Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure

As a Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure at Aura, you will be responsible for designing and maintaining sharded PostgreSQL database systems on AWS, ensuring they efficiently scale for peak traffic periods. You'll also develop load simulations that mirror production conditions and add instrumentation to identify bottlenecks across various layers of our infrastructure. Collaborating with product teams to improve user experience will be another key part of your role, as well as managing a Ruby on Rails stack to support our engineering efforts.

To qualify for the Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure position at Aura, candidates should have over 5 years of experience, specifically in startup environments with fewer than a hundred employees. A deep understanding of SQL database internals and proven experience scaling sharded database systems to accommodate tens of millions of users are essential. Your familiarity with AWS and the ability to work effectively within a cross-functional team will also be highly advantageous.

Aura believes in creating a positive work environment that values work-life balance. For Senior Software Engineers, we offer flexible time off policies where employees are required to take at least 10 days off annually. Additionally, we provide a monthly fitness allowance and encourage team members to maintain a healthy lifestyle, contributing to both their personal well-being and their professional productivity.

The compensation range for the Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure role at Aura is between $160,000 and $220,000 annually. This position also includes a generous stock option program that begins vesting after one year of service, ensuring not only competitive pay but an opportunity for long-term growth with the company.

Aura's infrastructure team primarily employs advanced technologies such as PostgreSQL for our database needs, along with AWS for cloud services. The team also utilizes Ruby on Rails to maintain efficient software solutions, ensuring a robust framework for developers to innovate and deliver a seamless experience for our users. Staying ahead with the latest technologies is key to keeping Aura at the forefront of digital connectivity.

To effectively answer this question, highlight specific examples of projects where you've designed or maintained sharded database systems. Discuss the challenges you faced, and how you achieved scalability and performance, particularly in high traffic scenarios. Emphasize your role in these projects and any technologies you employed.

When asked about load testing, describe your methodology for creating realistic traffic simulations that reflect production environments. Talk about the tools you use and what metrics you focus on to evaluate system performance. Be sure to mention how results from load tests have influenced your design decisions in past projects.

In answering this, outline the systematic approach you take to diagnose issues, such as monitoring performance metrics, analyzing query execution plans, and gathering logs. Discuss the specific tools and techniques you use to identify areas for optimization and how you prioritize fixes based on impact.

Effective collaboration is crucial. Describe how you proactively engage product teams by participating in planning meetings, gathering user experience feedback, and providing valuable technical insights. Highlight experiences where your collaborative efforts led to significant improvements in user experience or system design.

When discussing AWS, highlight specific services you’ve worked with, such as EC2, S3, or RDS. Provide examples of how you utilized these services in your past roles to build scalable solutions, and detail any best practices you've learned for deploying and maintaining applications in the cloud.

Discuss your deep knowledge of SQL, including your experience with writing optimized queries and understanding indices. Consider mentioning how database internals impact performance and how you utilize that knowledge to improve applications you’ve worked on before.

Provide a specific example of a project where rapid scaling was essential. Discuss the architectural decisions you made, such as sharding or caching strategies, and how they impacted the performance of the system. Describe the results you achieved and lessons learned.

Share your strategies for continuous learning—attending conferences, taking online courses, participating in relevant forums, or subscribing to industry publications. Mention how you apply new findings to your work at Aura to enhance system scalability and performance.

Choose a specific challenge, explain the context, and walk through the steps you took to address it. Highlight the impact of your solution on the project's outcome, demonstrating your problem-solving skills and technical proficiency.

Reflect on qualities that contribute to effective teamwork, such as mentorship, collaboration, and technical leadership. Discuss how you embody these qualities and provide examples of how you've positively influenced past projects and team dynamics.