> Markdown version of [/jobs/ext/4616699-database-engineer-wherobotsdb](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/4616699-database-engineer-wherobotsdb). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Database Engineer - WherobotsDB - **Company:** Wherobots Inc. - **Location:** Bellevue, WA, United States - **Experience:** Expert - **Salary:** $185,000.0 - $275,000.0 - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Java (Programming Language), Geographic Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Apache HTTP Server, Computer Vision, C++ (Programming Language), Catalyst (Software), Cloud Computing, Code Review, Databases, Serialization, Dataspaces, Distributed Systems, Memory Management, Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Fault Tolerance, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Python (Programming Language), Open Source Technology, SQL Databases, Parquet, Data Processing, Scripting, Apache Spark, AI Coding Agents, Agentic-AI, Build Management, Semi-structured Data, Information Technology - **Published:** November 7, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.careerbuilder.com/job-details/database-engineer-wherobotsdb-bellevue-wa--1fb4154f-f92d-490c-8a37-5aab3688ce1b ## About the Role Database Programming, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents, Python Programming/Scripting Language, SQL (Structured Query Language), Analysis Skills, Computer Vision, Apache, Computer Systems, Open Source, * 5+ years of experience building distributed query engines or databases, or a PhD in computer science or a related field with research in databases or distributed systems. * Deep understanding of distributed query processing: planning and optimization, distributed joins, shuffle and data exchange, partitioning, skew handling, and memory management. * Strong proficiency in Rust (or C/C++) and Python. * Experience with columnar execution engines and formats such as Apache Arrow, Apache DataFusion, Parquet, or Iceberg. * Experience processing data beyond flat tables, such as geometries, imagery, N-dimensional arrays and tensors, time series, or nested and semi-structured data. * A track record of high-quality, maintainable, and observable software, and clear technical writing. * Strong collaboration skills in a hybrid or distributed team. Nice to Have (Optional) * Papers published at top database conferences, such as ACM SIGMOD, VLDB, IEEE ICDE, or ACM SIGSPATIAL. * Committer or significant contributor to Apache DataFusion, Arrow, Iceberg, Parquet, Sedona, or DuckDB. * Experience with Apache Spark internals, such as Catalyst rules or physical planning. * Experience with distributed scheduling, fault tolerance, or elastic scaling on cloud infrastructure. * Experience with geospatial data, such as spatial indexes (R-tree, S2, or H3), spatial joins, or coordinate reference systems. * Experience processing imagery or N-dimensional array data at scale, such as COG or Zarr. * Proficiency in Scala and Java. ## Description Wherobots is looking for a passionate, skilled, and experienced Database Engineer to help design, build, and operate WherobotsDB, the distributed query engine that gives analysts and AI agents context about the physical world., * Build the distributed query engine: Design how WherobotsDB plans, partitions, shuffles, and executes queries across a cluster, from the logical plan down to the physical operators on each worker. * Design and build distributed operators: Implement join, nearest-neighbor, and aggregation operators that scale across a cluster and work on geometries, imagery, tensors, and tabular data, with careful attention to correctness on messy real-world inputs. * Own partitioning and pruning: Design partitioning, indexing, and pruning strategies so skewed datasets, from GPS traces to imagery archives and data cubes, stay balanced across workers and each query reads only the files and chunks it needs. * Bring data modalities together: Extend how WherobotsDB stores, reads, and processes vector, raster, tensor, and tabular data, from Zarr data cubes to model embeddings, so users can join them with business records in a single query. * Extend the native execution layer: Build high-performance operators in Rust and integrate them with query planning and memory management. * Build on open table and file formats: Use the statistics and metadata in Iceberg, Parquet, COG, and Zarr to push filters down to object storage. * Measure and improve performance: Use benchmarks and customer workloads to find bottlenecks across memory, I/O, network, shuffle, and serialization, then ship the fixes. * Support production workloads: Diagnose memory, skew, and correctness issues in customer jobs, and turn each root cause into an engine fix or a documented limit. * Contribute to open source: Make contributions to Apache Sedona and other open-source projects across the data ecosystem, such as Apache DataFusion, Apache Arrow, Apache Iceberg, and Zarr. * Raise the bar: Provide technical leadership on architecture, engineering standards, and roadmap. Write design docs before major changes, review code across the team, and hold every change to the same quality bar, including code written with AI coding assistants.