Senior Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform

Job Title: Senior Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform

Location: San Francisco, CA or Remote (U.S.)

Company: Discord

Job Type: Full-time

About Discord

Discord is used by over 200 million people every month for a variety of reasons, with the majority of our users engaging in gaming. Over 90% of users spend a combined 1.5 billion hours playing games on Discord each month. As a gaming communication platform, Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we’re committed to making the experience easier and more fun for our users to connect with their friends before, during, and after playing games.

We are seeking an accomplished Senior Staff Software Engineer to join our Data Platform team. As the most senior individual contributor in this team, you will lead the design, development, and maintenance of our data infrastructure and services. You’ll work with a cross-functional team of data engineers, software engineers, product managers, and data scientists to build modern, scalable, and cutting-edge data systems that drive business insights and innovation.

To learn more about Discord’s Data Platform, check out our engineering blog, including insights into how we built our modern data stack leveraging open-source tools!

What You'll Be Doing

• Technical Vision & Execution: Define and execute the technical vision for Discord’s data platform, enabling scalable, reliable, and performant systems that process petabytes of data across millions of users.
• System Design & Implementation: Design, implement, and optimize the data infrastructure to support analytics, machine learning, and operational insights. This includes building data pipelines, stream processing, and batch processing systems.
• Monitoring & Alerting: Develop monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to ensure the health and performance of all data services.
• Collaboration: Partner with data scientists, engineers, product managers, and leadership to align technical solutions with business goals, ensuring that we can process and deliver actionable insights at scale.
• Best Practices: Promote and enforce best practices in data governance, security, and compliance across the organization to safeguard user data.
• Leadership: Provide technical leadership, mentor junior engineers, and promote a culture of excellence and continuous improvement across the engineering team.
• Stay Ahead of the Curve: Keep up with industry trends and emerging technologies in the data platform space to continuously improve Discord’s data systems.

What You Should Have

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on large-scale distributed systems or data infrastructure.
• Expertise in building and maintaining scalable data platforms, including data ingestion pipelines, stream processing, and batch processing systems.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, Rust, or similar languages.
• Hands-on experience with modern data technologies like Kafka, Spark, Flink, Airflow/Dagster, or similar open-source tools.
• Deep knowledge of database systems (SQL, NoSQL, columnar storage) and data modeling principles.
• Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure), containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes), and microservices architecture.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across teams and influence technical direction.
• A proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-evolving environment.

Bonus Points

• A passion for gaming and a deep understanding of Discord’s role in the gaming community.
• Contributions to open-source data projects, particularly in the areas of data infrastructure or processing.

Compensation

• Base Salary: $263,000 to $289,500
• Additional Benefits: Equity, health benefits, performance bonuses
• Note: Salary is determined by role, level, experience, and education. The range listed reflects base salary and excludes equity and benefits.

Why Discord?

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational, multiplayer platform that helps people connect, whether it’s through gaming, music, or other shared experiences. If you’re passionate about blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, NFTs, smart contracts, and emerging technologies like Ethereum and Bitcoin, and you want to help shape the future of how people communicate and connect in the gaming space, Discord is the place for you.