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Introduction
Are you a skilled C/C++ developer with a passion for cutting-edge technologies in AI and observability with a growth mindset? This is an exciting opportunity to join the IBM Instana product team, working with industry-leading tools like Watsonx, OpenTelemetry, and eBPF.
As an Advisory Developer, you’ll bring deep technical expertise and a proactive, collaborative approach to solving complex engineering challenges. You’ll report directly to the Engineering Manager and contribute to the development and maintenance of core components, drive feature innovation, and engage with open-source communities. While this role doesn’t include formal leadership responsibilities from day one, we’re looking for individuals who demonstrate technical leadership, mentorship potential, and a strong sense of ownership.
We value developers who are laser-focused on quality and execution speed, and who thrive in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment. You should have a solid understanding of modern software engineering practices and be comfortable working closely with Product Managers, Team Leads, and fellow engineers.
If you're excited by innovation, open-source collaboration, and the opportunity to grow into a leadership role—let’s talk!
Your role and responsibilities
We’re seeking developers with strong C/C++ skills—Rust experience is a plus—to join our team working on either:
- Tracing and profiling agents for various runtimes, or
- Time series database technologies.
Depending on the focus area, the following expertise is valuable:
- For tracing and profiling, familiarity with runtime APIs such as Java, PHP, or .NET is an asset, as is experience with eBPF and the Linux kernel.
- For the database role, general knowledge of database internals is beneficial—topics like indexing, storage strategies, scaling, and consensus algorithms are especially relevant.
A background in working with GitHub and contributing to open-source projects will support our active involvement in OpenTelemetry and eBPF communities. You’ll be expected to understand the dynamics of these communities, including their contribution models, communication channels, governance structures, and tooling. Your contributions will include feature development and bug fixes that directly support our product goals.
Key Responsibilities:
- Collaborate with Product Managers to plan and implement new features
- Engage directly with customers for consulting and support-related tasks
- Extend tracer and profiler capabilities by adding support for new libraries
- Refactor and improve existing codebases with fresh ideas and approaches
- Diagnose performance issues and implement efficient solutions
- Actively contribute to open-source projects and participate in their communities
Required education
Bachelor's Degree
Preferred education
Bachelor's Degree
Required technical and professional expertise
- 7+ years' experience with C / C++ or Rust and ability to lead others
- Good code writing discipline and an eye for code efficiency
- Strong analytical thinking and problem solving
- Experience working with containerized development environment and runtimes (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.)
- Understanding of agile methodologies
Preferred technical and professional experience
- Experience with GitHub and contributing to open-source projects
- profiling and tracing skills (pprof, JProfiler, etc.)
- Familiarity with runtime APIs such as Java, PHP, or .NET is an asset,
- knowledge of database internals is beneficial—topics like indexing, storage strategies, scaling, and consensus algorithms