Salesforce is the #1 AI CRM, where humans with agents drive customer success together. Here, ambition meets action. Tech meets trust. And innovation isn’t a buzzword — it’s a way of life. The world of work as we know it is changing and we're looking for Trailblazers who are passionate about bettering business and the world through AI, driving innovation, and keeping Salesforce's core values at the heart of it all. Ready to level up your career at the company leading workforce transformation in the agentic era? You’re in the right place! Agentforce is the future of AI, and you are the future of Salesforce. We are seeking a Senior Director of Distributed Database Systems Engineering to lead next-generation data architecture innovation within an R&D/incubation-style team. This role is designed for a deeply experienced technical leader (typically 20+ years of relevant experience or equivalent depth) who can set architectural direction, drive hands‑on prototyping, and influence platform strategy across a complex services ecosystem. You will focus on forward‑looking distributed database architecture and advanced data strategies—especially partitioning, replication, consistency, indexing, and performance at scale. The emphasis is on technical innovation and architectural leadership, not long‑term operational ownership of an established production platform. Key Responsibilities

Set technical vision for distributed data architecture capabilities that enable high‑scale, high‑availability systems. Lead and sponsor prototypes that explore novel approaches to partitioning, replication, and consistency (including clear tradeoff articulation). Drive innovation in storage, indexing, and query optimization strategies for large‑scale transactional and analytical workloads. Evaluate and evolve architectural patterns for distributed data platforms within multi‑service, multi‑tenant ecosystems. Partner across engineering and product leadership to align data architecture direction with platform strategy and long‑term roadmaps. Lead architectural reviews and act as an executive‑level technical authority for distributed systems design decisions. Develop and mentor senior technical talent (architects, principal engineers), establishing strong technical bar and best practices. Explore and define data infrastructure patterns that support intelligent and agent‑driven workloads (e.g., autonomy, planning, tool use, and orchestration at scale).

Required Qualifications

20+ years or equivalent experience in database engineering, storage systems, or distributed systems architecture (or equivalent depth). Deep expertise in distributed systems theory, including CAP tradeoffs, consistency models, failure modes, and resilience patterns. Extensive experience with sharding, replication, high availability, and large‑scale data integrity/performance optimization. Strong command of indexing, transactional semantics, and performance tuning at scale. Proficiency in systems‑level or backend programming languages, with the ability to be hands‑on in prototypes and architectural exploration. Proven leadership delivering architecture strategy across teams/orgs, including influencing senior stakeholders and mentoring senior engineers.

Preferred Experience

Contributions to database engines, storage‑layer infrastructure, or query execution components. Experience with large‑scale SaaS multi‑tenant data environments. Experience designing and running benchmarking / performance experiments for distributed systems. Exposure to data architectures that support AI‑assisted, agentic, or automation‑heavy workloads.

Accommodations: If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form. Posting Statement Salesforce is an equal opportunity employer and maintains a policy of non‑discrimination with all employees and applicants for employment. What does that mean exactly? It means that at Salesforce, we believe in equality for all. And we believe we can lead the path to equality in part by creating a workplace that’s inclusive, and free from discrimination. Know your rights: workplace discrimination is illegal. Any employee or potential employee will be assessed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications – without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, transgender status, age, disability, veteran or marital status, political viewpoint, or other classifications protected by law. This policy applies to current and prospective employees, no matter where they are in their Salesforce employment journey. It also applies to recruiting, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, assessment of job performance, discipline, termination, and everything in between. Recruiting, hiring, and promotion decisions at Salesforce are fair and based on merit. The same goes for compensation, benefits, promotions, transfers, reduction in workforce, recall, training, and education. #J-18808-Ljbffr