Software Engineer – Cloud Storage & Distributed Systems | Alibaba Cloud

Location: Multiple Locations (U.S.) | Work Mode: Full-time | Salary: $142,000 – $234,000 | Posting date/time : February 18, 2026

Job Description

Team Overview

Alibaba Cloud provides the fundamental technology and infrastructure to help global businesses leverage the power of the internet. Our team builds the core components of Alibaba’s cloud storage—a planetary-scale distributed system that handles hundreds of billions of requests per day and stores multiple exabytes of data. We focus on scaling distributed file systems that support mission-critical services for millions of users.

Key Responsibilities:

• Perform hands-on design, development, and testing of large-scale cloud storage services.
• Manage large-scale software system deployment, monitoring, and diagnosis.
• Formulate innovative solutions for system scalability, reliability, and availability challenges.
• Mentor other engineers and provide technical training and support for core technologies.
• Evangelize new technologies and contribute to the long-term technical strategy of the storage division.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Programming: Proficiency in C/C++; experience with Python or other scripting languages.
• Core CS: Familiarity with algorithms, data structures, network programming, and multi-threaded programming.
• Soft Skills: Highly independent, collaborative, and possess excellent communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Seasoned experience in the development of cloud infrastructures.
• Deep knowledge of open-source internals (Linux, HBase, Cassandra, Hadoop, Kubernetes).
• Experience with fault-tolerant protocols such as Paxos or Raft.
• Prior research experience demonstrated through publications or contributions to open-source software.

Job details made easy by trendtoday360

Position: Senior Distributed Systems Engineer – Planetary Scale Storage
Core Technology: C/C++, Paxos/Raft, Linux Internals, Exabyte-scale Architecture
Strategic Focus: Fault Tolerance & Cloud-Native Scalability

✅ Job Summary and Focus:

This role at Alibaba Cloud is for a Low-Level Systems Architect. While many “cloud” roles focus on the application layer, this position is centered on the Physical Storage Layer. The focus is on Consistency and Performance at Scale. You will be building the “bedrock” of the internet, ensuring that data remains available and consistent across thousands of nodes using consensus protocols like Paxos and Raft. You will be tasked with solving the “Exabyte Problem”—designing systems that can fail gracefully and recover automatically without human intervention, all while maintaining sub-millisecond latency for billions of concurrent requests.

📌 Key ATS Resume Keywords:

Software Engineer, Alibaba Cloud, Distributed Systems, Cloud Storage, C++, Paxos, Raft, Distributed File Systems, Linux Internals, Kubernetes, Hadoop, HBase, Scalability, High Availability, Fault Tolerance, Multi-threaded Programming, Network Programming, Exabyte Scale.

💰 Compensation and Industry Demographics:

The base salary for this role ranges from $142,000 to $234,000. Actual compensation is determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and market location.

In the context of the U.S. Cloud Infrastructure and Systems Engineering workforce for 2025-2026:

• The “Scale” Premium: In 2026, engineers with experience in Consensus Protocols (Paxos/Raft) and exabyte-scale data management are seeing a 16% increase in total compensation offers as global data storage needs continue to double every 18 months.
• Racial Representation in U.S. Systems Engineering: Based on 2025 industry data for “Systems and Infrastructure Software Developers”:
  • White: 49.5%
  • Asian: 36.8%
  • Hispanic or Latino: 6.4%
  • Black or African American: 5.1%
  • Other/Multiracial: 2.2%
• Gender in Distributed Systems: Women represent approximately 16% of core distributed systems and storage engineering roles globally. Alibaba Cloud emphasizes a “rigorous and honest” team spirit, valuing technical merit and collaborative innovation.
• Open Source Influence: Over 70% of top-tier cloud storage engineers in 2026 are active contributors to major open-source projects (CNCF, Apache Foundation), making open-source experience a critical differentiator for candidates at this level.

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