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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

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.

Kwil

Distributed Systems Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

Kwil is a decentralized SQL database company looking for a Distributed Systems Engineer to support the development of distributed SQL database nodes. The role involves collaborating with the ...

Moment Technology

Distributed Systems Engineer

New York, NY · On-site

$200K - $400K/yr

Distributed Systems Engineer Build the future of investment management with us The infrastructure managing $300 trillion in assets was built in the 90s. Now, all of it is up for grabs. The winner of ...

Moment

Distributed Systems Engineer

Manhattan, NY · On-site

... distributed systems at scale, event-driven pipelines, and data platforms that have to perform under the weight of the financial world. • Work closely with engineering leadership and across the team ...

Archil

Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

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 ...

The Consensus

Experience with high-scale distributed systems * Experience leading teams and mentoring more junior developers * Familiarity with Typescript and a relevant frontend framework (e.g. React) * You've ...

IonQ

Senior Staff Distributed Systems Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$122K - $167K/yr

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

Fluidstack

Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$208K - $269K/yr

Distributed systems and data pipeline engineering. Time-series observability stacks (Prometheus, Thanos, VictoriaMetrics). API design and versioning at scale. Workflow and orchestration engines ...

Axiom

Distributed Systems Engineer

New York, NY · On-site +1

$125K - $250K/yr

The Role We are looking for a distributed systems engineer to join a startup using zero-knowledge proofs to scale smart contract applications. You will be responsible for building Rust-based rollup ...

Fluidstack

Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$175K - $300K/yr

Distributed systems and data pipeline engineering. Time-series observability stacks (Prometheus, Thanos, VictoriaMetrics). API design and versioning at scale. Workflow and orchestration engines ...

TecTammina

Distributed Systems Engineer

Portland, OR · On-site

... engineering practices like unit testing, profiling and effective logging. Experience in functional/scaleable languages (Scala preferred, Python, R may be considered) Experience delivering distributed ...

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Senior Distributed Systems Engineer information

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

As of Sep 14, 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 September 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% Internship, 1% As Needed, 85% Full Time, 10% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 85% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 13% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $124,732 per year, or $60 per hour.

Distributed Systems Engineer

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Dedalus Labs
See more jobs at Dedalus Labsexternal

$170K - $250K/yr

Full-time

Posted 5 days ago

Job description

Distributed Systems Engineer @ Dedalus Labs
Mission
Dedalus Labs is an AI research neolab building infrastructure for AI agents.
We're building the persistent compute layer that powers the next generation of autonomous software. Our platform spans distributed storage, virtualization, orchestration, networking, scheduling, and runtime infrastructure for long-running AI agents.
We're looking for engineers who enjoy designing systems that continue working long after individual machines fail.
You might be a fit if you
  • Think distributed systems are one of computer science's most beautiful subjects.
  • Care deeply about consistency, fault tolerance, and system correctness.
  • Enjoy designing systems before writing them.
  • Think latency, throughput, and reliability are all product features.
  • Read systems papers because they're genuinely interesting.
  • Have strong opinions about storage engines, consensus algorithms, scheduling, or distributed architecture.
  • Believe simple systems are usually harder to build than complicated ones.
  • Think every abstraction has a cost.
  • Measure before optimizing, then optimize relentlessly.
  • View infrastructure as a product for other engineers.
  • Are high agency and fiercely independent.
  • Say how things ought to be built, then build them.
  • Are a competitive teammate with a heart of gold.
  • Are hungry to learn, improve, and reflect deeply on feedback.
  • Go above and beyond in everything you do.

What you'll build
  • Distributed infrastructure for large-scale AI agent workloads.
  • Persistent compute and distributed storage systems.
  • Scheduling and orchestration platforms.
  • Virtualization and sandboxing infrastructure.
  • Reliable multi-tenant cloud systems.
  • Internal developer platforms and infrastructure tooling.
  • Production systems operating under real-world scale, latency, and fault tolerance constraints.

Representative Projects
You might find yourself working on problems like:
  • Designing distributed storage systems for persistent agent state.
  • Building scheduling infrastructure that efficiently allocates compute across thousands of concurrent agents.
  • Improving reliability and fault tolerance across distributed infrastructure.
  • Designing virtualization and isolation systems for secure multi-tenant execution.
  • Optimizing bottlenecks across networking, storage, scheduling, and runtime layers.
  • Building infrastructure that makes operating AI agents dramatically simpler for developers.

What we look for
  • Strong systems programming ability in Rust (preferred), Go, C/C++, or similar languages.
  • Deep understanding of distributed systems, operating systems, and concurrent programming.
  • Experience building distributed systems in industry, research, or open source.
  • Strong engineering judgment around performance, scalability, reliability, and debugging.
  • Experience with Kubernetes and modern cloud infrastructure.
  • Ability to design systems that remain reliable under production workloads.
  • High agency and excellent engineering judgment.

Nice-to-have
  • Experience with distributed storage systems.
  • Familiarity with consistency models, consensus algorithms, or replication protocols.
  • Experience with virtualization, hypervisors, containers, or Firecracker.
  • Kernel, operating systems, or low-level runtime experience.
  • Experience operating infrastructure at production scale.
  • Published systems research (NSDI, OSDI, SOSP, EuroSys, ATC, etc.).
  • Contributions to systems-focused open-source projects.
  • Experience with performance engineering and systems optimization.

Taste
You know the difference between a distributed system that works and one that continues working when everything goes wrong.
You care about elegant architecture, principled engineering tradeoffs, and building infrastructure that engineers trust.
Logistics
  • In person in San Francisco.
  • We sponsor visas.
  • Relocation support available.
  • Competitive salary and meaningful equity.
  • Meals and office benefits included.

Tips
The first thing we look at is your GitHub.
Show us distributed systems you've built. Open-source infrastructure. Research. Storage engines. Schedulers. Consensus implementations. Infrastructure you've operated in production. Technical writing.
We care far more about systems you've built than years on your résumé.

Apply