Software Engineer - Supavisor

About the Role

The role entails collaborating closely with the Product and Customer Support teams to enhance reliability, uptime, and the overall developer experience for users. Given the global nature of Supabase's operations, this position requires someone who thrives in asynchronous, fast-paced environments and is passionate about building production systems that can scale to millions of users.

What You Will Do

• Improve the stability and performance of Supavisor to scale with customer demand while reducing operating costs.
• Enhance the CI/CD and deployment pipeline to enable low-impact upgrades with zero downtime and without dropping connections, including the transition to Kubernetes.
• Ensure client and ORM compatibility by directly supporting customers, third-party libraries, and ORMs that use Supavisor to connect to Supabase.
• Develop clear documentation to help users maximize the potential of Supavisor.
• Participate in feature development to add new capabilities and improve the developer experience, including APIs and client libraries.
• Resolve escalated support issues, participate in on-call rotations, incident response, and post-incident reviews.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify areas of improvement and implement solutions.
• Stay updated with the latest trends and technologies in distributed systems, database management, and infrastructure to continuously enhance Supavisor.

What We Are Looking For

• Experience in developing and operating distributed systems at scale, preferably in the database or infrastructure domain.
• Proficiency in Elixir, or a strong systems background with a willingness to learn Elixir deeply.
• Familiarity with protocol development, particularly the Postgres wire protocol.
• Experience with the ORM and database client ecosystem, such as SQLAlchemy or Prisma.
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines with a focus on minimizing customer impact.
• Excellent communication skills to effectively interact with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfort with navigating ambiguity and moving quickly in an asynchronous, globally distributed team.

Nice to Have

• Experience with hot code reload or other zero-downtime deployment techniques.
• Contributions to open-source projects, particularly in areas related to distributed systems or database management.
• Experience in debugging production issues under pressure, ideally in an on-call capacity.

Benefits and Perks

• Fully remote work environment, with the option to work from anywhere in the world.
• ESOP (equity ownership) for every team member, allowing everyone to share in the company's success.
• Tech allowance to set up your ideal work environment, including hardware and software needs.
• Comprehensive health benefits, covering 100% of health insurance for employees and 80% for dependents.
• Annual off-sites where the entire company gathers for a week of collaboration, connection, and fun.
• Flexible work arrangements, operating in an asynchronous manner to accommodate different time zones and work styles.

• Ensure you have a solid understanding of Elixir and distributed systems, as these are key components of the role.
• Showcase your experience in database management and infrastructure, highlighting any work with Postgres or similar technologies.
• Prepare examples of how you have improved performance and stability in previous roles, especially in fast-paced environments.
• Demonstrate your ability to communicate complex technical ideas to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Be ready to discuss your experience with CI/CD pipelines and deployment strategies, focusing on minimizing customer impact.
• Highlight any contributions to open-source projects or experience with zero-downtime deployment techniques as a significant plus.
• Consider creating a portfolio or examples of your work, especially if you have experience in designing or improving distributed systems.