Distributed Systems Engineer

Overview

Are you a Staff or Senior Distributed Systems Engineer who thrives on building the backbone for scientific computing at scale? My client, a cutting-edge company focused on revolutionizing the energy industry, seeks a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer to design and deliver robust, scalable, and observable cloud-native compute systems in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Why Join?

• Shape Real Impact:
  Your work will enable faster, more reliable scientific breakthroughs that transform the future of energy.
• Innovate Daily:
  Collaborate with world-class geoscientists, engineers, and advanced AI/ML modeling teams - your systems will push the boundaries of what's possible.
• Cutting-Edge Tech:
  Leverage your expertise in event-driven architectures and distributed computing using the best of Python, GCP, Kubernetes, and more.
• Career Growth:
  Grow into leadership in a highly mission-driven environment with real-world climate and societal impact.
• Flexible Hybrid:
  Onsite in Salt Lake City Monday-Wednesday, flexibility for remote work Thursday & Friday.
• Compensation:
  Base salary between $140,000 - $180,000 DoE plus PTO accrual increase based on tenure, medical, dental & vision, 401k and stock options.

The Company

My client is a stealth-mode, innovation-driven technology company advancing clean energy discovery and development at scale. The organization delivers complex software and machine learning platforms that power breakthrough solutions and enable step-changes in renewable energy adoption. The team values cross-functional collaboration, technical excellence, and the drive to deliver results that matter for humanity and the planet.

The Role

As a Senior Distributed Systems Engineer, you will:

• Architect and build distributed, event-driven compute systems
  for scientific modeling and simulation.
• Lead development of robust, fault-tolerant, and observable software
  using cloud infrastructure tools (GCP preferred), Kubernetes, Python, Pub/Sub (Kafka or Cloud equivalents), and orchestration frameworks (Dagster, Prefect, Airflow).
• Drive reliability and scalability
  : persistent data storage at scale (Cloud SQL, RDBMS, blob), advanced logging/metrics, and monitoring for high-availability operations.
• Work hands-on with scientists and engineers
  , bridging the gap between research and production.
• Champion engineering excellence -
  guide best practices in CI/CD, deployment (Docker, Terraform), and system performance tuning.

Essential Requirements

• 5+ years (or equivalent) experience in software engineering, ideally with strong exposure to scientific computing.
• Proven record designing and implementing distributed, event-driven architectures at scale.
• Strong proficiency in Python development and SQL.
• Experience with containers (Docker), Kubernetes, and cloud-native tools (preferably GCP: Compute Engine, Cloud Storage, Cloud Run, Cloud SQL, Pub/Sub).
• Familiarity with orchestration tools such as Dagster, Prefect, or Airflow.
• Track record ensuring system observability - monitoring, logging, alerting, performance metrics.
• Excellent communication and collaboration in cross-disciplinary teams.
• Must work onsite in Salt Lake City three days/week (Monday-Wednesday).

What Will Make You Stand Out

• Staff-level experience building highly scalable, resilient, and observable backend systems.
• Deep hands-on experience with streaming architectures and data pipelines (Kafka Streams, petabyte-scale data engineering, event-driven microservices).
• Prior exposure to domain-driven design in scientific or research environments.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and ability to communicate with non-engineers.
• Experience collaborating with scientists or deep-tech R&D teams.
• Track record delivering in high-growth startup settings.

If you are interested in this role, please apply with your resume through this site.

DISCLAIMER

No terminology in this advert is intended to discriminate on the grounds of age, sex, race, religion or belief, disability, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, sexual orientation, gender, and/or gender reassignment, and we confirm that we are happy to accept applications from anyone for this role. Attis Global Ltd operates as an employment agency and employment business. More information can be found at

Keywords for search

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