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Principal / Staff Applied Research Scientist

Snowflake Inc.· Engineering
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US-CA-Menlo Park$236k - $339.2kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Research-focused role building verified data infrastructure and trustworthy data systems at Snowflake, applying formal methods, program analysis, and AI-driven techniques to a cloud data platform, with emphasis on translating research into shipped capabilities that improve quality, velocity, reliability, and operational performance at scale.

Responsibilities

  • Lead research projects that apply formal methods, program analysis, automated reasoning, and AI-driven techniques (including code generation and modeling) to real problems in our cloud data platform.
  • Translate research ideas into prototypes, then into shipped capabilities that move concrete business metrics — quality, velocity, reliability, and operational performance at scale.
  • Partner closely with engineering leaders, product managers, and key customers to identify high-leverage opportunities and turn them into deliverables.
  • Influence the engineering and product roadmap; advise leaders on which research directions are pragmatic and which are not.
  • Train and uplevel engineering teams on new methods, and scale those methods across the organization.
  • Maintain expertise at the frontier of the field through publications, conference participation, open-source contributions, and patent filings.

Qualifications

  • PhD (or equivalent research experience) in Computer Science or a closely related field.
  • Depth across formal methods (model checking, theorem proving, SAT/SMT, program verification, type systems, or program analysis), distributed systems, software engineering, and AI/ML (practical experience with modern ML/LLMs applied to systems problems such as code generation, synthesis, or automated reasoning).
  • 8+ years applying theoretical computer science to large-scale software systems — ideally cloud data platforms, distributed systems, or developer infrastructure.
  • Demonstrated ability to drive company-level initiatives in partnership with engineering and product leadership.
  • Track record of technical contribution to the field — publications, open-source work, patents, or comparable impact.
  • Comfortable in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment where impact is measured by what ships.

Skills

Required:Formal methodsDistributed systemsAI / ML in systemsSoftware engineering

Benefits

  • Salary range: $236K – $339.2K (compensation)
Last updated Jul 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Snowflake Inc.

The Data Platform Built for Data Teams.

Snowflake powers AI, data engineering, applications, and analytics on a trusted, scalable AI Data Cloud—eliminating silos and accelerating innovation.

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