Sr. Open Source Software Engineer - Apache Cassandra

About the role

At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure—delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end upstream initiatives in Apache Cassandra, from CEP authoring and design consensus through implementation, review, and release, in domains such as storage/compaction, indexing and SAI/vector, distributed repair, observability, and Cassandra releases.
• Provide binding committer reviews on upstream patches and community contributions, applying the technical rigor and authority that moves high-quality work through the Apache Cassandra review process.
• Co-own Apache Cassandra core release management as part of the rotating committer pool and, where capacity allows, contribute to NetApp-led ecosystem releases (Cassandra Sidecar, Analytics, GoCQL).
• Translate enterprise customer needs into credible upstream proposals, CEP-level designs, and sustained technical engagement that only a committer can supply; advise product and field teams on complex upstream trade-offs.
• Shape community direction through evidence-based participation on the dev@ mailing list, Apache Jira, GitHub, and community forums; influence project decisions on architecture, release policy, contribution standards, and long-term roadmap.
• Mentor engineers toward committer standing and raise overall contribution quality through rigorous review practices, test discipline, and clear engineering guidance.
• Improve upstream infrastructure - CI reliability, test coverage, contributor tooling, and release automation - to reduce project-wide maintenance burden and strengthen NetApp's reputation as a steward of the project.

Requirements

• A minimum of 12 years of applicable professional software engineering experience is required.
• Current Apache Cassandra committer status with a sustained and publicly verifiable upstream track record across patches, reviews, and community standing in Cassandra core or a closely related subproject.
• Expert Java engineering capability in performance-sensitive, concurrent, and production-grade distributed systems - comfortable writing, reviewing, and reasoning about complex Cassandra internals at depth.
• Deep mastery of Apache Cassandra internals in at least one major domain: storage engine and compaction, indexing and SAI/vector, distributed consensus and repair (including Accord and CEP-37), observability and virtual tables, or release management and CI.
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical work through the Apache open source governance model: CEP authoring or co-sponsorship, design consensus, mailing-list engagement, and Jira-driven delivery from proposal through merge.
• Strong written communication for asynchronous, global, public technical collaboration - mailing lists, design documents, code reviews, and Jira threads.
• Prominent senior-level technical judgment: resolves most blockers independently, determines approach on novel or ambiguous assignments, surfaces systemic risks proactively, and produces work that is consistent with project and team objectives.

Preferred Qualifications

• PMC membership in Apache Cassandra or a related Apache subproject.
• Track record of work in Cassandra 6.0 feature areas (Accord, Transactional Cluster Metadata, CEP-37 automated repair, CEP-38 CQL Management API, ZSTD dictionary compression, SAI/vector write performance).
• Experience connecting upstream technical leadership to enterprise customer and operator outcomes - translating production pain points into accepted community improvements.
• History of mentoring contributors toward reviewer or committer standing in an open governance project.
• Familiarity with Cassandra ecosystem subprojects: Sidecar, Analytics (Spark bulk), GoCQL, or Apache Cassandra drivers.