Principal Engineer - Observability Telemetry Client Infrastructure

Job Description

At Cloudera, we empower people to transform complex data into clear and actionable insights. With as much data under management as the hyperscalers, we're the preferred data partner for the top companies in almost every industry. Powered by the relentless innovation of the open source community, Cloudera advances digital transformation for the world’s largest enterprises.

About the Role

Cloudera is seeking a Principal Engineer to serve as the primary architect and visionary for our Observability Telemetry client interactions framework as we build a multi-tenant, high-throughput telemetry fabric to support the world’s largest data estates.

Responsibilities

• Architect and drive the implementation of automated "on-ramps" for observability clients that handles the complexity of multi-cloud, hybrid environments without sacrificing performance, ensuring teams can integrate their services with minimal friction.
• Establish and enforce the semantic conventions needed to ensure telemetry data carries the appropriate context for easy correlation across the entire Cloudera stack.
• Develop and support high-performance interfaces and SDKs for clients across various languages (Java, Go, Python, etc.) to contribute high-fidelity signals.
• Build the logic to stitch together disparate signals into a unified trace, enabling deep-dive workload analysis and financial governance across massive distributed systems.
• Work alongside engineering teams to turn architectural blueprints into production reality, conducting deep-dive code reviews and resolving complex systemic bottlenecks.
• Serve as the "go-to" expert for observability, resolving technical disagreements and making high-stakes decisions on the future of our telemetry platform.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience (or equivalent advanced degree + experience) designing and maintaining large-scale distributed systems and observability platforms.
• A proven track record of designing and shipping complex, critical features that serve as foundational infrastructure for other engineering teams.
• Deep, hands-on experience with the OpenTelemetry Collector architecture, custom processors, and the challenges of high-cardinality data.
• Experience with high-volume OLAP engines (e.g., ClickHouse, StarRocks) and an understanding of how to structure telemetry data for sub-second queries at large scale.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills and the ability to build relationships across the company to drive adoption of new standards and remove technical roadblocks.
• The ability to map business requirements to technical roadmaps, ensuring our observability tools support Cloudera’s long-term strategic goals.
• Experience coaching senior and staff-level engineers, acting as a "force multiplier" for a technical organization.

Qualifications

• BSc/MSc in related field or equivalent experience.

Skills

• Significant contributions to major observability or data projects (e.g., CNCF or Apache projects).
• Deep experience with Kubernetes-native observability and managing telemetry at scale in hybrid-cloud environments.
• Experience representing technical initiatives at industry conferences or internal company-wide summits.
• Experience using machine learning or advanced analytics to derive "AIOps" insights from raw telemetry data.

Benefits

• Generous PTO Policy
• Support work-life balance with Unplugged Days
• Flexible WFH Policy
• Mental & Physical Wellness programs
• Phone and Internet Reimbursement program
• Access to Continued Career Development
• Comprehensive Benefits and Competitive Packages
• Paid Volunteer Time
• Employee Resource Groups

Pay

• TBD

Schedule

• TBD