Distributed Systems Engineer 5 - Data Platform

At Netflix, our mission is to entertain the world. Together, we are writing the next episode - pushing the boundaries of storytelling, global fandom and making the unimaginable a reality. We are a dream team obsessed with the uncomfortable excitement of discovering what happens when you merge creativity, intuition and cutting-edge technology. Come be a part of what’s next. We provide centralized data platforms and tools for various business functions at Netflix, enabling teams to utilize data to make critical, data-driven decisions. We focus on making it easy for our business partners to work with data efficiently, securely, and responsibly. We aspire to set the industry standard in building a world-class data infrastructure, supporting Netflix’s vision to be the most popular and widely accessible destination for global internet entertainment. As the Data Platform charter grows, we are expanding our presence to Poland to further increase our impact. We are seeking Distributed Systems Engineers to help evolve and innovate our Product and Infrastructure. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team that brings new perspectives as we address the next set of challenges. Team Spotlights ## Analytics Platform and Experience Team Owns the architecture and foundational systems of Netflix's Analytics Platform, a growing domain with an expanding charter as the platform scales to support critical initiatives like Live and Ads. The team currently owns automated Spark migration tooling and TableDiff. As the charter grows, the team will soon take ownership of the Trino engine and lead additional high-impact platform initiatives. This offers an excellent opportunity to shape foundational data infrastructure and deliver direct, high-leverage impact across Netflix. ## Data Movement Team The Data Movement Connector EcoSystem at Netflix is a growing domain with an expanding charter to own high-leverage business-critical connectors across Netflix. The team currently offers Frameworks, Libraries, and Control Planes and supports a large set of streaming/incremental and batch/snapshot-based connectors. This offering evolves the next step is full ownership of the Mantis ecosystem. We believe having the Poland team build and own a set of connectors to move and integrate data across different business domains would be the fastest way to unlock business values. This offers an excellent opportunity to learn the technology stack and deliver direct, relevant impact across the organization. ## Online Data Stores Team This team takes end-to-end ownership of key parts of Netflix’s Online Data Stores (ODS) platform, the databases and data abstractions behind Netflix’s online services. Ownership covers everything from design and development to day-to-day operations and on-call. The team’s charter spans three core areas: ### 1\. Relational databases (PostgreSQL on AWS Aurora) Ownership of Netflix’s managed relational database platform, used by product teams across Netflix such as Games, Ads and Commerce. The goal is to turn it from “a database you get” into a true platform abstraction: one-click provisioning and lifecycle management, proactive capacity management and auto-scaling, a smarter data plane (connection pooling, read/write routing, query guardrails), fleet-wide observability with GenAI-assisted diagnosis, and safe, paved-path access to data for both developers and AI agents. ### 2\. Document databases Ownership of Netflix’s document data store domain. This includes running and supporting today’s document storage solution and its customers, and defining and building the next Netflix paved path for document databases, from engine evaluation and build-vs-buy decisions to production rollout and customer migrations. ### 3\. Core data platform infrastructure Ownership of critical foundational services such as ZooKeeper, ensuring their reliability, scalability and continued evolution, along with the self-service capabilities that let Netflix engineers provision, operate and reason about their datastores independently. The mission is to boost Netflix engineers’ productivity and innovation through a robust, efficient and secure data platform, while working closely with partner teams across Data Platform in the US and Poland. ## Experimentation Platform Team This team owns the data infrastructure that makes A/B testing work at Netflix. Specifically, they build and maintain the systems that store and govern the record of who was in which experiment, across hundreds of concurrent tests running across streaming, ads, growth, and device platforms. They also own the semantic layer that ties every experiment metric at Netflix back to that allocation data, and the pipelines that keep the whole thing fresh and reliable. As the team matures, the scope grows to include self-service tooling for the teams running experiments and support for AI-driven monitoring and analysis workflows. This could be a great opportunity for you if you enjoy: * Solving business needs at scale by applying your software engineering and analytical problem-solving skills * Designing and building robust, scalable, and highly available distributed infrastructure * Leading cross-functional initiatives and collaborating with engineers, product managers, and technical program managers across teams * Sharing experiences with open source communities and contributing to Netflix OSS About you: * 7 or more years of experience designing and building complex, scalable distributed systems and/or infrastructure * Proficiency in Java (preferred), Python, Scala, Kotlin or C# with a solid understanding of multi-threading and memory management * Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining impactful systems * You have developed your skills through a variety of educational or professional experiences in computer science, engineering, or a related field * Experience with any of the following is additive: Spark/Flink/Trino/Druid platform A few more things about us: As a team, we come from many different backgrounds and countries. Our fields of education range from the humanities to engineering to computer science, and we strive to give people the opportunity to take on different roles, should they choose to. We believe that this diversity and adaptability have helped us build an inclusive and empathetic environment, and we look forward to adding your perspective. Our culture is unique, and we tend to live by our values, so it’s worth learning more about Netflix here. Inclusion is a Netflix value and we strive to host a meaningful interview experience for all candidates. If you want an accommodation/adjustment for a disability or any other reason during the hiring process, please send a request to your recruiting partner. We are an equal-opportunity employer and celebrate diversity, recognizing that diversity builds stronger teams. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service. Job is open for no less than 7 days and will be removed when the position is filled.