Principal Rust Software Engineer (AI)

As a Principal Rust Software Engineer at Spice AI, your primary responsibilities include designing and implementing high-performance AI features in the Spice.ai OSS project. You will also play a crucial role in building the Spice.ai Cloud Platform, contributing to libraries and enterprise solutions, and driving technical ownership of feature areas from conception to deployment. Collaboration with founding members and other engineers will be a key aspect of your role, as well as enhancing developer experiences in our offerings.

To apply for the Principal Rust Software Engineer position at Spice AI, you should have a minimum of 2+ years of professional Rust experience or 5+ years in C/C++. You also need experience in designing, implementing, and scaling production distributed systems. Strong communication skills, a proven track record in architectural decision-making, and ideally experience in contributing to open-source projects are essential. Familiarity with Apache infra or cloud-native development, particularly in Rust or Golang, will further strengthen your candidacy.

At Spice AI, a Principal Rust Software Engineer will work on cutting-edge AI systems and applications, contributing to innovative projects like the Spice.ai OSS, which serves as a portable AI database. You will also engage in developing libraries such as mistral-rs, and be involved in enterprise solutions like NVidia NIM, especially as Spice AI continues to grow and adapt within the AI domain.

At Spice AI, the company culture is built on principles of meritocracy, innovation, and collaboration. We value positivity, creativity, and a drive to solve complex problems. As a Principal Rust Software Engineer, you'll be part of a supportive environment that encourages pushing boundaries and thinking outside the box while collaborating closely with talented peers and founders who are passionate about making a difference in the tech landscape.

In your first 90 days as a Principal Rust Software Engineer at Spice AI, you can expect a structured ramp-up period that allows you to familiarize yourself with the Spice.ai OSS project and make meaningful contributions. In the first month, you'll focus on understanding current systems, followed by taking technical ownership of feature areas in the 30-60 day mark, and by the end of the 90 days, you'll propose and begin executing a technical strategy aligned with the company's objectives.

When answering this, be specific about the project details, your role, the challenges faced, and how Rust’s features helped overcome those challenges. Highlight any performance benefits and how the implementation added value to the project.

Discuss your strategies for debugging, such as utilizing tools like gdb or Rust's built-in features. Explain your approach to identifying performance bottlenecks and optimizing code, including profiling techniques and how to leverage Rust's ownership model for safer memory management.

Reflect on your passion for AI and distributed systems. You could mention your interest in enabling systems to learn and adapt, the challenge of building scalable solutions, and the impact these technologies have on real-world applications.

Provide a detailed example that illustrates your leadership skills. Discuss the goals of the initiative, how you coordinated with your team, any roadblocks you faced, and the outcome. Highlight your ability to create clarity and foster collaboration among team members.

Discuss the complexities of coordination, state management, and data consistency in distributed systems. Mention any specific experiences you've had dealing with those challenges and how you approached problem-solving in those scenarios.

Mention your preferred methods for staying updated, such as following industry blogs, attending conferences or webinars, participating in online courses, or contributing to open-source projects. Explain how continuous learning impacts your work and contributions.

Discuss any contributions you've made to open-source communities, particularly in relation to Rust or AI technologies. Talk about the significance of collaboration in open-source and how it shapes your engineering philosophy.

Define AI feedback loops and elaborate on their importance in creating robust learning systems. Use examples from your work to illustrate how you've implemented or benefited from feedback loops in projects.

Elaborate on your principles for scalability, including ensuring modularity, employing microservices architecture, load balancing, and leveraging cloud resources effectively. Provide examples from your experience where you applied these strategies.

Discuss the importance of code reviews as a development practice and how you constructively give and receive feedback. Highlight your focus on collaborative improvement and learning within the team, ensuring a positive experience for all members.