Senior Platform Engineer, Data Persistence

About the Role

Are you a platform engineer who thrives on designing scalable, resilient data systems that support real-world, enterprise workloads? Do you enjoy owning complex persistence challenges—balancing performance, reliability, and cost—while enabling product teams to move faster with confidence? Are you excited to shape the foundation of a cloud-native SaaS platform by building durable, high-availability data architectures that stand up to growth and change? If so, we invite you to be a part of our innovative team.

As a Senior Platform Engineer on the Data Persistence team, you will play a critical role in designing, building, and optimizing the data systems that power Ridgeline’s enterprise SaaS platform. You’ll lead the evolution of our cloud-native, distributed data architecture—solving challenges around scale, performance, availability, and cost—while delivering a best-in-class developer experience.

In this role, you will collaborate closely with application and infrastructure teams to develop efficient, resilient, and high-performance data solutions that directly support customer-facing workloads. You’ll leverage cutting-edge technologies—including AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT—to enhance productivity, accelerate problem-solving, and continuously improve how we design and operate our data platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop cloud-native data storage solutions that deliver scalable, reliable, and performant persistence across a multi-tenant SaaS platform
• Optimize data access patterns and collaborate with application teams to improve end-to-end performance at the application layer
• Drive RPO and RTO improvements by establishing high-availability architectures, failover strategies, and disaster recovery plans
• Support high-throughput, low-latency workloads through effective data partitioning, caching, and indexing strategies
• Improve observability by investing in database monitoring, automation, and performance telemetry
• Balance performance and efficiency by identifying and implementing cost optimizations across database infrastructure
• Collaborate transparently with cross-functional teams to solve complex data challenges and share best practices
• Mentor engineers, foster technical growth, and contribute to a resilient, inclusive culture of engineering excellence
• Take ownership of critical systems, acting with accountability and a long-term mindset aligned with Ridgeline’s values

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in software or infrastructure engineering, with deep expertise in data persistence, distributed systems, or database engineering
• Proven experience building and operating distributed, multi-writer OLTP SQL systems (e.g., SingleStore, CockroachDB) and single-writer systems (e.g., Postgres), with a strong understanding of replication, sharding, and consistency tradeoffs
• Hands-on experience with OLAP or analytical data stores such as ClickHouse and/or Apache Iceberg on S3
• Strong background in high availability and disaster recovery strategies, including cross-region replication, backups and point-in-time recovery, and clearly defined RPO/RTO targets
• Solid experience with AWS services such as Aurora RDS, S3, ECS, Lambda, and related infrastructure
• Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Kotlin, Java, or TypeScript
• Experience using Datadog or similar tooling for database and storage observability
• Proficiency with AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, Claude, or Copilot
• Strong problem-solving skills, clear communication, and a genuine interest in learning and continuous improvement

About Ridgeline

Ridgeline is the industry cloud platform for investment management. It was founded by visionary tech entrepreneur Dave Duffield (co-founder of both PeopleSoft and Workday) to apply his successful formula of solving operational business challenges with bold innovation and human connectivity to the unique needs of the investment management industry.

Ridgeline started with a clean sheet of paper and a deep bench of experts bound by a set of core values and motivated to revolutionize an industry underserved by its current tech offerings. We are building a new, modern platform in the public cloud, purpose-built for the investment management industry and we are prioritizing security, agility, and usability to empower business like never before.

With a growing campus in Reno and offices in New York, Lake Tahoe, and the Bay Area, Ridgeline is proud to have built a fast-growing, people-first company that has been recognized by Fast Company as a “Best Workplace for Innovators,” by The Software Report as a “Top 100 Software Company,” and by Forbes as one of “America’s Best Startup Employers.”

Ridgeline is proud to be a community-minded, discrimination-free equal opportunity workplace.