Senior Software Engineer, Cloud Platform

Reposted 2 Months Ago
Redwood City, CA, USA
Hybrid
175K-225K Annually
Senior level
Artificial Intelligence • Machine Learning • Database
The Role
Design and build the cloud platform integrated with the database runtime to enable fast workload placement, elastic scaling, multi-tenant isolation, automated provisioning, upgrades, recovery, observability, and cost-efficient execution across Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments.
Summary Generated by Built In
About Zilliz
Zilliz is building the next generation of data infrastructure for AI. Founded in 2017 by the creators of Milvus, one of the world's most popular open-source vector databases, we help developers and enterprises build, deploy, and scale AI-powered applications, from semantic search and RAG to emerging agentic AI workloads. 
 
Backed by $113 million in funding from leading global investors, Zilliz has established a strong presence in the AI infrastructure market. Milvus has earned over 46,000 GitHub stars, and our technology has reached more than 10,000 enterprise users worldwide. Companies including OpenEvidence, Exa, and Filevine rely on Zilliz Cloud to power their AI applications.
 
Building on our roots in vector database technology, we're expanding Zilliz Cloud into a broader AI data platform with Zilliz Vector Lakebase. As AI continues to reshape how applications are built and how data is used, we're focused on making the underlying infrastructure more powerful, scalable, and accessible to organizations worldwide.

We're entering our next phase of 10x growth: more customers, larger datasets, more complex AI workloads, and higher expectations for reliability, performance, and cost efficiency. You'll join a small, fast-moving Cloud Platform team building the core platform capabilities that run Zilliz Cloud at scale across multi-cloud environments.

This is not a standard control-plane platform role. You will work across both the cloud platform and database runtime, building cloud-and-engine integrated systems around Vector Lakebase so AI workloads can be scheduled faster, run more reliably, and serve real customers more efficiently.

What you'll do:

  • Design and build the cloud platform behind Zilliz Cloud and Vector Lakebase, bringing together cloud control plane, database runtime, scheduling, resource management, deployment, and lifecycle management to support fast workload placement, elastic scaling, multi-tenant isolation, and cost-efficient execution
  • Build cloud-native systems that make distributed database provisioning, scaling, upgrades, recovery, and workload migration automated, observable, rollback-safe, and efficient
  • Work deep across Kubernetes, multi-cloud infrastructure, networking, storage, and database engine runtimes to deliver a tightly integrated cloud-and-engine product experience
  • Improve platform scalability, reliability, performance, and operational simplicity as we grow across customers, regions, tenants, datasets, and AI workloads
  • Partner with database, reliability, and product engineers to bring new Vector Lakebase capabilities into cloud production safely and quickly
  • Use AI deeply across the platform engineering workflow, including deployment validation, diagnosis, incident analysis, capacity planning, documentation, code generation, and operational tooling

What we're looking for:

  • 3+ years of experience building production systems such as large-scale SaaS platforms, data platforms, AI applications, microservices, or cloud infrastructure
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
  • Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and at least one major cloud platform such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
  • Familiarity with infrastructure automation and cloud operations tooling such as Terraform, Helm, Argo CD, Prometheus, Grafana, CI/CD systems, or similar tools
  • Experience building cloud-native platform systems is a strong plus, including scheduling, orchestration, deployment, configuration, upgrades, lifecycle management, or resource management
  • Understanding of distributed databases or database engine internals is a strong plus, especially around scalability, performance, reliability, and multi-tenant isolation
  • Strong interest in AI-assisted development and engineering productivity. We value engineers who actively use AI to multiply their output across coding, debugging, testing, documentation, and operations

How we operate:

    High ownership: You own platform outcomes end-to-end, from design to production behavior, not just a narrow slice of the system

    AI-first engineering: We actively use AI to improve coding, testing, documentation, diagnosis, and operations, but human engineering taste still matters most

    Fast and focused: We ship often while keeping a high bar. This team suits engineers who want speed, autonomy, and a steep growth curve

    Global collaboration: We work closely with engineering teams across regions, designing collaboration around timezone coverage to support customers globally

Benefits:

  • Competitive compensation (cash + equity)
  • Regular bonus and equity refresh opportunities
  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance
  • Paid time off, including vacation, sick leave, and global reset/wellbeing days
  • Generous 401(k) and regional retirement plans

Benefits

  • Comprehensive Health Coverage: Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans for employees and eligible family members.
  • Unlimited PTO: Flexible paid time off to rest, recharge, and take care of personal needs.
  • Competitive Compensation and Equity: Competitive cash compensation and long-term incentive opportunities, including stock options.
  • 401(k) with Company Match: Retirement savings plan with employer matching contributions.

Zilliz is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Skills Required

  • 3+ years of experience building production systems such as large-scale SaaS platforms, data platforms, AI applications, microservices, or cloud infrastructure
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent practical experience
  • Strong hands-on experience with Kubernetes and Docker
  • Experience with at least one major cloud platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
  • Familiarity with infrastructure automation and cloud operations tooling such as Terraform, Helm, Argo CD, Prometheus, Grafana, CI/CD systems
  • Experience building cloud-native platform systems (scheduling, orchestration, deployment, lifecycle/resource management)
  • Understanding of distributed databases or database engine internals
  • Strong interest in AI-assisted development and engineering productivity
Am I A Good Fit?
beta
Get Personalized Job Insights.
Our AI-powered fit analysis compares your resume with a job listing so you know if your skills & experience align.

The Company
HQ: Redwood, CA
75 Employees
Year Founded: 2017

What We Do

Zilliz is a leading vector database company for production-ready AI. Built by the engineers who created Milvus, the world's most popular open-source vector database, Zilliz is on a mission to unleash data insights with AI. The company builds next-generation database technologies to help organizations rapidly create AI/ML applications, and unlock the potential of unstructured data. By taking the burden of complex data infrastructure management off of its users, Zilliz is committed to bringing the power of AI to every corporation, every organization, and every individual. Headquartered in San Francisco, Zilliz is backed by a number of prestigious investors, including Aramco's Prosperity7 Ventures, Temasek's Pavilion Capital, Hillhouse Capital, 5Y Capital, Yunqi Partners, Trustbridge Partners and others. Zilliz's technologies and products help over 1000 organizations worldwide easily create AI applications in various scenarios, including computer vision, image retrieval, video analysis, NLP, recommendation engines, targeted ads, customized search, smart chatbots, fraud detection, network security, new drug discovery, and much more. Learn more at zilliz.com or follow @zilliz_universe.

Similar Jobs

NVIDIA Logo NVIDIA

Senior Software Engineer

Artificial Intelligence • Computer Vision • Hardware • Robotics • Metaverse
In-Office or Remote
2 Locations
21960 Employees
Hybrid
3 Locations
289097 Employees

Lambda Logo Lambda

Senior Software Engineer

Artificial Intelligence • Cloud • Machine Learning • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
Remote or Hybrid
3 Locations
750 Employees
230K-346K Annually
Remote or Hybrid
3 Locations
106 Employees
230K-346K Annually

Similar Companies Hiring

Onshore Thumbnail
Artificial Intelligence • Fintech • Software • Financial Services
New York, New York
85 Employees
Blee Thumbnail
Artificial Intelligence • Marketing Tech • Software
New York, New York
33 Employees
Vega Thumbnail
Artificial Intelligence • Automotive • Insurance • Transportation
US
65 Employees

Sign up now Access later

Create Free Account

Please log in or sign up to report this job.

Create Free Account