Software Engineer - Neki Orchestration

PlanetScale is growing rapidly and reinventing the database space. The PlanetScale platform offers both PostgresQL and Vitess clusters. Vitess is an open-source database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL, enables businesses to efficiently handle large-scale data workloads - without sacrificing developer experience. We're bringing the same scaling power to PostgreSQL with Neki, our sharded PostgreSQL product, and we're looking for Software Engineers to come help orchestrate Neki.

Our customers entrust us with their most precious digital asset, their data, so the stakes couldn't be higher. We're looking for a Software Engineer to join our Neki team to bring Neki to the cloud.
What's the job to be done?

  • You will design and build the control plane that provisions, scales, and heals Neki clusters with minimal customer-visible downtime.
  • You will build and maintain high availability, disaster recovery, and data protection solutions that keep customer databases safe through infrastructure failures.
  • You will build tooling and automation for database operations, backup, restore, and migration workflows - and participate in an on-call rotation.
  • You will work directly with customers to understand their workloads and translate real-world needs into platform improvements.
These attributes best describe you...
  • You have strong experience building, operating, or maintaining large-scale Postgres deployments in production.
  • You have an excellent understanding of low-level operating systems concepts including multi-threading, memory management, networking, storage, and performance.
  • You have strong fundamental computer science skills and can reason about distributed, fault-tolerant systems.
  • You thrive in a collaborative environment, enjoy mentoring other engineers, and communicate complex technical tradeoffs clearly.
  • You are self-motivated and can work independently with minimal guidance while making sound technical decisions.
What you will need
  • 5+ years of software engineering experience designing, building, and supporting large-scale systems in production.
  • Strong proficiency in Go, with experience in other languages like Ruby, Python etc
  • Experience building and maintaining distributed, fault-tolerant services.
  • Working knowledge of Kubernetes and containerized applications.
  • Experience building and operating distributed systems at scale.
What else will help you be successful
  • Experience building or operating a database-as-a-service or managed database platform.
  • Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Azure) and infrastructure-as-code.
  • Contributions to open-source projects, especially in the Postgres or database infrastructure space.
  • Experience working with remote, geographically distributed teams.
  • Previous experience at a high-growth technology company.
Why PlanetScale

We're redefining how high-growth companies manage data at scale-and we work with some of the most exciting brands in gaming, consumer tech, and B2B SaaS. As a Software Engineer, you'll be at the core of building the platform that powers world-class apps used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide. PlanetScale is a profitable company with a philosophy centered around building small teams of p99 individuals and is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America.

At PlanetScale we believe in supporting people to do their best work and thrive no matter the location. Our mission is to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company. We strive to build an inclusive environment where all people feel that they are equally respected and valued, whether they are a candidate or an employee. We welcome applicants of any educational background, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, citizenship, socioeconomic status, disability, pregnancy status, and veteran status.

If you have a disability, please let us know if there's any way we can make the interview process better for you; we're happy to accommodate!
Total Compensation and Pay Transparency

An employee's total compensation consists of base salary + variable comp where appropriate + benefits + equity. A member of our Talent Acquisition team will be happy to answer any further questions when we engage with you to begin the interview process.

Base salary range: $120,000 - $290,000 USD
Back to blog

Other Jobs To Apply

Common Interview Questions And Answers

1. HOW DO YOU PLAN YOUR DAY?

This is what this question poses: When do you focus and start working seriously? What are the hours you work optimally? Are you a night owl? A morning bird? Remote teams can be made up of people working on different shifts and around the world, so you won't necessarily be stuck in the 9-5 schedule if it's not for you...

2. HOW DO YOU USE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNICATION TOOLS IN DIFFERENT SITUATIONS?

When you're working on a remote team, there's no way to chat in the hallway between meetings or catch up on the latest project during an office carpool. Therefore, virtual communication will be absolutely essential to get your work done...

3. WHAT IS "WORKING REMOTE" REALLY FOR YOU?

Many people want to work remotely because of the flexibility it allows. You can work anywhere and at any time of the day...

4. WHAT DO YOU NEED IN YOUR PHYSICAL WORKSPACE TO SUCCEED IN YOUR WORK?

With this question, companies are looking to see what equipment they may need to provide you with and to verify how aware you are of what remote working could mean for you physically and logistically...

5. HOW DO YOU PROCESS INFORMATION?

Several years ago, I was working in a team to plan a big event. My supervisor made us all work as a team before the big day. One of our activities has been to find out how each of us processes information...

6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE THE CALENDAR AND THE PROGRAM? WHICH APPLICATIONS / SYSTEM DO YOU USE?

Or you may receive even more specific questions, such as: What's on your calendar? Do you plan blocks of time to do certain types of work? Do you have an open calendar that everyone can see?...

7. HOW DO YOU ORGANIZE FILES, LINKS, AND TABS ON YOUR COMPUTER?

Just like your schedule, how you track files and other information is very important. After all, everything is digital!...

8. HOW TO PRIORITIZE WORK?

The day I watched Marie Forleo's film separating the important from the urgent, my life changed. Not all remote jobs start fast, but most of them are...

9. HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR A MEETING AND PREPARE A MEETING? WHAT DO YOU SEE HAPPENING DURING THE MEETING?

Just as communication is essential when working remotely, so is organization. Because you won't have those opportunities in the elevator or a casual conversation in the lunchroom, you should take advantage of the little time you have in a video or phone conference...

10. HOW DO YOU USE TECHNOLOGY ON A DAILY BASIS, IN YOUR WORK AND FOR YOUR PLEASURE?

This is a great question because it shows your comfort level with technology, which is very important for a remote worker because you will be working with technology over time...