Senior Software Engineer - JVM Language Clients

ClickHouse

$141K — $232K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years in software engineering with focus on data-intensive systems
  • Deep expertise in Java and JVM with memory model and GC tuning
  • Experience building or extending libraries trusted by engineers
  • Strong understanding of database fundamentals and analytical workloads
  • Instincts on concurrency in the JVM with networking nuances
  • Proficient use of modern AI development tools alongside strong design judgment
  • Exceptional written communication skills for technical coordination
  • Comfort with open-source engagement and public design discussions

Responsibilities

  • Own Java client and JDBC driver end-to-end with roadmap and API design
  • Drive improvements in throughput and latency for client-server interaction
  • Collaborate with Connectors team to meet driver requirements
  • Engage with external partners on interoperability and regression alignment
  • Deliver measurable enhancements in stability and developer experience

Benefits

  • Flexible work environment supporting remote work globally
  • Employer contributions towards healthcare
  • Opportunities for equity through stock options
  • Generous flexible time off policies
  • Home office setup stipend for remote employees
  • In-person connection at global company gatherings
Full Job Description
About the team

The Integrations Ecosystem org is the bridge between ClickHouse and the rest of the data world. We build and maintain the connections that make ClickHouse accessible to the developers, data engineers, and analysts who rely on it in production every day. Our scope spans low-level database drivers, ingestion and CDC pipelines, data framework integrations, and BI connectivity - ensuring ClickHouse feels native in whatever stack our users already have.

We maintain the official language clients (Python, JavaScript, Java, Go, Rust, C++, C#) and ODBC driver; ship first-party connectors for Kafka Connect, Apache Spark, Apache Flink, dbt, and Airbyte; and own integrations with BI platforms.

This role sits on the Language Clients team, which provides the JVM foundation that everything else in the ecosystem is built on.
What you'll do

As a Senior Software Engineer on Language Clients, you'll be a technical owner of ClickHouse's Java client and JDBC driver, the foundation that our own Connectors team and a long list of external

frameworks rely on to talk to ClickHouse.

Your primary users are engineers: the Connectors team building ClickHouse connectors for Kafka, Flink, Spark, and others, and the broader JVM ecosystem (data ingestion tools, BI platforms, data visualizations) that consumes the driver directly. Your job is to make sure they have a fast, reliable, well-designed foundation and to treat their feedback as the signal for where the driver goes next.

In your first year you can expect to:
  • Own the Java client and JDBC driver end-to-end: roadmap, API design, performance, release engineering, and partner-facing support.
  • Drive throughput and latency work across the client and ClickHouse server
  • Partner day-to-day with the Connectors team as an embedded internal customer: understand what their connectors need from the driver, and ship it.
  • Engage directly with external partners across data ingestion, and data visualization on interoperability, regressions, and roadmap alignment.
  • Ship visible, measurable wins in throughput, stability, and developer experience.


We expect you to bring opinions, artifacts, and written proposals to shape where we invest next.
About you
  • 5+ years of software engineering experience with a significant portion focused on data-intensive systems: drivers, SDKs, ingestion, CDC, streaming, or analytics.
  • Deep Java and JVM expertise: memory model, GC tuning, profiling, and the ability to reason about throughput and latency at the level of bytes on the wire.
  • Hands-on experience building or substantially extending a library that other engineers depend on. You understand that API design compounds, and that a breaking change in a widely used library is a very different thing from a breaking change in an application.
  • Strong grasp of database fundamentals: SQL, query execution, and analytical/OLAP workloads. Judgment about when to lean on framework abstractions versus when to drop down to the protocol.
  • Solid instincts on concurrency in the JVM: executors, reactive streams, backpressure, connection pooling, and the failure modes that come with each.
  • Thoughtful, transparent use of modern AI development tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, or equivalents) combined with strong independent design and code review judgment. We expect engineers to lean on AI where it's genuinely helpful and to be explicit about where they didn't. Resistance to AI tooling is a mismatch for this team and so is over-reliance without the underlying engineering depth to review what comes out.
  • Excellent written communication. Most of our coordination happens in design docs, PR descriptions, and RFCs.
  • Genuine open-source disposition: comfort engaging with community issues, external contributors, and public design discussions. You don't need to be a maintainer of a well-known project, but you do need to be comfortable working in the open.
Nice to have
  • Working knowledge of JDBC internals, ADBC, or Arrow / Arrow Flight SQL.
  • Experience designing or evolving wire protocols, or contributing to a widely-used network client.
  • Prior contributions to open-source data infrastructure (Kafka, Spark, Flink, dbt, Debezium, Iceberg, or similar).
  • Working knowledge of ClickHouse or another columnar/OLAP engine.


The typical starting salary for this role in the US is

$141,000-$208,000 USD

The typical starting salary for this role in US Premium Markets is

$157,000-$232,000 USD

Compensation

For roles based in the United States, the typical starting salary range for this position is listed above. In certain locations, such as the San Francisco Bay Area and the New York City Metro Area, a premium market range may apply, as listed.

These salary ranges reflect what we reasonably and in good faith believe to be the minimum and maximum pay for this role at the time of posting. The actual compensation may be higher or lower than the amounts listed, and the ranges may be subject to future adjustments.

An individual's placement within the range will depend on various factors, including (but not limited to) education, qualifications, certifications, experience, skills, location, performance, and the needs of the business or organization.

If you have any questions or comments about compensation as a candidate, please get in touch with us at [redacted].
Perks
  • Flexible work environment - ClickHouse is a globally distributed company and remote-friendly. We currently operate in over 20 countries.
  • Healthcare - Employer contributions towards your healthcare.
  • Equity in the company - Every new team member who joins our company receives stock options.
  • Time off - Flexible time off in the US, generous entitlement in other countries.
  • A $500 Home office setup if you're a remote employee.
  • Global Gatherings - We believe in the power of in-person connection and offer opportunities to engage with colleagues at company-wide offsites.

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