About Granica
Granica is an AI research and infrastructure company building reliable and steerable representations for enterprise structured data.
The rarest thing in enterprise AI is durable access plus trust. Crunch is how we earn it: a policy-driven physical health layer that keeps large tabular data estates efficient and reliable, safely and reversibly.
On top of that foundation, we’re building structured intelligence using Large Tabular Models: systems that learn cross-column and relational structure to deliver trustworthy answers and automation with provenance and governance built in.
Engineering Manager — Foundational Data Systems for AI
Location: Downtown Mountain View, CA (office-based, 5 days/week)
Team: Foundational Data Systems
About the Role
We’re hiring an Engineering Manager to lead our core team building Granica’s Foundational Data Systems—the infrastructure layer that everything else depends on.
You’ll lead a globally distributed team of ~15–20 senior engineers across the US, India, and Canada, owning systems across storage, metadata, compute, and infrastructure. This is a high-impact leadership role with real architectural influence and long-term ownership.
Data infrastructure is critical at Granica. The systems your team builds directly determine the reliability, efficiency, and velocity of our research, product development, and enterprise deployments.
This role is ideal for a technically strong leader who enjoys building teams, shaping systems that last, and operating with high trust and autonomy.
The Mission
AI today is constrained not just by model design, but by the inefficiency of the data that feeds it. At scale, redundant bytes, poorly organized datasets, and inefficient data paths translate directly into higher cost, slower iteration, and wasted energy.
Granica’s mission is to remove that inefficiency at the foundation. We design self-optimizing data infrastructure—systems that continuously reorganize, compress, and maintain structured data so it can be learned from efficiently and reliably by AI systems.
This engineering team works closely with the Granica Research group led by Prof. Andrea Montanari (Stanford), translating advances in information theory and learning efficiency into large-scale distributed systems. Together, we believe the next major advance in AI will come from better systems and better data, not simply larger models.
What You’ll Do
Lead, mentor, and grow a team of senior engineers across multiple geographies
Own hiring, onboarding, and career development in a high-bar engineering culture
Set technical direction through design reviews, RFCs, and principled trade-offs
Own the design and evolution of foundational systems spanning:
Table maintenance and data layout
Metadata, transactions, and schema evolution
Distributed compute and orchestration
Reliability, observability, and operational tooling
Translate strategy into execution through roadmaps and milestones
Establish and uphold reliability, latency, and operational standards
Lead incident response, postmortems, and continuous system improvement
Partner closely with Research, Applied AI, Product, and Infrastructure teams to move ideas from research into production
Skills and Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
7+ years of experience in backend, infrastructure, or distributed systems engineering
2+ years leading engineering teams or large, multi-person technical initiatives
Deep expertise in distributed compute frameworks (e.g., Spark, Trino, Presto) and columnar formats (Parquet, ORC)
Experience building or operating data platforms, lakehouse systems, or large-scale analytics infrastructure
Strong systems design instincts across distributed compute, storage, and data platforms
Experience operating and scaling production systems with real reliability requirements
Hands-on technical background; comfortable participating in deep technical discussions
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with Iceberg, Delta Lake, or similar table formats
Experience partnering closely with research or ML teams
Track record of scaling teams in high-ambiguity, fast-moving environments
Logistics
Location: Downtown Mountain View, CA
Work model: Office-based, five days per week
Team: Foundational Data Systems
Leadership scope: ~15–20 engineers across the US, India, and Canada
Why Granica
Fundamental Research Meets Enterprise Impact. Work at the intersection of science and engineering, turning foundational research into deployed systems serving enterprise workloads at exabyte scale.
AI by Design. Build the infrastructure that defines how efficiently the world can create and apply intelligence.
Real Ownership. Design primitives that will underpin the next decade of AI infrastructure.
High-Trust Environment. Deep technical work, minimal bureaucracy, shared mission.
Enduring Horizon. Backed by NEA, Bain Capital, and various luminaries from tech and business. We are building a generational company for decades, not quarters or a product cycle.
Compensation & Benefits
Competitive salary, meaningful equity, and substantial bonus for top performers
Flexible time off plus comprehensive health coverage for you and your family
Support for research, publication, and deep technical exploration
At Granica, you will shape the fundamental infrastructure that makes intelligence itself efficient, structured, and enduring. Join us to build the foundational data systems that power the future of enterprise AI!
