Staff Software Engineer – Platform, SysEng | Canada | Remote | JobSetuu

Description

Job Overview

• Source: Jobicy

Job Description

This is a remote opportunity and we would be interested in applicants located in Canadian time zones (EST + CST highly preferred at this time). 

Staff Backend Engineer - Platform SysEng

The Opportunity: 

Grafana Cloud moves millions of metrics, log lines, and traces per second from our customers' environments into a highly available, low-latency stack that processes and stores this data, and serves them to dashboards and alerting tools. We aim to grow this to hundreds of millions per second, and it's critical that as we grow, we improve our performance, increase our reliability, and, of course, do it efficiently and effectively.

The Internal Engineering Platform (IEP) delivered by the Platform department provides application engineers with the tools, systems and Kubernetes clusters they need to build, deploy and run their workloads. Platform roles at Grafana Labs have an eye for engineers with a passion for performance and reliability, and who enjoy taking projects from conception to production. We organize ourselves into squads to allow focus on: cloud infrastructure and capacity management; security; engineering productivity; monitoring and sustainability; and US Federal compliance.

Because we deploy production services, we have on-call rotations to ensure the health of the system. Everyone at Grafana Labs tries to incorporate and use our product line up into their day-to-day, so being on call is an important way to understand our system and how people use our products.

What You’ll Be Doing:

We are hiring for the Platform SysEng squad. This is an accelerated, cross-cutting squad that is focused on the maturity and scalability of the platform. Currently, SysEng is working across engineering with a goal of reducing new region build timelines to meet customer demands. 

We’re part of a Platform Engineering group that manages infrastructure for the teams that are building some of the most cherished tools - Grafana, Mimir, Loki, Tempo, Pyroscope to name a few.

What Makes You a Great Fit:

• You enjoy working with engineers, as well as with the management structures that are there to support you and enable you and your team to do your very best.
• You are comfortable working in a remote-first company; communication is key. For us, working together means being collaborative, friendly, kind, and respectful. We operate by consensus, you can contribute to a discussion but then commit to the team decision.
• As such, being such a highly distributed company, means we would love someone who is keen on working with distributed systems, too.
• You are eager to learn and grow. There is a lot of room for growth and development, and the team has quite a lot of knowledge to share for those who are wanting to learn. 
• You approach development holistically. The team owns the full life cycle of our code; from writing design docs, to looking at developer feedback, and integration testing. We appreciate engineers who enjoy looking at the big picture, and also notice the details of the brush strokes. The Platform team mainly works with Go, Python, and Shell.
• You have experience with operating your code. Since a lot of operators and developers use our software, having some grounding in both of these spaces really helps us with building better platforms for our users.

We invest heavily in developer productivity. You can use modern AI coding assistants as part of your daily workflow (your choice of tools, within security guidelines), backed by a company-funded usage budget so you can iterate quickly without unnecessary friction. We encourage pragmatic AI-assisted development: faster prototyping, test generation, refactors, documentation, and incident follow-ups—always paired with strong code review and quality standards. You’ll also have access to frontier models (e.g., GPT-Codex 5/3, Claude Opus 4.6, Gemini 3 Pro).

Requirements:

• Proven delivery of large distributed systems. Experience shipping and operating complex systems that span multiple teams, with clear evidence of technical leadership and impact.
• Demonstrable experience in system design. Deep understanding of tradeoffs around latency, consistency, availability, scaling and cost.
• Hands-on cloud and platform experience. Solid experience with cloud-native architectures (microservices, containers/Kubernetes, IaC) and the operational practices that keep them healthy.
• Reliability and performance ownership. Comfortable defining SLOs/SLIs, doing capacity planning, tuning performance, and driving reliability work end-to-end.
• Excellent coding and design skills. You write clear, maintainable, well-tested code and can lead technical designs — we use Go, but Python/C/C++/Rust or similar translate well.
• Comfort with AI-assisted development. We embrace AI and agentic development so we expect you to be curious and comfortable using AI-powered developer tools and ideally have practical experience folding them into a team’s workflow.
• Influence without authority. Ability to align cross-functional stakeholders, set priorities and drive outcomes in a remote-first environment.
• Strong communicator. Clear written and verbal communication that works across engineers and non-technical stakeholders.

Bonus Points For:

• You’ve worked in or on open source, or other community-based projects previously. At Grafana Labs, “OSS is in our DNA”.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes scheduling and projects like Karpenter.
• Terraform and/or Crossplane experience. We have mixed usage - each has its strengths.
• Experience with Tanka and/or Jsonnet.

Compensation & Rewards:

In Canada, the Base compensation range for this role is CAD 186,368 - CAD 223,642. Actual compensation may vary based on level, experience, and skillset as assessed in the interview process. Benefits include equity, bonus (if applicable) and other benefits listed here.

All of our roles include Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), giving every team member ownership in Grafana Labs' success. We believe in shared outcomes—RSUs help us stay aligned and invested as we scale globally.

Expert Career Tips for Staff Software Engineer – Platform, SysEng | Canada | Remote Roles

To succeed in a competitive market as a Staff Software Engineer – Platform, SysEng | Canada | Remote, you need more than just technical skills. Here are some expert strategies to elevate your profile:

• Build a Strong Portfolio: For technical roles, a clean GitHub or a personal project site is essential. For non-technical roles, a case study portfolio demonstrating problem-solving and impact is equally valuable. Show, don't just tell, what you have achieved in your previous positions.
• Master the Narrative: When interviewing, use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers. Quantify your results wherever possible—mentioning "increased efficiency by 20%" is much more impactful than saying "improved efficiency."
• Continuous Learning: The industry moves fast. Whether it's staying updated with the latest AI tools or mastering a new management methodology, continuous professional development is key. Consider obtaining industry-recognized certifications that align with Staff Software Engineer – Platform, SysEng | Canada | Remote requirements.
• Networking: Connect with other professionals in similar roles. Join online communities, attend webinars, and engage in meaningful discussions on professional social networks. Often, the best opportunities come through referrals and community engagement.
• Soft Skills Matter: Communication, empathy, and leadership are often the deciding factors between two equally qualified technical candidates. Cultivate these skills as they are universally valued across all industries and seniority levels.

Additionally, research the specific company's culture and values. Tailoring your application to show how you align with their mission can significantly increase your chances of moving forward in the process.

Salary & Compensation

Salary not disclosed; typically competitive for the role.

Work Arrangement

Type: On-Site

Standard business hours at the office.

Comprehensive Application Strategy & Hiring Process

Applying for a new role is a marathon, not a sprint. Follow this strategic approach to maximize your success rate:

1. Initial Research & Tailoring

Don't send the same resume to every employer. Spend at least 30 minutes researching the company. Look for recent news, their product roadmap, and their team structure. Modify your summary and core competencies to reflect the specific keywords found in the job description.

2. The Perfect Cover Letter

If the application allows for a cover letter, use it to tell a story that your resume cannot. Explain why you are passionate about this specific company and how your unique background makes you the perfect fit for the challenges they are currently facing.

3. Navigating the Multi-Stage Interview

Most modern hiring processes involve 3-5 stages. This typically includes a recruiter screen, a technical or skill-based assessment, a peer interview, and a final leadership round. Prepare for each stage differently: focus on enthusiasm and fit for the recruiter, technical depth for the assessment, and strategic vision for the leadership round.

4. Post-Interview Follow-Up

Always send a personalized thank-you note within 24 hours of each interview. Reference a specific topic discussed during the call to demonstrate your active listening and genuine interest in the role.

By following these steps, you demonstrate a high level of professionalism and attention to detail that sets you apart from the average applicant.

Typical Interview Process

1. Resume screening
2. HR call
3. Skill interview
4. Final manager interview
5. Offer

Tip: Research the company's products and culture.

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The demand for skilled professionals is increasingly borderless. For roles based in Global, understanding the local cost of living, visa requirements (if applicable), and cultural nuances is vital. If this is a remote role, consider the time zone alignment and the asynchronous communication culture of the hiring organization.

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Skills & Competency Roadmap for Professional Development

To remain competitive in Professional Development, we recommend focusing on the following core competencies over the next 12-18 months:

• Technical Mastery: Deepen your expertise in the core tools and languages relevant to your field. For developers, this might be cloud architecture; for marketers, it might be data-driven attribution modeling.
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By investing in these areas, you not only prepare yourself for the role you are applying for today but also build a resilient foundation for the opportunities of tomorrow.

Apply via JobSetuu

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