
• Identifies, socializes, and drives improvements that have significant impact across products, teams, and customer workloads.
• Applies deep knowledge of algorithms, data structures, database internals, and distributed systems to develop optimal solutions balancing performance, reliability, scalability, and security.
• Provides forward-thinking designs that leverage existing platform capabilities in novel and impactful ways.
• Actively participates in strategic planning, roadmap development, feature scoping, estimation, and prioritization of major initiatives.
• Works with software architects and product owners to ensure roadmaps and backlogs align with long-term architectural objectives.
• Guides testing strategies, including functional, performance, scalability, resiliency, and stress testing.
• Collaborates directly with customers, support teams, and field organizations to understand real-world challenges and translate them into impactful technical solutions.
• Mentors engineers and technical leaders across the organization, fostering engineering excellence and innovation.
• Communicates effectively across the organization, including with senior leadership.
• Demonstrates the ability to manage multiple competing priorities while maintaining focus on strategic objectives.

Qualifications

• Minimum 12 years of software engineering experience, including significant experience developing complex systems software.
• Proven track record of successful software innovation, problem solving, and product delivery at increasing scale and complexity.
• Deep expertise in one or more database engine domains, including query optimization, query execution, storage engines, transaction processing, concurrency control, distributed systems, or database infrastructure.
• Expert knowledge of C++ and performance-oriented systems programming.
• Strong understanding of algorithms, data structures, operating systems, and multi-threaded programming.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing large-scale distributed systems.
• Strong knowledge of SQL and relational database technologies.
• Ability to evaluate emerging research and translate innovative concepts into production-quality software.
• Able to take ownership of the design and development of large architectural components and define interactions across subsystems.
• Able to review designs and anticipate performance, scalability, reliability, and maintainability considerations.
• Proven success leading cross-functional technical initiatives and influencing engineering strategy across multiple teams.
• Recognized by peers as a superior technical contributor and technical leader.
• Exemplary at dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity.
• Proven success mentoring and developing software engineers at all levels.
• Excellent technical communication and collaboration skills.
• Ph.D. or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Database Systems, Computer Engineering, or a related technical discipline is strongly preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related technical discipline required.

Preferred Experience

• Expertise in commercial database internals and database kernel development.
• Experience designing or implementing cost-based query optimizers.
• Experience developing distributed query processing or execution frameworks.
• Experience building highly scalable analytical database systems or massively parallel processing (MPP) database platforms.
• Experience shaping the architectural direction of a mature enterprise software platform.
• Record of innovation reflected through patents, publications, significant product contributions, or industry-recognized technical achievements.
• Prior experience contributing to the Vertica database engine or other large-scale analytical database platforms.
• Deep familiarity with Vertica core server architecture, query optimization, distributed execution, storage, catalog, transaction management, or related subsystems is highly valued.
• Demonstrated ability to influence the technical direction of a complex database platform through architectural leadership and long-term innovation.

Benefits

• Unlimited Vacation Time as well as paid holidays and sick time
• Health and Wellness coverage options for Rocketeers and dependents
• Life and disability coverage
• Fidelity 401(k) and Roth Retirement Savings with matching contributions
• Monthly student debt benefit program
• Tuition Reimbursement and Certificate Reimbursement Program opportunities
• Leadership and skills training opportunities