Posted Jul 12, 2026

Database Engineer — Storage & Query Execution

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What we do ParadeDB is a Postgres-native alternative to Elasticsearch. We build state-of-the-art search (full-text, vector, and hybrid) and columnar analytics as a Postgres extension. Companies like Modern Treasury, BILT Rewards, Alibaba Cloud, and many others use ParadeDB to: • Eliminate ETL/change data capture tools • Add transactional guarantees to their search indexes • Perform JOINs on their search data • Unify their search & transactional stack for agentic workloads We're a small, focused team of engineers dedicated to creating an inclusive and enjoyable work environment. We’re primarily distributed across the United States and Canada, with a small office in San Francisco. We’re a Series A company with a flat structure, strong backing from investors, and plenty of room for growth. What we want We're looking for a database engineer to join our team full-time. The ideal candidate should have: • A solid foundation in database systems and internals • Meaningful experience working on databases, query engines, storage engines, indexing systems, or similarly complex infrastructure software • Proficiency in systems programming with C/C++/Rust/Zig and the ability to navigate large, complex codebases effectively (bonus points for Rust) • Experience designing, profiling, optimizing, and debugging systems with a focus on performance, scalability, and maintainability • Experience with Postgres internals, database extensions, or related systems is a plus • Familiarity with query optimization, vectorized execution, columnar storage, or analytical query processing is a plus • Familiarity with search systems is a plus • Familiarity with technologies such as Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, Arrow, Parquet, or pgrx is a plus • Contributions to high-quality open-source projects are a plus • Prior experience at a small, high-performing startup is a plus We're seeking someone creative, independent, and excited by difficult technical challenges. You'll bring thoughtful opinions, learn quickly, engage directly with customers, and help us build a world-class product. What you want • You want to be part of the core team of a fast-growing infrastructure startup • You want to wear many hats and interface directly with customers • You’re passionate about databases, query engines, search technologies, and data systems • You’re excited about diving deep into the internals of Postgres and writing high-performance, safe Rust code • You’re excited to build state-of-the-art search and analytical capabilities on top of Postgres • You’re excited to learn about, draw inspiration from, and contribute to systems like Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, PostgreSQL, Parquet, and Arrow • You believe in open-source and want to contribute to building a sustainable open-source business • You want autonomy over your work and the opportunity to make impactful design decisions What you'll do • Develop and optimize the ParadeDB PostgreSQL extension using Postgres APIs via pgrx • Build features that interface with Postgres storage, indexing, query planning, query execution, and extension infrastructure • Work with the internals of Tantivy, Apache DataFusion, and other open-source systems to implement new search and analytics capabilities • Contribute upstream to Tantivy, DataFusion, and our other dependencies • Design and implement efficient data structures and algorithms for search and analytical workloads • Optimize query performance and resource utilization using profiling tools • Contribute to the evolution of ParadeDB's search, analytics, indexing, and query processing capabilities • Develop and maintain documentation, including API references and user guides • Engage directly with our customers and the open-source community on GitHub and Slack • Contribute to technical writing, product demos, and content marketing • Help shape ParadeDB's product roadmap and technical direction Official listing: https://paradedb.notion.site/