Senior Engineer - Core MySQL, Database Platform
Remote - Americas
At Shopify, the Database Platform group owns the data layer that every shop on the platform runs on. The Core MySQL team sits at the centre of that: we own MySQL itself along with everything around it — the backup systems, the routing layer, the proxies and the regional resiliency and failover machinery that decides how Shopify runs across regions and where traffic goes. These are critical services in the most literal sense.
This is a role for someone who is interested in solving hard problems at world class scale. This role has equal parts software engineering and operational level work. You’ll be building and maintaining purpose built software to operate our database fleet as well as implementing performance, cost and resiliency improvements.
What you'll be doing
Building and maintaining custom software and automation that lets the team operate MySQL at Shopify's scale
Operating the fleet directly: virtual machine management, configuration and performance tuning for MySQL, capacity work, and resiliency testing.
Owning the software powering the connection management, the backups and the failover machinery behind Shopify's database platform.
Planning and executing changes to critical systems where correctness matters more than speed, and being the person who thought through what could go wrong.
Participating in a shared on-call rotation covering Shopify's database platform
Growing with the platform as the data layer evolves.
Qualifications
Solid grounding in infrastructure and large-scale distributed systems, with real production ownership rather than adjacent exposure.
Genuine software engineering ability — you write and maintain real code, not just scripts, and you will be assessed against Shopify's engineering bar.
Hands-on operational experience with stateful systems: configuration and performance tuning, capacity planning, failure testing, and incident response.
Exceptional attention to detail and a demonstrated instinct for de-risking changes to systems where failure is expensive.
Comfort carrying a pager for critical infrastructure, and the judgement to know when to act and when to escalate.
Effective use of AI tooling to accelerate your own work and cover gaps.
Bonus points for:
Deep MySQL experience — the internals, replication, backup and restore, proxying and routing layers.
Experience with Zookeeper or other similar distributed systems
Experience with Google Cloud Platform
Experience operating a large database fleet at a company of similar scale.
At Shopify, we pride ourselves on moving quickly—not just in shipping, but in our hiring process as well. If you're ready to apply, please be prepared to interview with us within the week. Our goal is to complete the entire interview loop within 30 days. You will be expected to complete a live pair programming session, come prepared with your own IDE.
This role requires on-call work.
Ready to build the backbone of Shopify? Join the team that's making commerce better for everyone.
Engineering. It’s our DNA.
Engineering isn't a department at Shopify. It's our DNA. The engineers who thrive here care about the code, the system, and the merchants relying on both. They want hard problems and uncomfortable growth. They find solutions without waiting for permission. They ship weekly. They want commerce to work better for everyone. So does our founder, Tobi, who still codes and still shapes where this thing is going.
They're open source nerds. They pair program because two brains write better code than one. New tools, new models, new approaches. They experiment constantly. Most of what's standard here started as someone hacking on something.
They use AI like a keyboard, reflexively and everywhere, to clear the mundane and make room for thinking. And they work in the open. The fastest way to learn here is to watch someone better than you do the work. If that sounds like you, come build with us.
Infrastructure engineering
Infrastructure Engineers at Shopify build and maintain the systems that handle millions of requests per second and billions of dollars in transactions. At that scale, performance gains matter and weak assumptions surface quickly. Your systems power the experience for millions of entrepreneurs and buyers every minute of every day, including peak events like Black Friday.
Engineers at Shopify spend the majority of their time actually writing code to build and improve infrastructure. You’ll solve problems that don’t exist anywhere else, with challenges that push what’s possible. If that lights you up, come build with us.
Mastery-matched compensation.
~Mastery
At Shopify, getting better at your craft and increasing your impact is how you grow. Twice a year, we assess both in our ~Mastery cycle, Shopify’s performance review. Achieving higher ~Mastery is a promotion, and when you earn a promotion your total rewards grow with it. Crafter and manager are equal paths, so you can pursue excellence in the craft you’re best at.
Total Rewards
With Flex Comp, your Rewards Wallet gives you agency over your compensation mix. Adjust your mix of cash, restricted share units, and stock options (including programs like Long-Term Equity)* to where it makes sense for you, and mix it up anytime as life and priorities change. Buying a house? Want more skin in the game? Just experimenting? It’s your call.
* Flex Comp program offerings vary based on location, role, and employment type. Full details are set out in our Terms & Conditions and related plan documents.
Room for the rest of your life.
Flexible work, remote by design
A flexible vacation policy means most Shopifolk can take the vacation days they feel they need to recharge.
If a change of everyday scenery is more your jam, Destination 90 means you can work from (almost) anywhere in the world for 90 days of the year.
Your setup
Your battlestation is your home base. Request the desk, chair, and AV gear you need to get shit done.
Benefits
You need ‘em, we’ve got ‘em. Our health and welfare benefits may include health, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance depending on your country. If you’re in a country without a package, you'll receive a monthly allowance. We also offer mental health support for you and your dependents, including immediate and confidential services like counseling and coaching sessions.
Family support
We offer fertility benefits globally, along with paid parental leave to welcome a new family member.
The Life Story is how we understand the themes of your career journey so far, human to human. What you’ve learned, and how you made a difference. Show us the trophies and the bruises: the problems you’ve solved, the challenges you encountered, the decisions you made, and the lessons you learned along the way.
We’re looking for world-class crafters. Crafters obsessed with pursuing excellence in their field. Our craft assessment looks at your personal journey toward mastery, and your potential to go broader and deeper in novel ways.
You’ll start with an online assessment, followed by a craft assessment. Show us what you do best, and how you do it. Shopify’s bar is high, and code wins arguments around here. Let your skills do the talking.
Building on your craft assessment, these interviews dive deeper into your experience and technical aptitude. Depending on the role, this may include technical deep dives focusing on projects you've previously worked on, collaborating in a design critique, exploring a dataset using SQL, or taking the lead on solving a problem with your interviewer as your co-pilot.