Hotdata, Inc Sr. Backend Engineer San Francisco, CA · Full time Company website

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Hotdata is an early-stage, VC-backed startup building data infrastructure for AI agents.

Traditional databases were designed for applications and analytics. AI agents introduce fundamentally different workloads: thousands of concurrent agents creating, querying, and interacting with data dynamically, often at unpredictable scale.

We're building a new data layer designed for this shift, with a focus on high-performance query execution, efficient storage, and scalable database infrastructure.

Our technology is built on Rust, Apache DataFusion, Apache Arrow, Parquet, and cloud-native infrastructure. We're a small team of experienced engineers working on challenging problems at the intersection of database internals, distributed systems, and AI infrastructure.

Location: San Francisco Bay Area (Hybrid or In-Office)

Experience: 7–10 years

Company Stage: Stealth, VC-backed

Employment Type: Full-time

About The Role

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer who has deep experience in data platforms, distributed systems, and backend infrastructure. You will drive the design and implementation of core services that power our query engine - from ingestion to indexing to execution.

This role is ideal for someone who loves building low-latency systems, designing clean abstractions, and moving fast in a small team where your architectural decisions have outsized impact.

What You’ll Do

• Design and build backend services for serverless query engine
• Work with technologies such as Apache Arrow, DataFusion, and cloud-native infra
• Architect scalable APIs for agent and application developers
• Build ingestion and metadata systems for structured datasets (databases, warehouses, SaaS sources)
• Own reliability, performance, and observability for core services
• Collaborate closely with founders on roadmap, technical choices, and customer needs
• Contribute to an engineering culture centered around speed, quality, and ownership

What You Bring

• 7–10 years experience in backend engineering
• Strong background in data infrastructure, distributed systems, query engines, or developer tools
• Experience with at least some of: Rust, Go, Python, Arrow, DataFusion, Postgres, cloud-native infra, serverless architectures
• Deep understanding of performance, concurrency, and scalable system design
• Product instincts and desire to work directly with early users
• Ownership mindset - comfortable shipping fast, and iterating

Bonus Experience

• Worked on databases, data engines, OLAP systems, or streaming systems
• Experience with vector search, embeddings, or retrieval systems
• Experience contributing to open source systems like Arrow/DataFusion
• Early-stage startup experience building 0→1 systems

Why Join Us

• Shape the core architecture of a breakthrough AI+data infrastructure company
• Work directly with world-class engineers and advisors
• Ownership and autonomy in an early, high-caliber team
• Competitive salary + meaningful equity
• Build technology that will power the next generation of intelligent systems and autonomous agents