Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure
$229,000–$343,000 year
On-siteSan Francisco, California, United States or Seattle, Washington, United States
Job Summary
Lead technical direction for Snap's Service Infrastructure platform, defining multi-quarter roadmaps across service mesh, compute, observability, and adjacent capabilities. Design, build, and operate foundational backend infrastructure powering critical services like Stories, Messaging, and Ads with a focus on reliability and scalability. Act as a hands-on Staff-level tech lead driving ambiguous initiatives from concept through rollout while partnering with engineers and leaders to align on priorities. Improve developer and operator experience by creating durable systems and abstractions that raise engineering velocity at scale. Mentor engineers, resolve complex technical conflicts, and shape infrastructure evolution for an AI-first future. Work in an office 4+ days per week; base salary ranges from $195,000 to $343,000 annually depending on location, with equity included.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
- 9+ years of software development experience
- Master's degree in a technical field and 8+ years of software development experience
- PhD in a related technical field and 5+ years of software development experience
- Experience as a technical lead, domain expert, or owner of complex technical initiatives
- Experience building and operating backend systems or distributed systems in production environments
- Experience leading architecture or platform direction beyond an individual team, with demonstrated influence across stakeholders and partner teams
- Work in an office 4+ days per week
Desired Qualifications
- Experience with service infrastructure domains such as service mesh, compute platforms, observability, or related backend platform systems
- Experience with large-scale microservices, cloud infrastructure, storage systems, or platform architecture
- Experience with Go, Java, Python, C++, or similar backend languages
- Experience with Kubernetes, containerized systems, developer platforms, or internal infrastructure tooling
- Experience driving long-term technical strategy for a platform or infrastructure area
- Track record of delivering large-scale, high-impact technical work across team boundaries
- Experience applying AI to infrastructure, developer tooling, platform quality, or engineering productivity
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