Database Research Scientist

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States, +4 more countries.

📋 Description

• Perform applied research to enhance the performance, scalability, reliability, and capabilities of open-source database management systems, such as ClickHouse and PostgreSQL.

• Create and assess algorithms, data structures, and system architectures aimed at query optimization, indexing, storage management, query execution, and distributed data management.

• Build research prototypes and high-quality production implementations.

• Collaborate with engineering teams to incorporate successful methodologies into both open-source and production systems.

• Partner with database engine, infrastructure, and data-plane engineers to pinpoint significant research challenges.

• Examine large-scale database workloads, performance traces, benchmarks, and production telemetry to uncover bottlenecks and optimization prospects.

• Design experiments and benchmarks across realistic workloads, hardware configurations, and deployment environments.

• Convey research findings through technical reports, contributions to open-source projects, internal presentations, and publications in top-tier database and systems conferences.

• Recognize emerging research opportunities and assist in shaping long-term research projects for ClickHouse Labs.

• Explore performance and scalability limitations in production-quality systems and create new algorithms and system designs.

• Work with open-source database systems like ClickHouse and PostgreSQL.

⛳️ Requirements

• Master’s/Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related discipline, with research experience in databases, distributed systems, systems software, or machine learning systems.

• Strong publication history in prominent peer-reviewed research forums such as SIGMOD, VLDB, SOSP, OSDI, NSDI, or NeurIPS, focusing on databases or systems.

• Solid programming and systems-development experience, including familiarity with database internals or extensive codebases of large systems like PostgreSQL, MySQL, ClickHouse, or similar modern DBMSs.

• Expertise in systems programming using C, C++, Rust, Zig, or another comparable low-level programming language.

• Excellent analytical, experimental, problem-solving, and technical communication abilities.

• Experience in developing or managing database systems within cloud environments such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.

• Knowledge of large language models, reinforcement learning, learned optimization, or other machine learning and systems methodologies.

• Experience contributing to substantial open-source projects, particularly in database engines, distributed systems, compilers, or storage systems.

• Familiarity with formal specification or model-checking frameworks like TLA+/PlusCal, Alloy, or Lean.

• Acquainted with LLVM, eBPF, Python, Go, advanced profiling and debugging tools, perf, sanitizers, or tracing frameworks.

• Demonstrated success in optimizing database systems through hardware acceleration techniques such as GPU, FPGA, or CXL, utilizing CUDA, SYCL, ROCm, or specialized FPGA development workflows.

🏝️ Benefits

• Employer contributions towards healthcare.

• Stock options/equity in the company.

• Flexible time off in the US.

• Generous vacation entitlement in other countries.

• USD$500 home office setup allowance for remote employees.

• Opportunities to connect with colleagues during company-wide offsites.

• Flexible work environment.

• Remote-friendly work arrangement.