Principal Engineer, Data Path Metadata Performance (StorageGRID)

Job Summary

NetApp is pioneering object storageS3-compatible software-defined storage that powers the exponential growth of AI data lakes analytics and exabyte-scale enterprise data. As a Principal Engineer for Datapath / Performance you will own the architecture and technical direction of the StorageGRID S3 data path and its end-to-end performance.

This role is ideal for a deeply hands-on technical leader who thrives at the intersection of distributed systems storage internals and high-scale performance engineering. You will set the bar for a mission-critical product deployed at hundreds of nodes and exabytes of capacity across the worlds largest enterprises and hyperscalers.

Role Overview

As a Principal Engineer on the StorageGRID team you will be the technical authority for the S3 data path including metadata and performance. You will define the architectural north star for how StorageGRID moves and serves data and resolve the hardest performance and scaling problems affecting AI data lakes.

At the Principal level the role requires exceptional hands-on technical depth sound architectural judgment and the ability to influence direction across engineering QA product management and field teams.

• Datapath Architecture
• Own the architecture and technical implementation of the StorageGRID S3 data path from ingest/retrieve/delete to metadata storage to the on-disk replicated/erasure-coded data flow.
• Lead performance analysis benchmarking then identify performance improvements and deliver.
• Design for scale and geo-distributionmulti-site cross-grid replication and global/federated namespace behavior at hundreds of nodes and exabyte scale
• Drive large cross-cutting data path initiatives from architecture through implementation validation and release readiness
• Hands-On Technical Leadership
• Stay deep in the code and the hardest bugs; set the technical bar through high-quality design reviews root-cause analysis and pragmatic engineering standards
• Lead StorageGRID designs and drive architectural alignment across data path engineering.

• 12 years of experience in systems storage distributed systems or performance engineering with a track record of technical leadership
• Strong hands-on programming skills in one or more of C/C Go or Python and experience debugging distributed software in Linux-based environments
• Built or owned an object storage system S3 implementation or large-scale distributed storage/database product including request data path data placement replication/erasure coding consistency and failure handling
• Experience with Apache Cassandra or comparable distributed databases at scale
• Proven ability to influence technical direction across teams without direct authority
• Mentor Senior and MTS engineers on data path internals performance optimization distributed-systems design and debugging practices
• Collaborate with quality engineering product management supportability support and field teams to translate customer requirements into data path and performance improvements

Nice to Have Qualifications

• Experience with S3 protocol semantics (multipart versioning Object Lock/WORM) and the data path implications of the API contract
• Experience with load balancing network storage media (NVMe/SSD/HDD) and x86 hardware
• Experience with AI-assisted development and observability tooling for analysis debugging testing and documentation