Software Engineer - Query Language

About the role

Join the Data, Identity, and API Platform group to build the core telemetry database technology powering New Relic. You will manage the full lifecycle of our query language, including parsing, compilation, and execution within a distributed system. In this capacity, you will own the design decisions that shape how telemetry data is queried and analyzed across the platform. The role requires you to balance performance, correctness, and scalability in a production environment that serves critical customer insights. You will work closely with architects to ensure the query language aligns with the broader data and infrastructure strategy. This position places emphasis on maintaining and extending the foundational components that make real-time analysis possible. You will be responsible for translating product requirements into robust implementations that can withstand demanding operational conditions. The work directly impacts the reliability and capabilities of New Relic's observability platform for enterprise customers.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Maintain and improve the New Relic query language stack from low-level parsing to distributed execution.
• Collaborate with AI, visualization, and data processing teams to evolve language capabilities in response to customer needs.
• Develop and support distributed Java services that operate at petabyte-scale infrastructure volumes.
• Troubleshoot performance and availability issues within a multi-region, multi-cloud, and multi-tenant database environment.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to ensure system reliability and uptime for mission-critical telemetry queries.
• Design and implement query execution plans that optimize resource usage across heterogeneous cloud infrastructures.
• Partner with product managers to refine the grammar and semantics of the query language through iterative improvements.
• Build robust test suites and validation frameworks to ensure correctness across different deployment scenarios.
• Document system behavior and interfaces to support knowledge sharing and long-term maintainability.
• Mentor junior engineers on best practices for writing efficient and maintainable query processing code.

Requirements

• 3+ years of professional software development experience in roles that involve complex software systems.
• Strong knowledge of computer science fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, and computational complexity.
• Proficiency in Java or equivalent object-oriented languages like C++ or C# for implementing core platform components.
• Ability to perform deep-level debugging and system maintenance using command-line tools in production environments.
• Proven track record of taking ownership of code and honoring project commitments in a fast-paced setting.
• Experience writing distributed applications that handle concurrency, fault tolerance, and network partitions.
• Comfort with reading and modifying large, existing codebases that span multiple services and repositories.
• Understanding of database internals and query execution concepts, even if not specific to SQL systems.

Nice to have

• Experience with 24/7 SaaS operations and the associated on-call responsibilities.
• Background in distributed systems, database implementation, or query language design and optimization.
• Familiarity with public cloud providers such as AWS, Azure, or GCP and their core service offerings.
• Knowledge of containerization tools like Docker and orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes.
• Experience with observability platforms or asynchronous collaboration practices in global, multi-team environments.
• Exposure to performance tuning and capacity planning for data-intensive applications.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code practices and version-controlled configuration management.

Skills & tools

• Java
• Distributed Systems
• Query Language Parsing/Compilation
• Multi-cloud Infrastructure
• Kubernetes
• Docker

Practical notes

• Visa sponsorship is not available for this position.
• Employment requires a criminal background check and identity verification before final onboarding.
• Benefits include healthcare, dental, vision, 401(k) with match, parental leave, mental health support, and flexible time-off policies.
• An export compliance assessment may be required for this role based on location and technology context.
• For reasonable accommodations during the application process, contact resume@newrelic.com to discuss available options.
• The position is based in the Portland, Oregon, region with flexible remote or hybrid arrangements as defined by team policies.
• Successful candidates must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship for this role.
• The compensation range reflects the base salary band along with a corporate bonus plan that may vary by individual and company performance.
• This role involves frequent interaction with distributed systems that require resilience under varying load and failure conditions.
• You will engage in continuous learning to keep pace with evolving technologies in the telemetry and observability space.
• The on-call schedule ensures that critical issues can be addressed promptly, supporting global customer demands at any hour.
• This position contributes directly to the reliability and accuracy of insights that customers depend on for business decisions.
• The team emphasizes ownership, collaboration, and transparency in how query language features are delivered and maintained.
• You will have opportunities to influence technical direction through active participation in design reviews and architecture discussions.
• The role supports career growth by encouraging contributions to open source-like internal tools and shared libraries.
• Communication skills are essential, as you will articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• The environment values experimentation and data-driven decisions to improve the query language and its execution engine.
• You will work with cross-functional partners to ensure that language enhancements meet security, compliance, and operational standards.
• The position requires adaptability, as priorities may shift based on customer feedback and market demands in the observability sector.
• Overall, this role provides the chance to build foundational infrastructure that scales across global deployments and diverse cloud environments.