Senior Software Engineer — Backend (Files Team)
Databricks
San Francisco, CA · $166k–$225k a year · Posted October 2, 2026
Just laid off? Start here: a plan for the first weeks
See every open role at Databricks
More in California job market · All Senior Software Engineer jobs (2,585) · Technology & Software · Engineering jobs
More roles at Databricks
- Sr. Counsel, Employment · Bellevue, WA
- Solutions Architect - Telco · Atlanta, GA
- Software Engineer, Infrastructure · Mountain View, CA
- Enterprise Account Executive, Federal Financials · Washington, DC
Similar jobs
- Software Developer (.NET/Angular) · Caci, LLC - Commercial · Riverside, CA
- Senior Software Development Engineer, Loyalty - Full Stack · Expedia Group · San Jose, CA
- Staff Software Developer, Unified Communications · Nvidia · Santa Clara, CA
- Senior Software Engineer · Circle Internet Group · San Francisco, CA
- Staff Software Engineer · Circle Internet Group · San Francisco, CA
- Software Engineer II · Badger Meter · Los Gatos, CA
Where San Francisco, CA ranks
Where San Francisco, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills35% · of 100
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast35% · of 54
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast902 jobs · of 47
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $195,500 a year. Across 1,013 open senior software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $167,500 to $222,500 and the median is $200,000. That is inside the middle half of those listings, 2% below the median.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
Senior Software Engineer salaries by state · Check your own pay
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
Say which you have and which you want to build. We use it to match you to jobs like this one.
About the job
P-78
At Databricks, we are passionate about enabling data teams to solve the world's toughest problems — from making the next mode of transportation a reality to accelerating the development of medical breakthroughs. We do this by building and running the world's best Data Intelligence Platform so our customers can use deep data insights to improve their business. Founded by engineers — and customer obsessed — we leap at every opportunity to tackle technical challenges, from designing next-gen UI/UX for interfacing with data to scaling our services and infrastructure across millions of virtual machines. And we're only getting started.
The filesystem has emerged as the preferred runtime interface for agentic AI. AI agents use the filesystem for context, memory management, artifact (dashboard, code etc) authoring, version control, sandboxing, and interacting between systems and agents. It is the foundational layer to accelerate AI adoption
As a Senior Software Engineer on the Files team, you will innovate at the intersection of storage, performance, and distributed systems, directly shaping our filesystem strategy to power next-generation agentic workloads.
The Impact You’ll Have
Design, build, and operate the the filesystem platform powering tens of thousands of data, AI and agentic workloads daily
Push filesystem performance for the most demanding workloads — profiling and optimizing across the stack, from the API layer down to the Linux kernel
Partner with teams across the platform to design and evolve next-generation compute and storage architectures
Set the technical direction for how content is organized across Databricks, standardizing around filesystem primitives that apply to every product surface
What We’re Looking For
Bachelor's degree (or higher) in Computer Science or a related field
5+ years of production-level experience in Java, Scala, C++, Go, Rust, or a similar language
3+ years of experience developing large-scale distributed systems
Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, or MicroVM technologies (e.g., Firecracker) and a strong grasp of cloud provider internals (AWS/Azure/GCP).
You aren't just a user of tools; you understand how to build them from the ground up when existing solutions fail at our scale.
Experience with filesystems and FUSE
Experience building object/blob storage (S3, Azure Blob Storage, GCS etc)
Systems performance engineering across microservices, down to the Linux level
Background in high-scale content, storage, or file-sync products
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilizing the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here .
Local Pay Range $166,000 — $225,000 USD
About Databricks
Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn , X , YouTube , and Instagram .
Benefits
At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here .
Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics.
Compliance
If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.