Principal Software Engineer - SQL/Query Team

Location: Campbell
Posted on: June 23, 2025

Job Description:

As industries race to embrace AI, traditional database solutions fall short of rising demands for versatility, performance, and affordability. Couchbase is leading the way with Capella, the developer data platform for critical applications in our AI world. By uniting transactional, analytical, mobile, and AI workloads into a seamless, fully managed solution, Couchbase empowers developers and enterprises to build and scale applications with unmatched flexibility, performance, and cost-efficiency—from cloud to edge. Trusted by over 30% of the Fortune 100, Couchbase is unlocking innovation, accelerating AI transformation, and redefining customer experiences. Come join our mission. Principal Software Engineer – SQL/Query Team About Couchbase: Couchbase is a leader in NoSQL database technology, providing a high-performance, flexible, and scalable database platform for mission-critical applications. Role Overview: As a Principal Software Engineer on the SQL/Query team, you will play a pivotal role in designing, developing, and optimizing the SQL query language and its execution engine. Collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, you will ensure the delivery of robust and high-performance database solutions. Key Responsibilities: • Design & Development: Architect and implement new features and enhancements for the SQL query processor and related components with AI first mindset. • Performance Tuning: Analyze and optimize query performance, ensuring low latency and high throughput for complex queries. • Collaboration: Work closely with product management, quality assurance, and other engineering teams to deliver cohesive and innovative solutions. • Mentorship: Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior engineers, fostering a culture of learning and excellence. Qualifications : • Experience: Extensive experience in database internals, query processing, and optimization. Prior experience with SQL and NoSQL databases is highly desirable. • Technical Skills: Proficiency in programming languages such as C, C++ or Go. Strong understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems. • Education: Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science or a related field. Leadership: Proven track record of leading complex projects and delivering high-quality software solutions. The anticipated starting base pay range for this role is listed below. Base salary is not the only component of our competitive total rewards package - you may also be eligible for bonus, commissions, equity, and other benefits as described below. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. Base Pay Range $204,000 - $239,000 USD Why Couchbase? Modern customer experiences need a flexible cloud database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase’s mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers– all with best-in-class price performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications and build innovative new ones. See our recent awards to learn why Couchbase is a great place to work.We are honored to be a part of the Best Places to Work Award for the Bay Area and the UK. Couchbase offers a total rewards approach to benefits that recognizes the value you create here, so that you in turn may best serve yourself and your family. Some benefits include: • Generous Time Off Program - Flexibility to care for you and your family • Wellness Benefits - A variety of world class medical plans to choose from, along with dental, vision, life insurance, and employee assistance programs* • Financial Planning - RSU equity program*, ESPP program*, Retirement program* and Business Travel Insurance • Career Growth - Be valued, Create value approach • Fun Perks - An ergonomic and comfortable in-office / WFH setup. Food & Snacks for in-office employees. • And much more!

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