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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Zanskar

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Salt Lake City, UT · Hybrid

$101K - $138K/yr

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer Hours : Full-Time, Salaried Location : Salt Lake City, UT, Hybrid Benefits Eligible : Yes Manager : Head of Reservoir R&D Why we exist Geothermal energy is the ...

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Airship

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

$107K - $146K/yr

They are seeking a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer to improve the efficiency and reliability of their large-scale distributed data system, focusing on performance enhancements and architectural ...

IonQ

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Santa Clara, CA

$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 ...

Censys

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

$174K - $206K/yr

Role Summary: We're looking to hire a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer on our Internet Map Connections team to build highly-available and scalable, data-driven services that provide value directly ...

Censys

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

$174K - $206K/yr

Role Summary: We're looking to hire a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer on our Internet Map Connections team to build highly-available and scalable, data-driven services that provide value directly ...

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 ...

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 ...

Webhosting

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

$140 - $220/hr

Our culture is built on iteration, Role Summary We are looking for a talented Distributed Systems Engineer to join the Data Localization team. The team builds the infrastructure that enforces where ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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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 22, 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 a senior distributed systems engineer?

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 are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a senior distributed systems engineer?

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 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 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.

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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 August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 85% Full Time, 9% Part Time, 4% Contract, and 1% Nights. Highlights an 88% Physical, 3% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $124,732 per year, or $60 per hour.

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Zanskar

Salt Lake City, UT • Hybrid

$101K - $138K/yr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 4 days ago

Job description

Senior Distributed Systems Engineer   Role Overview 

Title: Senior Distributed Systems Engineer

Hours: Full-Time, Salaried

Location: Salt Lake City, UT, Hybrid

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Manager: Head of Reservoir R&D

Why we exist

Geothermal energy is the most abundant renewable energy source in the world. There is 2,300 times more energy in geothermal heat in the ground than in oil, gas, coal, and methane combined. However, historically it's been hard to find and expensive to develop. At Zanskar, we're using better technology to find and develop new geothermal resources in order to make geothermal a cheap and vital contributor to a carbon-free electrical grid. We are revolutionizing the exploration process, setting new industry standards for discovery rates and finding new prospects at an unprecedented scale. To reduce risk and improve outcomes, we rely on novel software and machine learning modeling.

Who you are

The Senior Distributed Systems Engineer will play a critical role developing and maintaining Zanskar's next-generation multi-physics well-targeting engine. A successful candidate will:

  • Lead - you will be a trusted leader who can both design and deliver a reliable distributed compute system that meets the ongoing needs of our scientific research teams.
  • Learn - you will be entering a team with an existing system in place that needs to grow and scale. You will learn the domain from your peers as you identify how to migrate the system for scale and reliability.
  • Collaborate - you won't just be working with people like yourself. You'll be working with some of the most brilliant geophysicists, geoscientists, seismologists and engineers tackling the challenges of geothermal discovery. Collaborating with your peers to solve hard problems is the name of the game.
  • Teach - you will bring critical skills and experience that should be taught to others. You will have the opportunity (and education) to help others better understand your craft as a distributed systems engineer, while you learn from them their craft in modeling the earth's subsurface.
What we're looking for
  • Minimum 7+ years experience in software engineering in a business environment, ideally with a heavy scientific component.
  • Experience leading the design and implementation of distributed computing systems.
  • Proven technical skills:
    • Experience with the development of fault-tolerant, resilient event-driven architectures, and building and managing orchestration systems to massively scale cloud-based workloads (serverless, Kubernetes, and/or custom VM fleets).
    • Experience defining and developing persistent data storage for digital artifacts, both with RDBMS and cloud blob storage at scale.
    • Experience ensuring system observability through logging, monitoring, alerting and metrics.
    • Familiarity with software engineering best practices: CI/CD (GitHub Actions or similar), version control (GitHub), containerization (Docker) and Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi).
    • Experience architecting, permissioning and maintaining cloud resources (GCP, AWS).
    • Fluency in Python and SQL are required.
    • Experience with any of the following is a plus: experiment tracking, optimization methods, applied algorithm development, reinforcement learning and other AI/ML techniques, web development, and familiarity with geoscience concepts and applications.
Location and Benefits
  • The position is based out of our headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a hybrid position
  • Benefits include:
    • Paid holidays
    • 15 days PTO + PTO accrual increase based on tenure
    • Medical, dental and vision coverage
    • 401k
    • Stock options
    • Growth opportunities at a company with a direct impact in displacing carbon emissions
Equal Opportunity Employer

Zanskar is an equal-opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practice laws.

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