Staff Platform Engineer – Database Systems

Quizlet • Full-time • Hybrid in San Francisco, California, United States • $220,700 - $268,100 / year • 1m ago

Fast Facts

Join Quizlet as a Staff Platform Engineer focused on Database Systems, contributing to infrastructure automation and database performance optimization in a dynamic learning platform environment.

Responsibilities: Develop infrastructure automation, enhance database performance, and implement caching strategies to maintain high system availability and reliability.

Skills: Expertise in MySQL and other database systems, proficiency in infrastructure as code with Kubernetes and Terraform, and strong programming skills in Python or Go.

Qualifications: 5–8 years of database engineering experience in production environments, with a strong background in handling operational scale and performance issues.

Location: This role is based in San Francisco, CA, requiring onsite presence a minimum of three days a week.

Compensation: $220700 - $268100 / Annually

About Quizlet:

At Quizlet, our mission is to help every learner achieve their outcomes in the most effective and delightful way. Our $1B+ learning platform serves tens of millions of students every month, including two-thirds of U.S. high schoolers and half of U.S. college students, powering over 2 billion learning interactions monthly.

We blend cognitive science with machine learning to personalize and enhance the learning experience for students, professionals, and lifelong learners alike. We’re energized by the potential to power more learners through multiple approaches and various tools.

Let’s Build the Future of Learning

Join us to design and deliver AI-powered learning tools that scale across the world and unlock human potential.

About the Role

We’re hiring a Staff Platform Engineer – Database Systems to be a core member of our Platform Engineering team. You’ll contribute across the full infrastructure stack while bringing deep expertise in database systems, performance optimization, and data reliability. This role reports to the Senior Director of Technical Infrastructure.

We’re happy to share that this is an onsite position in our San Francisco office. To help foster team collaboration, we require that employees be in the office a minimum of three days per week: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and as needed by your manager or the company.

In this role, you will

Platform Reliability & System Resilience: Develop, test, and implement infrastructure automation and tooling to maintain 99.95% availability under peak load. Build self-healing capabilities, optimize resource utilization across Kubernetes clusters (GKE), and contribute to platform-wide resilience initiatives.
Database Performance & Operations: Serve as the team’s database expert, diagnosing and resolving performance issues across Cloud Spanner, PlanetScale MySQL, and BigQuery. Conduct query analysis, implement indexing strategies, and optimize connection pooling to maintain sub-100ms p99 latency.
Caching & Data Access Layer: Design and implement caching strategies using Memorystore (Redis/Memcached). Build high-volume connection management systems (in Go or Python) that efficiently handle database and cache access patterns under sustained load.
Infrastructure as Code & Automation: Manage platform infrastructure using Terraform and Kubernetes. Build automation that improves developer velocity, reduces MTTR, and enables safe, self-service infrastructure operations.
Observability & Operational Excellence: Design and deploy instrumentation within Datadog for monitoring databases, caches, and platform services. Use post-incident analyses (e.g., Jeli) to reduce operational toil and improve service reliability.
Architectural Consulting & Standards: Partner with Product Engineering teams to review designs, define SLOs, optimize data access patterns, and ensure new services are resilient and operable before production deployment.

What you bring to the table

Strong software engineering foundation — you write production-quality code, design scalable systems, and can reason about distributed systems tradeoffs.
5–8 years of hands-on database engineering experience in production environments handling significant scale (thousands of RPS or more).
Deep MySQL expertise (replication, sharding, query optimization, connection management); PlanetScale experience a plus.
Multi-database proficiency with Cloud Spanner, Postgres, and/or BigQuery.
Production experience with in-memory caches (Redis, Memcached, or Valkey).
Kubernetes (GKE preferred) and Terraform experience for infrastructure as code.
Strong coding skills in Python or Go for automation, tooling, and platform services.
Hands-on experience with GCP database services (Cloud Spanner, Cloud SQL, Memorystore, BigQuery) and monitoring platforms like Datadog.
Strong understanding of backup/recovery, HA patterns, and incident response.

Bonus points if you have:

Experience with Vitess or PlanetScale MySQL.
Knowledge of Istio service mesh and database connection management patterns.
Experience with data streaming platforms (Kafka, Pub/Sub).

Compensation, Benefits & Perks

Quizlet is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Salary transparency helps to mitigate unfair hiring practices when it comes to discrimination and pay gaps.
Total compensation for this role is market competitive, including a starting base salary of $220,700 – $268,100, depending on location and experience, as well as company stock options.
Collaborate with your manager and team to create a healthy work-life balance
20 vacation days that we expect you to take!
Competitive health, dental, and vision insurance (100% employee and 75% dependent PPO, Dental, VSP Choice)
Employer-sponsored 401(k) plan with company match
Access to LinkedIn Learning and other resources to support professional growth
Paid Family Leave, FSA, HSA, Commuter benefits, and Wellness benefits
40 hours of annual paid time off to participate in volunteer programs of choice

Why Join Quizlet?

🌎 Massive reach: 60M+ users, 1B+ interactions per week

🧠 Cutting-edge tech: Generative AI, adaptive learning, cognitive science

📈 Strong momentum: Top-tier investors, sustainable business, real traction

🎯 Mission-first: Work that makes a difference in people’s lives

🤝 Inclusive culture: Committed to equity, diversity, and belonging

We strive to make everyone feel comfortable and welcome!

We work to create a holistic interview process, where both Quizlet and candidates have an opportunity to view what it would be like to work together, in exploring a mutually beneficial partnership.

We provide a transparent setting that gives a comprehensive view of who we are!

In Closing:

At Quizlet, we’re excited about passionate people joining our team—even if you don’t check every box on the requirements list. We value unique perspectives and believe everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Our culture is all about taking initiative, learning through challenges, and striving for high-quality work while staying curious and open to new ideas. We believe in honest, respectful communication, thoughtful collaboration, and creating a supportive space where everyone can grow and succeed together.”

Quizlet’s success as an online learning community depends on a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As an equal opportunity employer and a tech company committed to societal change, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Come join us!

To All Recruiters and Placement Agencies:

At this time, Quizlet does not accept unsolicited agency resumes and/or profiles.

Please do not forward unsolicited agency resumes to our website or to any Quizlet employee. Quizlet will not pay fees to any third-party agency or firm nor will it be responsible for any agency fees associated with unsolicited resumes. All unsolicited resumes received will be considered the property of Quizlet.

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