Staff Software Engineer Databases SRE | UK | Remote

Imagine a world where you're at the forefront of ensuring massive-scale observability platforms run flawlessly, where your expertise directly impacts how thousands of organizations understand their data. At Grafana Labs, that's exactly the kind of impact our Staff Software Engineers make every single day. We're on the hunt for a seasoned Databases SRE, someone deeply passionate about distributed systems, database reliability, and operational excellence, ready to join our entirely remote team. This isn't just another job; it's an opportunity to shape the future of cloud infrastructure, contributing to open source innovation while working alongside brilliant minds from diverse backgrounds across the globe. If you thrive on complex challenges and love building robust, scalable solutions, then keep reading this could be your next great adventure.

Overview

Grafana Labs stands as a pillar in the observability space, powering Grafana Cloud for over 10,000 organizations worldwide. Our platform delivers unparalleled reliability, accelerates incident resolution, and optimizes telemetry at scale, all built on a foundation of open source and open standards. We're proud to bring AI capabilities to observability, providing unified visibility across disparate data sources. Giants like Anthropic, Bloomberg, NVIDIA, Microsoft, and Salesforce trust our solutions. We're a 100% remote company, fostering a global collaborative culture with team members spanning more than 40 countries. Our journey is backed by leading investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sequoia Capital, and J.P. Morgan, among others. As a Staff Software Engineer focusing on Databases SRE, you will play a pivotal role in designing, implementing, and maintaining the highly available and performant database infrastructure that underpins Grafana Cloud. Your work will directly ensure our customers experience seamless, reliable access to their critical observability data, every single moment.

Key Responsibilities

Design, develop, and maintain highly available, scalable, and resilient database systems for Grafana Cloud.
Lead initiatives to improve the reliability, performance, and efficiency of our database infrastructure, focusing on proactive measures.
Provide expert guidance and technical leadership on database architecture, operations, and best practices to engineering teams.
Troubleshoot and resolve complex production incidents impacting database systems, participating in on-call rotations as needed.
Automate operational tasks, monitoring, and alerting for database systems to minimize manual intervention and improve incident response.
Collaborate with cross functional teams, including product and development, to ensure database requirements are met from design through deployment.
Mentor junior engineers, sharing knowledge and fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement within the SRE team.
Drive the adoption of new database technologies and tools that enhance our operational capabilities and overall system health.

Requirements

Significant professional experience in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) or Database Administration (DBA) roles, specifically with large scale distributed systems.
Deep expertise with various database technologies, including relational databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, or similar, and experience with NoSQL solutions is a plus.
Proven track record of designing, implementing, and operating highly available and scalable database infrastructures in a cloud environment (AWS, GCP, Azure).
Strong proficiency in at least one programming language commonly used for automation and system management (e.g., Go, Python, Java).
Extensive experience with infrastructure as code tools such as Terraform and configuration management systems like Kubernetes, Ansible, or Puppet.
Solid understanding of networking, security, and operating systems fundamentals relevant to database deployments.
Excellent problem solving skills and the ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues under pressure.
Exceptional communication and collaboration abilities, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
Based in the United Kingdom or legally eligible to work in the UK for a remote position.

What You'll Gain

Opportunity to work on cutting edge database technologies within a global, fully remote company.
A chance to significantly impact the reliability and scalability of a platform trusted by leading enterprises worldwide.
Be part of a vibrant, inclusive, and collaborative culture that values open source, transparency, and continuous learning.
Professional growth through challenging projects, mentorship, and access to a vast network of industry experts.
Competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits, and a supportive environment that prioritizes work life balance.
The autonomy to drive meaningful change and innovate within your area of expertise.