Staff Software Engineer

About the role

As a Staff Engineer on the Spark Job Manager and Starburst Enterprise team, you will own critical backend and platform components that orchestrate distributed compute (Spark, Trino) for enterprise customers. You will lead the design and implementation of JVM-based services and the surrounding infrastructure: Kubernetes deployments, Docker image strategy, CI/CD automation, AWS integrations, and secure enterprise authentication flows. This is a staff-level role requiring architectural leadership, cross-team influence, and long-term platform ownership.

As a Staff Software Engineer at Starburst, you will:

• Own critical backend and platform components that orchestrate distributed compute (Spark, Trino) for enterprise customers.
• Lead the design and implementation of JVM-based services and the surrounding infrastructure, including Kubernetes deployments, Docker image strategy, CI/CD automation, AWS integrations, and secure enterprise authentication flows.
• Provide architectural leadership, cross-team influence, and long-term platform ownership.

Some of the things we look for:

• Deep Backend Engineering & Distributed Systems:
• 8+ years of professional backend experience, with strong expertise in Java (primary and required) and production experience building JVM-based services.
• Experience designing and operating distributed systems in production. Working with Spark, Trino/Presto, or comparable distributed compute engines is a strong plus.
• Extensive experience designing and evolving RESTful APIs, including validation, error modeling, pagination, filtering, backward-compatible versioning, and OpenAPI documentation.
• Infrastructure & Operations:
• Hands-on production experience with Kubernetes (authoring manifests/Helm charts) and strong Docker experience (multi-stage builds, image optimization, security best practices).
• Experience owning CI/CD for complex Java codebases, using GitHub Actions (preferred) or Jenkins.
• Practical AWS experience with S3 (or S3-compatible object storage), IAM roles/policies, and AWS SSO.
• Familiarity with secure authentication mechanisms: OAuth2 / OIDC, token-based auth, and session management.
• Experience implementing Metrics (Prometheus preferred), Distributed tracing (OpenTelemetry), and structured logging for JVM services is a plus.
• Staff-Level Impact:
• Proven experience leading architecture across multiple services or systems.
• Demonstrated ability to drive cross-team RFCs, break down ambiguous problems, influence engineering standards, and raise the technical bar through code reviews and mentorship.
• Own long-term platform health, not just feature delivery.
• Highly Preferred Experience:
• Experience building job orchestration platforms.
• Experience working in enterprise / B2B environments.
• Strong Python skills for automation and tooling.
• Experience running systems in hybrid or on-prem environments.
• Collaboration on open-source projects is a strong plus.
• Ability to Travel: This role will require 25% in-person travel for purposes including but not limited to new hire onboarding, team and department offsites, customer engagements, and other company events. Actual travel expectations may vary by role and business needs.

Where could this role be based?

• This role is based in our Warsaw office and follows a hybrid model, with an expectation of being onsite 2-3 days per week.

Salary ranges: 440,000 - 540,000 PLN anually

Build your career at Starburst

Our global workforce is supported by a competitive Total Rewards program that reflects our commitment to a rewarding and supportive work environment. This includes a variety of benefits like competitive pay, attractive stock grants, flexible paid time off, and more.