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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

IonQ

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$122K - $167K/yr

We are looking for a deeply hands-on Senior Distributed Systems Engineer to join the team building IonQ's Network and Security Platform. You will own the backend services - ingestion pipelines ...

IonQ

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$122K - $167K/yr

We are looking for a deeply hands-on Senior Distributed Systems Engineer to join the team building IonQ's Network and Security Platform. You will own the backend services - ingestion pipelines ...

Loxo

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

$107K - $146K/yr

Distributed Systems Engineer to Build the Future of Enterprise AI SaaS Location: Remote (US time zones preferred) | Full-time Are you a distributed systems wizard who dreams of architecting the ...

Archil

Sr. Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$123K - $168K/yr

As a distributed systems engineer, you'll work across the stack to solve problems and help build Archil volumes, with significant influence over the technical and product direction. Responsibilities ...

Archil

Sr. Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$123K - $168K/yr

Role As a distributed systems engineer, you'll work across the stack to solve problems as they come up and help build Archil volumes. You'll have significant influence over the technical and product ...

Airship

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

$145K - $165K/yr

About the Role We're looking for a distributed systems engineer to expand the reach and effectiveness of our small Shared Services team. The ideal candidate uses their skills, experience, and ...

Jobgether

$190K - $300K/yr

The Senior Distributed Systems Software Engineer will design highly reliable backend systems focused on real-time data synchronization, streaming, and cloud-native architectures. Working on complex ...

Kwil

Distributed Systems Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$100K - $200K/yr

Kwil Distributed Systems Engineer Kwil is a decentralized SQL database, built to enable advanced dApps and scalable composability.Backed by FTX Ventures, Blockchange, AlleyCorp, Amplify Partners, DCG ...

Kwil

Distributed Systems Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$100K - $200K/yr

Kwil Distributed Systems Engineer Kwil is a decentralized SQL database, built to enable advanced dApps and scalable composability. Backed by FTX Ventures, Blockchange, AlleyCorp, Amplify Partners ...

Kwil

Distributed Systems Engineer

Austin, TX

$100K - $200K/yr

Kwil Distributed Systems Engineer Kwil is a decentralized SQL database, built to enable advanced dApps and scalable composability.Backed by FTX Ventures, Blockchange, AlleyCorp, Amplify Partners, DCG ...

Archil

Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

As a Distributed Systems Engineer, you will work across the stack to solve problems, build capabilities in a storage service, and design interactions in distributed systems. Responsibilities : • Be ...

ThisWay

Distributed Systems Engineer

ThisWay Global is looking for a Distributed Systems Engineer in a remote role within the United States. ThisWay Global, Inc. is an AI-first technology company headquartered in Texas, operating at the ...

Tensorlake

Distributed Systems Engineer

They are seeking experienced Distributed Systems Engineers to build core infrastructure for their durable application runtime, focusing on advanced data processing and machine learning workflows.

MLabs

Distributed Systems Engineer

$180K - $300K/yr

Systems Programming: Advanced proficiency in Rust and strong systems programming experience. * Distributed Systems: Extensive experience building or operating distributed systems with real-world ...

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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer information

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$56K

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$176K

How much do senior distributed systems engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 1, 2026, the average yearly pay for senior distributed systems engineer in the United States is $124,732.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $104,500.00 and $143,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is the difference between Senior Distributed Systems Engineer vs Cloud Solutions Architect?

AspectSenior Distributed Systems EngineerCloud Solutions Architect
CredentialsBachelor's/Master's in CS or related, experience with distributed systemsBachelor's/Master's in CS, IT, or related, cloud certifications (AWS, Azure)
Work EnvironmentDesigning, developing, and maintaining distributed systems in tech companiesDesigning cloud infrastructure solutions for clients or internal teams
Industry UsageTech, finance, e-commerce, and enterprise sectorsIT consulting, cloud service providers, enterprise IT departments

The Senior Distributed Systems Engineer focuses on building and optimizing distributed computing systems, while the Cloud Solutions Architect designs cloud infrastructure solutions. Both roles require technical expertise and often overlap in cloud environments, but their primary responsibilities differ in scope and focus.

What engineer makes $500,000 a year?

Senior Distributed Systems Engineers can earn $500,000 or more annually, especially with extensive experience, specialized skills in cloud infrastructure, and leadership roles. Compensation often includes base salary, bonuses, and stock options in large tech companies or startups with high growth potential.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer, and why are they important?

A Senior Distributed Systems Engineer requires deep expertise in computer science fundamentals, scalable system architecture, and proficiency in programming languages such as Java, Go, or Python, often supported by a relevant degree and significant experience in distributed systems. Familiarity with tools like Kubernetes, Docker, Kafka, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) is typically expected, along with knowledge of monitoring and CI/CD pipelines. Strong problem-solving, communication, and leadership skills help in tackling complex engineering challenges and collaborating across teams. These skills are crucial for designing robust, scalable, and reliable systems that support organizational growth and high availability.

What engineers make $200,000 a year?

Senior distributed systems engineers often earn $200,000 or more annually, especially with extensive experience, advanced skills in cloud computing, and expertise in scalable architecture. Compensation can vary based on industry, location, and company size, with some roles in tech giants or specialized fields reaching or exceeding this level.

What are some common challenges Senior Distributed Systems Engineers face when designing scalable systems?

Senior Distributed Systems Engineers often encounter challenges such as managing data consistency, ensuring fault tolerance, and minimizing latency across multiple nodes. Balancing trade-offs between availability and partition tolerance (as outlined by the CAP theorem) is a frequent consideration. Additionally, coordinating between development and operations teams to maintain system reliability and efficiently resolve issues that arise in production environments is crucial. Strong communication skills and a deep understanding of distributed architectures help address these complexities effectively.

What are Senior Distributed Systems Engineers?

Senior Distributed Systems Engineers are experienced professionals who design, build, and maintain large-scale computing systems that run across multiple machines or locations. They focus on ensuring reliability, scalability, and performance of distributed applications, often dealing with challenges like data consistency, fault tolerance, and network latency. These engineers typically have deep expertise in distributed computing principles, programming languages, and cloud infrastructure. They also mentor junior team members and help architect robust solutions for complex technical problems.

What engineers make $300,000 a year?

Senior distributed systems engineers, software engineers in specialized fields like cloud infrastructure, and senior engineers with extensive experience and advanced skills can earn $300,000 or more annually. High compensation often depends on expertise in areas such as distributed architecture, performance optimization, and familiarity with tools like Kubernetes and cloud platforms, along with relevant certifications and a strong track record of project delivery.

Is L5 at Google Senior?

L5 at Google typically corresponds to a senior-level engineering role, often called Software Engineer II or equivalent, with significant experience and technical expertise. It is considered a mid-to-senior level position, with responsibilities including project leadership and mentorship. Advancement to higher levels generally requires demonstrated impact and leadership in projects.
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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer jobs near you
Infographic showing various Senior Distributed Systems Engineer job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 98% Full Time, 1% Part Time, and 1% Contract. Highlights an 94% Physical, 1% Hybrid, and 5% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $124,732 per year, or $60 per hour.

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence)

Sunnyvale, CA • On-site

$122K - $166K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 10 days ago

Job description

Job Summary:
MBZUAI (Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence) is focused on designing and operating ultra-scale GPU supercomputing systems for training foundation models. The Senior Distributed Systems Engineer will optimize communication stacks for large-scale distributed training, ensuring performance and reliability across GPU workloads.
Responsibilities:
• Design and optimize expert-parallel and hybrid-parallel communication patterns
• Drive high-performance hierarchical collectives for MoE workloads
• Co-design runtime orchestration with communication topology awareness
• Reduce tail latency and improve determinism across thousands of GPUs
• Architect fault-tolerant distributed execution under real-world cluster failures
• Communication-compute overlap and topology-aware collective optimization
• Deep debugging of NCCL, RDMA, and custom communication layers
• Hybrid expert parallel strategies in modern large-scale MoE systems
• Elastic and resilient distributed job orchestration concepts
• Congestion analysis and routing optimization across InfiniBand/RoCE fabrics
• Microbenchmarking and performance modeling for communication-heavy workloads
• Hybrid expert parallel communication for Mixture-of-Experts training
• Scaling behavior under network pressure
• Distributed orchestration for elastic, large-scale training
• Fault detection and recovery in distributed GPU workloads
• Cross-layer bottlenecks: GPU ↔ NIC ↔ PCIe ↔ NVSwitch ↔ Fabric ↔ Scheduler
Qualifications:
Required:
• Experience optimizing distributed training at 1,000+ GPU scale (or equivalent depth)
• Hands-on expertise with RDMA, InfiniBand, RoCE, and GPUDirect RDMA
• Deep familiarity with NCCL and/or UCX internals
• Strong systems programming ability (C/C++, Rust, or Go)
• Strong familiarity with modern model training frameworks such as PyTorch
• Ability to troubleshoot and profile training performance issues related to communication bottlenecks
• Ability to translate research ideas into production-grade optimizations
• Experience debugging distributed hangs, desynchronization, and performance regressions
• Include a link to your GitHub (required)
• Provide links to relevant distributed systems, HPC, or large-scale training projects
• Include a list of publications and/or public technical reports (if applicable)
• Describe the hardest distributed debugging problem you solved
• Include measurable performance improvements you have delivered
• Master’s, or Bachelor’s + 1 year of relevant experience.
Company:
Official account of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence. Dedicated to research, innovation, and empowering brilliant minds in AI. Founded in 2019, the company is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, ARE, with a team of 51-200 employees. The company is currently Growth Stage.

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