Cloud Computing

Senior Software Engineer II, Managed Databases

Seattle, WAHybridFull TimeSenior$167,200–$209,000 /yrPosted 1 month agoVisa sponsorship available

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Required skills

Managed Databases
DBaaS
Postgres
MySQL
distributed control planes
database platform infrastructure
production reliability
architecture
complex technical projects
performance and resiliency

Nice to have

AI inference
data-intensive applications
PostgreSQL
query performance
replication
scale

Role summary

DigitalOcean is seeking a Senior Software Engineer II for their Managed Databases (DBaaS) team. This role focuses on building and operating scalable control planes and infrastructure for managed Postgres and MySQL services, supporting production data and AI workloads. The engineer will architect systems, lead complex technical projects, mentor junior engineers, and ensure production reliability, performance, and resiliency. Key responsibilities include designing scalable components, improving resource utilization, strengthening lifecycle capabilities like failover and recovery, and operating built systems. The ideal candidate has 8+ years of experience with large-scale distributed systems, production depth, and a strong understanding of database internals and distributed systems principles.

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer II to join our Managed Databases (DBaaS) engineering organization. Managed Databases delivers fully managed Postgres, MySQL, and related database services so customers can run production data workloads—and increasingly AI inference and data-intensive applications—without operating clusters themselves.

In this high-impact IC4 role, you will apply advanced subject-matter expertise across distributed control planes, database platform infrastructure, and production reliability. You will bridge product and system requirements with concrete architecture, lead complex technical projects across DBaaS and adjacent platform boundaries (e.g., Networking, Droplets, Storage, engine teams), and mentor engineers to elevate standards on the team. You should be comfortable independently moving from ambiguous problems to design, implementation, launch, and long-term operation.

What You’ll Do

Architect and implement DBaaS platform systems: Design and build scalable control-plane and infrastructure components that improve throughput, multi-region operability, and reliability for managed database workloads.

Turn ambiguous requirements into deliverable architecture: Deconstruct customer and system needs into clear technical designs and workstreams that drive predictable delivery with product and engineering partners.

Own performance and resiliency outcomes on your services: Improve resource utilization, fault tolerance, and availability—using profiling and targeted changes against I/O, CPU, and network bottlenecks under real production load.

Strengthen lifecycle capabilities: Ship improvements to automated failover, continuous backups, point-in-time recovery (PITR), and maintenance workflows so clusters handle higher data volumes and tighter SLAs.

Scale for data-heavy and AI-adjacent demand: Expand and harden control-plane and infrastructure pieces that support compute-heavy and high-concurrency customer workloads.

Raise the team engineering bar: Guide technical decisions for engineers on the squad through design and code reviews; contribute clear design docs for the initiatives you lead.

Mentor team members: Coach engineers through technical guidance, architectural reviews, and code-quality standards to accelerate growth and execution velocity.

Operate what you build: Establish observability, failover, and recovery practices; participate in on-call; turn incident learnings into durable platform improvements.

What You’ll Bring

Experience: 8+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems or data-plane/control-plane infrastructure (SaaS/PaaS or equivalent).

Production depth: Proven track record diagnosing and solving complex, high-concurrency engineering problems in production cloud environments.

Database platform fluency: Working knowledge of relational database engine internals—specifically PostgreSQL and/or MySQL—including query performance, replication, and scale (preferred).

Distributed systems mastery: Strong understanding of concurrency, failure modes, multi-region concerns, and performance optimization in production Linux/cloud environments.

Scale for data & AI workloads: Experience scaling services for compute, memory, and networking demands of data-intensive or AI inference-adjacent workloads (preferred).

Collaboration & mentorship: Track record of driving complex cross-team technical projects, mentoring engineers, and communicating tradeoffs clearly with partners and leadership.

Growth mindset: Appetite for feedback and a “leave it better than you found it” approach to architecture and maintainability.

Compensation Range:

$167,200 - $209,000

*This is a hybrid role

JR: 2026-8312

#LI-Hybrid

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean

We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with a high-growth trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As part of our team, you’ll embody our "Shark" mindset: bold, ambitious, and scrappy. You'll lead with a bias for action and take true ownership of our products, customer success, and team culture.

We prioritize career development. At DigitalOcean, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will join a community of exceptional talent, collaborating closely with some of the brightest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance and fast-paced organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our talent development team prioritizes your professional development and provides resources to support your growth. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education, subject to company policy.

We care about your well-being. We take a comprehensive approach to our total rewards packages because we know different things drive different people. Our benefits are designed to support you and may include flexible time off, local team meetups, and mental health and well being support. Our benefits philosophy is consistent globally, but specific benefits and eligibility vary by location to reflect local needs and regulations.

We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. Eligible employees may also receive equity compensation, which may include a new hire equity grant and, in participating countries, the opportunity to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program. Equity awards are subject to approval and the terms of the applicable plan.

Non-sales roles: In addition to base salary, this role is eligible to participate in DigitalOcean’s annual bonus plan and may be eligible for a new hire equity grant, subject to plan terms and local eligibility. Bonus amounts depend on company and individual performance.

Sales roles (sales compensation eligible): In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible to earn incentive compensation under the applicable sales compensation plan and may be eligible for a new hire equity grant, subject to plan terms and local eligibility.

DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Application Limit: You may apply to a maximum of 3 positions within any 180-day period. This policy promotes better role-candidate matching and encourages thoughtful applications where your qualifications align most strongly.

Sample DigitalOcean interview questions

1
Design a system for managing a distributed chaos engineering platform.
system designmedium
2
Design a system for real-time monitoring of cloud infrastructure.
system designmedium
3
Architect a real-time document collaboration tool.
system designmedium
4
Build a system for recognizing faces in real-time with high accuracy.
system designmedium
5
Longest Consecutive Sequence Determine the length of the longest consecutive elements sequence. Input: nums = [0,3,7,2,5,8,4,6,0,1] Output: 9 Explanation: The longest consecutive sequence is 0 through 8 (length 9), utilizing a hash set to check connectivity in linear time.
technicalmedium

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