Software Engineering Manager, Database (SmithDB)
$240k - $300k • San Francisco, CA • FullTime
Posted 2mo ago
About the job
LangChain is seeking a hands-on Engineering Manager to lead the SmithDB team, responsible for building a storage and query layer purpose-built for AI observability and evaluation. This role is a blend of technical leadership and people management, requiring the individual to write production code, review PRs at the systems level, and make architectural decisions, while also owning team health, hiring, and the technical roadmap. The ideal candidate possesses deep systems or database engineering experience and a passion for staying technical while growing a team, contributing to a greenfield system with significant production load and ambitious engineering goals.
Responsibilities
- Write and review production Rust code for ingestion, query execution, and storage layers.
- Lead architectural decisions for storage format, compaction, indexing, and query planning.
- Drive performance investigations and implement fixes using profiling tools.
- Design and harden distributed deployment of SmithDB services on Kubernetes.
- Contribute to cloud object store integrations (S3, GCS, Azure Blob) and manage data at rest and in flight.
- Build and maintain observability for the engine, including metrics, tracing, and debug tooling.
- Manage a team of systems engineers, including setting goals, conducting 1:1s, and providing technical mentorship.
- Own the SmithDB technical roadmap in partnership with product and engineering leadership.
- Communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to the broader organization.
Requirements
- 7+ years in systems or database engineering, with at least 2 years in a technical lead or engineering management role.
- Production Rust experience, including writing, reviewing, and structuring code at scale.
- Deep understanding of database or storage engine internals (query execution, storage layouts, indexing, compaction).
- Proficiency in systems performance analysis (memory allocators, CPU hotspots, lock contention, async runtimes like Tokio).
- Experience deploying and operating distributed services on Kubernetes in a production, multi-tenant environment.
- Familiarity with cloud object storage (S3-compatible APIs, consistency models, cost/performance tradeoffs).
- Proven track record of managing engineers, including recruitment, retention, and career development.
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage
- Flexible vacation
- 401(k) plan
- Meals on in-office days
- Competitive compensation including base salary, variable compensation, and meaningful equity