Cloudera

Senior Software Engineer

US-California-San Jose Full time

Business Area:

Engineering

Seniority Level:

Mid-Senior level

Job Description: 

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry.  Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

The Data Platform Pillar is the bedrock of Cloudera’s technology, where we design and build the core components that let our customers store, manage, and process data with unmatched scalability, security, and performance. 

Within this pillar, the Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) team is looking for a passionate, self-driven Senior Software Engineer with deep expertise in distributed systems to join our core engineering group. CDP provides a unified, integrated environment for data warehousing, engineering, and AI/ML across the world’s largest enterprises.

As we continue to innovate, we are building next-generation capabilities to enable seamless data sharing between CDP-hosted datasets and external applications. This requires engineers who can design and develop highly scalable enterprise products that bridge distributed computation and storage—spanning public cloud (S3, ADLS) and high-performance on-prem systems like Ozone or Dell ECS. If you enjoy solving complex interoperability challenges at a massive scale, this is the team for you.

As a Senior Software Engineer you will:

  • Develop and support a highly scalable Catalog service built around the Apache Iceberg REST specification for Cloudera Data Platform (CDP) across hybrid cloud environments.

  • Design and develop a Unified Catalog service that serves as a single endpoint for segregated data sets.

  • Contribute to premier open-source projects, building the tools that define how the industry interacts with large-scale unstructured data.

  • Work daily with a high-impact stack featuring Apache Iceberg, Spark, Impala, and Hive.

  • Work on supporting customer deployments, escalations and improving stability of the product.

We’re excited about you if you have:

  • Bachelor’s with 5+ years (or Master’s with 3+ years) of industry experience, including 3+ years building scalable, high-performance large-scale systems.

  • Proven expertise in Java (preferred) or other OOP languages, with strong skills in data structures, algorithms, and clean coding habits.

  • Solid understanding of public cloud concepts (AWS/Azure/GCP) with experience in cloud storage integration and access-control APIs.

  • Familiarity with authentication and authorization mechanisms specifically for public cloud deployments.

  • Strong debugging skills in Java environments, including experience analyzing logs, thread dumps, and heap dumps.

  • Self-starter with the ability to work independently and collaborate effectively with geographically distributed teams.

  • Strong oral and written communication skills with a sharp attention to detail and a focus on software quality.

You may also have:

  • Experience with the Big Data ecosystem and open table formats such as Apache Iceberg or Apache Hudi.

  • Proven experience developing REST-based services, with a specific focus on metadata services.

  • Working knowledge of AWS STS (Security Token Service) or similar cloud identity and access management tools.

  • Strong understanding of database internals, including query processing and query optimization techniques.

  • Active contributions to Apache open-source projects or a history of involvement in the developer community.

Why this role matters: 

You will tackle complex distributed systems challenges, crafting the foundational software for the control and data planes that powers CDP and keeps it running at massive scale. Working at the forefront of hybrid and multi-cloud technology, you will empower data scientists, engineers, and analysts with the tools and infrastructure they need for advanced analytics and modeling.

Collaboration is key, you will work alongside brilliant minds across product, data science, and engineering to drive innovation, standardize best practices, and shape the future of enterprise AI and data platforms. This is your chance to build the future of data and see your work make a global impact.

This role is not eligible for immigration sponsorship.

What you can expect from us:

  • Generous PTO Policy 

  • Support work life balance with Unplugged Days

  • Flexible WFH Policy 

  • Mental & Physical Wellness programs 

  • Phone and Internet Reimbursement program 

  • Access to Continued Career Development 

  • Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages 

  • Paid Volunteer Time

  • Employee Resource Groups

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