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Principal Software Engineer – Capella Control Plane
Location: San Jose, California (Hybrid - in office at least 3 days/week)
Couchbase Capella is a fully managed Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) platform that powers mission-critical applications with a modern, distributed NoSQL database. The Control Plane team builds and operates the foundational systems that deliver reliability, scalability, and seamless experiences across cloud environments.
We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to serve as the cross-team technical authority for Capella's Control Plane — the platform that orchestrates SaaS interactions with major cloud providers (AWS, GCP, Azure). This role is central to the evolution of Capella's multi-cloud control plane and will shape the systems that provision, secure, and operate the platform at scale. You will set a durable technical direction with organization level influence, be accountable for production outcomes, and drive solutions to ambiguous, high-stakes problems through hands-on development and deep distributed systems expertise.
Key Responsibilities
- Architecture & Technical Direction: Define and evolve the control plane architecture for scalability, reliability, performance, and security.
- Hands-on Development: Develop and deliver production-quality Golang code for critical Capella platform services. Establish and enforce coding standards, CI/CD practices, and design patterns.
- Multi-Cloud Infrastructure: Architect and optimize multi-cloud deployments, networking models, VPC/VNet peering, load balancing, and secure connectivity across AWS, GCP, and Azure. Build and scale multi-tenant control plane services that orchestrate cluster lifecycle across providers.
- Reliability & Observability: Define and implement monitoring, logging, tracing, and alerting standards for operational excellence. Own accountability for production outcomes including root cause analysis and long-term remediation of critical issues.
- Platform Capabilities: Lead design and delivery of core platform capabilities such as provisioning, lifecycle management, and security controls. Tackle ambiguous distributed systems challenges involving scaling, networking, and performance.
- Cross-Team Leadership: Exercise cross-team technical authority, partnering with product, SRE, Quality Engineering, operations, and global engineering teams across geographies to align technical direction with business goals. Maintain working knowledge of web UI architecture and partner effectively with frontend engineers on end-to-end control plane workflows.
- Mentorship & Culture: Guide engineers across levels, perform code reviews, and set a high bar for engineering culture.
- Innovation: Research and evaluate cloud-native technologies, frameworks, and architectures for Capella's evolution.
Must-Have Skills & Experience
- Expertise in Golang with proven experience building distributed, cloud-native systems.
- Strong knowledge of system design, high availability, fault tolerance, and performance tuning.
- Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure), including networking (VPCs, routing, load balancing, firewalls, private connectivity) and Kubernetes/container orchestration.
- Experience designing and building control plane and platform components for SaaS platforms at scale.
- Proven experience leading cross-team architecture and platform decisions in complex, ambiguous cloud and distributed systems environments.
- Working knowledge of web UI architecture and ability to partner effectively with frontend engineers on end-to-end control plane workflows.
- Experience mentoring engineers and driving org-level influence on engineering culture and standards.
Nice-to-Have Skills & Experience
- Experience with DBaaS platforms or large-scale database infrastructure.
- Exposure to AI/ML integrations within SaaS platforms (e.g., model serving, vector databases, AI-assisted workflows).
Education & Experience
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field.
- 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 5+ years in cloud/distributed systems.
- Prior principal or staff engineer-level experience leading architecture and platform initiatives in cloud infrastructure or large-scale SaaS environments.
The anticipated starting base pay range for this role is listed below. Base salary is not the only component of our competitive total rewards package - you may also be eligible for bonus, commissions, and other benefits as described below. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location.
Base Pay Range
$204,000—$225,000 USD
At Couchbase, we believe innovation thrives when diverse perspectives are at the table. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds—including women, people of color, LGTBQIA+ professionals, veterans, and individuals with disabilities. If you see a role that excites you, but don’t meet every qualification, we still encourage you to apply.
Studies show underrepresented talent is less likely to apply unless they meet all the criteria. We encourage you to apply if you’re excited about the role and can bring strong contributions to our team.
If you require reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process, please let your recruiter know—we’re happy to support you.
We value diverse educational and career backgrounds. If your experience aligns with the role’s goals—even if it doesn’t follow a traditional path—we’d love to hear from you.
Why Couchbase?
Modern customer experiences need a flexible cloud database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase’s mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers– all with best-in-class price performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications and build innovative new ones. See our recent awards to learn why Couchbase is a great place to work.We are honored to be a part of the Best Places to Work Award for
the Bay Area and
the UK. Couchbase offers a total rewards approach to benefits that recognizes the value you create here, so that you in turn may best serve yourself and your family. Some benefits include:
- Generous Time Off Program - Flexibility to care for you and your family
- Wellness Benefits - A variety of world class medical plans to choose from, along with dental, vision, life insurance, and employee assistance programs*
- Financial Planning - Retirement program* and Business Travel Insurance
- Career Growth - Be valued, Create value approach
- Fun Perks - An ergonomic and comfortable in-office / WFH setup. Food & Snacks for in-office employees.
- And much more!
*Note: some programs are not applicable to all countries. Please discuss with a Couchbase recruiter to learn more.
Disclaimer:
Couchbase is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Join an impact initiative group and experience the amazing feeling of Couchbase can-do culture.
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