Sr. Staff Software Engineer — Observability, Insights & Governance
Databricks · Bellevue, Washington; Seattle, Washington · Engineering · listed June 2, 2026
The shape of it
Seniority
Staff
Where
Not stated
Stated pay
$217,100 – $298,550 USD
Requirements listed
7
Length
820 words
In the posting’s own words
At Databricks, observability and governance are what turn a massive, multi-tenant data and AI platform into one customers can trust at scale. We are looking for a senior technical leader to drive strategy and execution across three closely related teams at the heart of that mission: Query Observability, SQL Warehouse Management, and Account-Level Observability and Governance.
What it asks for · 7
- 12+ years building and operating large-scale distributed systems, observability or governance platforms, databases, or backend infrastructure.
- A proven track record as a technical leader on teams operating in complex, multi-stakeholder environments — driving long-term architecture while still delivering incremental customer impact.
- Deep computer science fundamentals (algorithms, data structures, systems design) applied to real-world, high-throughput problems.
- Experience with one or more of: observability and telemetry pipelines, query engines and query analytics, distributed tracing and metrics, time-series storage, data governance, or large-scale logging systems.
- Strong cross-functional communication skills — able to align engineering, product, and infrastructure partners across multiple teams on technical strategy and trade-offs.
- BS in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience (MS/PhD a plus).
- Bonus: experience building agentic experiences using LLMs .
What the job covers
- Establish the long-term technical direction across query observability, warehouse management, and account-level governance, and own the multi-year architecture all three surfaces are built on.
- Design and lead high-impact projects that move the needle on performance, reliability, and cost transparency for customers.
- Build the next generation of agentic observability and governance — extensible experiences that let users and automated agents investigate, diagnose, and act on telemetry across query, warehouse, and account.
- Partner deeply with Databricks SQL, Unity Catalog, AI, security, and platform teams to integrate end-to-end visibility and governance across the data plane and control plane.
- Mentor senior engineers, set the technical standards across the group, and recruit top talent into observability, insights, and governance.
- Champion reliable, high-quality software and the operational practices that let a focused team confidently support product surfaces used by tens of thousands of customers.
Degree language
- BS in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience (MS/PhD a plus).
Tools and skills named
Cloud & infra
- Observability12×
- Distributed systems
Data
- Databricks2×
Languages
- SQL2×
Models & research
- LLM
Security & compliance
- Security
Ways of working
- Cross-functional
Words the posting leans on
- observability12×
- query9×
- governance8×
- experience6×
- technical6×
- customers5×
- account4×
- data4×
- insights4×
- query observability4×
- systems4×
- warehouse4×
- architecture3×
- building3×
- performance3×
- platform3×
Counted from the posting after the mission statement and the legal notices are set aside. The ones near the top are the ones a screener is looking for.
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