Database Research Scientist
ClickHouseRemoteposted 3d ago
At a glance
Conduct applied research across databases, distributed systems, and ML systems, designing algorithms and production implementations that improve the performance and scalability of ClickHouse and PostgreSQL.
Summarized by AI from the original posting
What you'll do
- Conduct applied research on performance, scalability, reliability, and functionality of open-source database systems
- Design and evaluate algorithms, data structures, and system architectures
- Develop research prototypes and production-grade implementations
- Collaborate with engineering teams to integrate research into open-source and production systems
- Analyze database workloads, performance traces, benchmarks, and production telemetry
- Design experiments and benchmarks across realistic workloads and hardware configurations
- Communicate research through reports, open-source contributions, presentations, and publications
- Identify emerging research opportunities and shape longer-term projects
Requirements
- 01Strong publication record in leading peer-reviewed research venues
- 02Experience with database internals or large systems codebases
- 03Strong programming and systems-development background
- 04Strong analytical, experimental, problem-solving, and technical communication skills
- 05Experience developing or operating database systems in cloud environments preferred
- 06Experience contributing to large open-source systems projects preferred
Perks
Skills
Full description
ClickHouse Labs is an applied research group that works closely with engineering teams to identify challenging problems in database systems and develop novel solutions. Our goal is to advance the state of the art and translate research ideas into real-world system improvements.
About the Role
As a Research Scientist at ClickHouse Labs, you will work on high-impact problems at the intersection of database systems, distributed systems, AI, and systems software engineering while collaborating with experienced researchers and engineers. The role covers a broad range of problems across database systems research and engineering, including but not limited to query optimization, execution engines, distributed systems, consensus protocols, materialized views, indexing and data structures, benchmarking, workload analysis, and emerging agentic workloads.
In this role, you will work on leading open-source database systems (e.g., ClickHouse, PostgreSQL). You will investigate performance and scalability bottlenecks in production-quality systems, develop new algorithms and system designs, and evaluate them under realistic workloads and hardware configurations. Projects may involve improving query planning and execution, reducing CPU and memory overhead, increasing throughput and concurrency, scaling across distributed deployments, or redesigning system components to leverage modern hardware better. You will work closely with engineers to turn successful ideas into robust implementations that can be deployed and maintained in widely used open-source systems.
Researchers are encouraged to publish their work, contribute to open-source projects, participate in leading research conferences, and pursue ambitious projects with strong engineering and research support.
Responsibilities
Conduct applied research aimed at advancing the performance, scalability, reliability, and functionality of open-source database management systems, including ClickHouse and PostgreSQL.
Design and evaluate new algorithms, data structures, and system architectures for areas such as query optimization, indexing, storage management, query execution, and distributed data management.
Develop high-quality research prototypes and production-grade implementations, and work with engineering teams to integrate successful techniques into open-source and production systems.
Collaborate closely with database engine, infrastructure, and data-plane engineers to identify high-impact research problems and translate research results into practical system improvements.
Analyze large-scale database workloads, performance traces, benchmarks, and production telemetry to identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities.
Design rigorous experiments and benchmarks to evaluate new techniques across realistic workloads, hardware configurations, and deployment environments.
Communicate research results through technical reports, open-source contributions, internal presentations, and publications at leading database and systems venues (e.g., SIGMOD, VLDB, CIDR).
Contribute to the broader technical direction of ClickHouse Labs by identifying emerging research opportunities and helping shape longer-term research projects.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
Masters/Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field, with research experience in databases, distributed systems, systems software, or machine learning systems.
Strong publication record in leading peer-reviewed research venues such as SIGMOD, VLDB, SOSP, OSDI, NSDI, or NeurIPS, with work relevant to databases or systems.
Strong programming and systems-development background, including experience working with database internals or other large systems codebases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, ClickHouse, or comparable modern DBMSs.
Proficiency in systems programming using C, C++, Rust, Zig, or a comparable low-level programming language.
Strong analytical, experimental, problem-solving, and technical communication skills.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience developing or operating database systems in cloud environments such as AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure.
Familiarity with large language models, reinforcement learning, learned optimization, or other techniques at the intersection of machine learning and systems.
Experience contributing to large open-source systems projects, particularly database engines, distributed systems, compilers, or storage systems.
Bonus Qualifications
Familiarity with modern systems-development and verification tooling, including formal specification or model-checking frameworks such as TLA+/PlusCal, Alloy, or Lean, as well as relevant development tools and languages such as LLVM, eBPF, Python, Go, or advanced profiling and debugging tools (e.g., perf, sanitizers, or tracing frameworks).
Proven track record in optimizing database systems via hardware acceleration (e.g., GPU, FPGA, CXL), with a focus on designing methods for offloading for query execution, storage layers, and data-intensive primitives using frameworks like CUDA, SYCL, ROCm, or specialized FPGA development flows.
Perks
Flexible work environment - ClickHouse is a globally distributed company and remote-friendly. We currently operate in over 25 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 USD$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.
Culture - We All Shape It
As part of a rapidly scaling start-up, you will be instrumental in shaping our culture.
Are you interested in finding out more about our culture? Learn more about our values here. Check out our blog posts or follow us on LinkedIn to find out more about what’s happening at ClickHouse.
Equal Opportunity & Privacy
ClickHouse provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type based on factors such as race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
Please see here for our Privacy Statement.
Compensation: $175K - $235K