Description
Job Title: Member of Technical Staff (Specialized Indexing)
We're forming a new Specialized Indexing subteam within SQL Queries to expand CockroachDB's indexing capabilities beyond traditional relational workloads. This team will design and implement high-performance indexing systems such as vector, full-text, and geospatial indexes to support the next generation of AI-native and search-driven applications.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain specialized indexing features for CockroachDB, including vector, full-text, and geospatial indexing.
- Improve the performance and reliability of existing vector indexing systems, including backfill, query planning, and import workflows.
- Partner with other database teams to integrate new indexing mechanisms into the query engine.
- Develop hybrid search capabilities that combine vector similarity and text-based search for modern AI and search workloads.
- Participate in design discussions, code reviews, and release planning within the SQL organization.
- Take full ownership of your work, from design through implementation, testing, and release.
Expectations
- In your first month, you'll get familiar with CockroachDB's SQL architecture, vector indexing implementation, and the surrounding systems. You'll also begin contributing to smaller improvements and fixes.
- Within three months, you'll take ownership of components related to specialized indexing, making measurable improvements to performance and reliability.
- After six months, you'll play a key role in advancing hybrid search capabilities and help shape the roadmap for future indexing and search features.
Requirements
- Passion for databases, indexing systems, and high-performance distributed architectures.
- A strong background in backend or systems programming, preferably with Go, C/C++, or Rust.
- Experience working on indexing or query execution systems such as vector, text, or spatial search.
- Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed systems.
- Curiosity about AI-driven and hybrid workloads that combine structured and unstructured data.
- A focus on building reliable, maintainable, and high-performance software.
- Collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively with a distributed global team.
- Typically 6+ years of experience building large-scale, production-grade systems.
Team
The SQL Queries team is one of the most impactful and technically challenging groups at Cockroach Labs. Joining the Specialized Indexing subteam means working at the frontier of databases and AI, helping shape how CockroachDB powers intelligent, hybrid applications.
You'll be part of a small, autonomous team based in India, collaborating with engineers and leaders across the world. You'll have the chance to own complex, high-visibility features that directly influence how customers use CockroachDB.
If you're excited about building innovative systems that push the boundaries of what a database can do, we'd love to meet you.