Staff Software Engineer - Databases, Tempo

The Opportunity

We build Tempo, the open-source distributed tracing backend behind Grafana Cloud Traces and Grafana Enterprise Traces (GET). As we scale toward 2026, we are evolving Tempo from a SaaS database into a platform that powers Grafana’s next generation of observability products, including App Observability, Asserts, and AI-driven assistants.

What You'll Be Doing

As a Staff Engineer on Tempo, you will set technical direction on the most challenging problems in our roadmap:

• Lead multi-quarter technical initiatives: Drive projects from problem framing through rollout, such as trace aggregation APIs and autoscaling cells.
• Own core architecture: Manage ingestion, storage, query, and metrics generation components. Drive design reviews and make sharp trade-offs on performance and cost.
• Design APIs for humans and agents: Shape the next generation of Tempo’s interfaces to support LLM-driven assistants and external integrators.
• Drive operational excellence: Own outcomes against SLOs (P99 write latency, incident recurrence, TCO) and push for Zero Ops through automation.
• Mentor and collaborate: Raise the engineering bar through code reviews, design feedback, and cross-team partnership with Product and sibling engineering teams.
• Contribute to open source: Engage the community, review external contributions, and steer the project in the open.

What Makes You a Great Fit

• Technical leadership: A track record of leading complex, multi-quarter initiatives.
• Deep systems experience: Substantial hands-on experience building and operating distributed data systems (ingestion, storage, query execution).
• Strong software craftsmanship: You write clean, robust, performant software and know when to optimize vs. when to ship.
• Go proficiency: Deep experience in Go or other systems languages (Rust, C, C++).
• Operational mindset: Experience owning production services, carrying a pager, and treating SLOs as a product feature.
• Communication: Ability to lead through design docs and clear communication in a fully remote, asynchronous environment.

Why You’ll Thrive at Grafana Labs

• 100% Remote, Global Culture: A collaborative, distributed team across 40+ countries.
• Innovation-Driven: High trust, low ego culture with autonomy to ship great work.
• Open Source Roots: Built on community-driven values.
• Career Growth: Defined pathways for professional development.
• Balance: 30 days annual leave, including company-wide shutdown days.
• Ownership: All roles include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).