Senior Open Source Engineer
About The Position
LanceDB is a developer-friendly, open-source database for multimodal AI. From hyper-scalable vector search to advanced retrieval for RAG, from streaming training data to interactive exploration of large-scale AI datasets, LanceDB is the best foundation for your AI application, and powers some of the most groundbreaking applications and challenging requirements today. We’re looking for a Senior Open Source Engineer to help expand the reach of Lance and LanceDB within the broader data infrastructure ecosystem. You’ll work at the intersection of high-performance computing, big data, and open-source systems—driving integrations, improving distributed operations, and contributing to projects across the Apache and AI communities.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience building high-performance databases, big data systems, or large-scale data services
- Deep understanding of internals of open-source Big Data or AI training systems (e.g., Hadoop, Spark, Flink, Ray, Iceberg, Delta Lake, Hudi, ClickHouse, Trino, Presto, PyTorch, or JAX)
- Strong experience with high-performance computing in Java or Scala
- Experience with Rust (or willingness to learn it)
- Proven ability to move fast, work independently, and collaborate with a high-caliber team
Nice To Haves
- Contributor, committer, or PMC member in Apache or other large open-source projects
- Experience with Java, Rust, C++, Apache Arrow, DataFusion, Parquet, Iceberg, or Delta Lake
- Track record of driving large features or integrations in distributed systems
- Strong community presence and passion for open-source collaboration
Responsibilities
- Driving open-source community efforts to integrate the Lance format with Spark, Hive Metastore, Presto, Trino, Ray, and other data infrastructure systems
- Designing and maintaining efficient distributed Lance dataset operations
- Building efficient indices to enable predicate pushdown and accelerate queries in Spark, Ray, or Trino
- Working on table formats, data encodings, and various aspects of the Lance format in Rust
- Operating and improving internal data processing infrastructure
- Promoting the Lance format in open-source communities and at Big Data conferences
Benefits
- A key role shaping an open-source project with real production usage
- Remote-first team with flexible hours
- Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits
- Generous learning budget and support for open-source contributions
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
No Education Listed
Number of Employees
11-50 employees
