Software Engineer - Surfaces

PlanetScale is growing rapidly and reinventing the database space. The PlanetScale platform offers both Postgres and Vitess clusters. Vitess, an open-source database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL, enables businesses to efficiently handle large-scale data workloads — without sacrificing developer experience.

Our customers entrust us with what is often their most precious digital asset, their data, so the stakes couldn't be higher. We're looking for a Software Engineer to join our Surfaces team. The Surfaces team is responsible for all user-facing UIs, CLIs and APIs. We build and maintain the PlanetScale dashboard, APIs and billing systems every PlanetScale user relies on to launch and manage their databases.

What's the job to be done?

You will work on app.planetscale.com, the central control plane for every PlanetScale database, responsible for the creation and management of some of the worlds most important Vitess and Postgres databases.

You will get to work across languages. Our CLI is written in Go, the dashboard is React + TypeScript, and the backend API is Ruby on Rails.

You will get the opportunity to learn and deeply understand Vitess and Postgres. Working with our design team, you will apply your skills and taste to solve database DX challenges. Building truly the best database for developers.

You will build, document, and publish RESTful APIs used by both end users and our user-facing dashboard.

You will work on internal admin tools (chatbots, admin panels) to assist our engineers and support teams to better solve customer problems.

You will get to work on bringing PlanetScale to where our users are — whether that's via an API, Terraform provider, or MCP server.

You will work independently to solve engineering and business problems with little direction and high autonomy.

These attributes best describe you…

You are passionate about deeply understanding user problems and applying your skills to build UIs and APIs to solve them. You have a high personal bar for the user experiences you produce.

You enjoy shipping quickly and iterating on solutions while learning from customer feedback.

You excel in a collaborative environment. It is not your code, it is our code and we win by working together.

You have excellent problem-solving skills and can debug complex issues across multiple systems.

You embrace AI tools and frequently evaluate how you can integrate it into improving your workflow.

You are self-motivated and can work independently with minimal guidance while making sound technical decisions.

What you will need

5+ years of software engineering experience building web applications

Strong proficiency in Ruby on Rails for backend development

Experience with React and TypeScript for frontend development

Familiarity with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL)

Understanding of web fundamentals: HTTP, authentication, browser APIs

Familiarity with feature flags and progressive rollouts to move quickly and safely

Experience with modern CSS (Tailwind CSS or similar utility-first frameworks)

What else will help you be successful

Experience with Go for CLI development

Experience with Next.js or Remix

Experience with background job processing (Sidekiq)

Knowledge of data visualization libraries (D3, charting libraries)

Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP)

Previous experience at a high-growth technology company

Why PlanetScale

We're redefining how high-growth companies manage data at scale—and we work with some of the most exciting brands in gaming, consumer tech, and B2B SaaS. As a Software Engineer, you'll be at the core of building the platform that powers world-class apps used by hundreds of millions of users worldwide. PlanetScale is a profitable company with a philosophy centered around building small teams of p99 individuals and is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in America.

At PlanetScale we believe in supporting people to do their best work and thrive no matter the location. Our mission is to build a diverse, equitable, and inclusive company. We strive to build an inclusive environment where all people feel that they are equally respected and valued, whether they are a candidate or an employee. We welcome applicants of any educational background, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, citizenship, socioeconomic status, disability, pregnancy status, and veteran status.

If you have a disability, please let us know if there's any way we can make the interview process better for you; we're happy to accommodate!

Total Compensation and Pay Transparency

An employee's total compensation consists of base salary + variable comp where appropriate + benefits + equity. A member of our Talent Acquisition team will be happy to answer any further questions when we engage with you to begin the interview process.

Base salary range: $120,000 - $290,000 USD