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Lead/Principal Performance Engineer

salesforce.com, inc.
parental leave, 401(k)
United States, California, San Francisco
1 Market Street (Show on map)
Jun 26, 2026

To get the best candidate experience, please consider applying for a maximum of 3 roles within 12 months to ensure you are not duplicating efforts.

Job Category

Software Engineering

Job Details

About Salesforce

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.

The Experience

The Lead/Principal Performance Engineer is a high-level technical leader and you are a performance and scale subject matter expert who drives innovation, designs high-scale automation frameworks, and ensures product reliability. You prevent bottlenecks before they happen through architectural influence, database tuning, and deep root cause analysis. You bring a multiplier effect to every team you join - elevating engineers around you and owning the most complex, systemic performance challenges from initial design through production. This role follows a hybrid schedule of 1-3 days per week in office.

What You'll Actually Be Doing
  • Lead performance efforts across multi-team projects by designing traffic models, establishing scale goals, and implementing sophisticated automation and monitoring strategies.
  • Serve as the expert in database tuning and system optimization, driving design meetings by questioning implementation choices and proposing high-performance alternatives.
  • Rapidly build proofs of concept and lead research spikes to test ideas and address critical scale issues through rapid prototyping and fast iteration.
  • Coach and mentor engineers at all levels, lead code and design reviews, and partner with product managers to ensure performance is a core part of the definition of done.
You're Our Person If...
  • 10+ years of experience as a software engineer or developer building platforms and applications at massive scale, including hands-on automation development.
  • Expert-level proficiency in Java, including Java Virtual Machine (JVM) performance tuning and Garbage Collection (GC) mechanisms, along with experience in Python, C, or Ruby on Rails.
  • Deep understanding of key performance metrics across throughput, latency, memory, central processing unit (CPU), disk, and network - with the ability to debug and resolve bottlenecks across all of them.
  • Strong communicator with a proven track record in Application Programming Interface (API) design, concurrency, resource efficiency, and the ability to present technical findings clearly to both engineers and executives.
Even Better If...
  • Professional experience applying AI tools in automation or performance engineering contexts.
  • Familiarity with distributed data and transport systems such as Apache Kafka, Apache Cassandra, or Apache Spark.
  • Salesforce platform experience or Salesforce certifications.
  • A related technical degree.

Unleash Your Potential

When you join Salesforce, you'll be limitless in all areas of your life. Our benefits and resources support you to find balance and be your best, and our AI agents accelerate your impact so you can do your best. Together, we'll bring the power of Agentforce to organizations of all sizes and deliver amazing experiences that customers love. Apply today to not only shape the future - but to redefine what's possible - for yourself, for AI, and the world.

Accommodations

If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please submit a request via this Accommodations Request Form.

Please note that Salesforce uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help our recruiters assess and evaluate candidates' resumes and qualifications throughout the recruiting process. Humans will always make any candidate selection and hiring decisions. Please see our Candidate Privacy Statement for more information about how we use your personal data and your rights, including with regard to use of AI tools and opt out options.

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.

In the United States, compensation offered will be determined by factors such as location, job level, job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Certain roles may be eligible for incentive compensation, equity, and benefits. Salesforce offers a variety of benefits to help you live well including: time off programs, medical, dental, vision, mental health support, paid parental leave, life and disability insurance, 401(k), and an employee stock purchasing program. More details about company benefits can be found at the following link: https://www.salesforcebenefits.com.Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, Salesforce will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. At Salesforce, we believe in equitable compensation practices that reflect the dynamic nature of labor markets across various regions. The typical base salary range for this position is $172,500 - $313,700 annually. In select cities within the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan area, the base salary range for this role is $207,800 - $344,700 annually. The range represents base salary only, and does not include company bonus, incentive for sales roles, equity or benefits, as applicable.
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