Escalation Engineer

Category-defining tech. Career-defining work.

For more than a decade, Cockroach Labs has built database technology trusted to power some of the world's most mission-critical applications. Now, as AI transforms how software is created and operated, the infrastructure behind it has to keep pace. Cockroach Continuum is built to meet this moment, bringing individual databases together into one fleet designed for agentic applications, where AI agents help teams provision, scale, and optimize workloads at machine speed.  

The customers you'll work with are some of the most innovative businesses in the world, and the problems they're trying to solve are real and urgent. You'll bring a genuinely differentiated product to a market moving fast, at a company positioned to lead it. The people who thrive here are the ones who want to own that opportunity.  

The Role

We're looking for an Escalation Engineer to join the Cockroach Labs Technical Support team in the AMER region. You will be the escalation point for the most challenging customer issues: reviewing, assisting with, or taking over cases that need more expertise or oversight, and driving resolution with other departments. You are expected to work with a high level of autonomy and resolve complex issues quickly.

This is a remote role open to candidates in the Pacific or Mountain time zone, as the team operates in Pacific time zone hours.

You Will

• Provide advanced support to customers and front-line technical support engineers to diagnose, troubleshoot, and resolve complex issues via CRM, Slack, video chat, and/or remote access.

• Act as a point of escalation for tickets with no clear path to resolution where the Technical Support team has exhausted available tools and processes.

• Identify when a ticket or account requires additional support and act proactively to course correct.

• Use AI-assisted tooling in your investigations, including log and debug-bundle analysis, reproduction scaffolding, and code reading, and verify its output before it reaches a customer or an engineer.

• Evaluate how escalations could have been avoided, and contribute to process, tooling, and observability improvements that reduce escalations and time to resolution, including where AI tooling could help.

• Provide training and mentorship to junior support staff, sharing knowledge and expertise to help them handle complex issues more effectively.

• Share effective AI workflows with the team, and help front-line engineers learn where AI output is reliable and where it needs independent verification.

• Maintain detailed and accurate documentation of ongoing cases, including steps taken, findings, and proposed solutions.

• Advocate for the customer within the organization, ensuring that their concerns are understood and addressed appropriately.

• Participate in on-call and shift rotations with transfer of cases to other geographic regions in a “follow the sun” methodology.

• Stay updated on new features, technologies, and best practices related to the products or services supported.

The Expectations

In your first 30 days, you'll learn CockroachDB, our customers, and our company through a self-guided onboarding platform of reading and hands-on exercises. By the end of the month, you'll be assisting customers directly.

After 3 months, you'll be fully integrated into the team and will be familiar with the various systems we use. You'll be able to manage most issues from customers and will be able to contribute to improving the scope and quality of our offerings. As our team and your expertise grow, you’ll begin mentoring and training new members of the team, developing and updating training and documentation to ensure that knowledge is not lost.

You Have

• 7+ years of experience working in Technical Support or a similar technical role at a software company.

• Strong knowledge of databases and the ability to read and write SQL.

• Knowledge of distributed systems, Linux, and an understanding of software development.

• Strong troubleshooting and analytical skills, including root cause analysis, in a global 24x7x365 environment.

• Experience using AI tools to troubleshoot and diagnose technical issues, an understanding of their common failure modes, and the judgment to verify their output before relying on it.

• A customer-first approach to critical thinking.

• Excellent written and verbal communication, including adjusting tone and content for technical and non-technical audiences, and a passion for working with users directly.

• The polish expected when working with Fortune 500 enterprise customers.

• Familiarity with, or willingness to learn, the technologies behind enterprise applications.

• The ability to absorb information. You love getting into the weeds technically, but don't let that distract you from achieving your goals.

• The ability to participate in a weekend on-call rotation.

Cockroach Labs is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer building a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you need additional accommodations to feel comfortable during your interview process, please email us at accessibility@cockroachlabs.com.

Cockroach Labs has a hybrid work model, with Roachers that are local to one of our offices coming in on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays and working flexibly the rest of the week. While we’ve learned valuable lessons working remotely, nothing can replace the connection, creativity, and fun that occurs when Roachers get together and we are committed to fostering a workplace that encourages collaboration and allows us all to do our best work.

Benefits

• Stock Options

• Medical Insurance

• Vision Insurance

• Dental Insurance

• Life and Disability Insurance

• Professional Development Funds

• Flexible Time Off

• Paid Holidays

• Paid Sick Days

• Paid Parental Leave

• Retirement Benefits

• Mental Wellbeing Benefits

• And more!

The annual anticipated base salary range for candidates for this role is listed below. Salary is one component of the Cockroach Labs’ Total Rewards package, which also includes: stock options, medical insurance, vision insurance, dental insurance, life and disability insurance, funds for professional development, flexible paid time off, paid sick days and holidays, paid parental leave, and wellbeing benefits. We have a match on 401(k) contributions in the U.S. 

We set competitive pay ranges for all roles based on function, level, and geographic location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. Benefits programs are designed according to local market practices. Actual salaries may vary and fall outside of this range depending on factors such as a candidate’s qualifications, geographic location, skills, experience, and competencies. In addition, we are often open to a wide variety of profiles, and recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted.

Annual Anticipated Base Salary Range$130,000—$180,000 USD

Department: Engineering