Senior Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform - Discord

Position: Senior Staff Software Engineer, Data Platform

Location: San Francisco, CA (Remote within the U.S. available)

Company: Discord

Job Type: Full-time

About Discord:

Discord is a popular communication platform used by over 200 million people monthly, especially for gaming. It plays a central role in the future of gaming and fosters an environment where people can connect and share experiences. Discord is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer for their Data Platform team to drive innovation and maintain scalable data systems.

About the Role:

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on the Data Platform team, you will play a leadership role in designing, developing, and maintaining the infrastructure and services that handle petabytes of data for millions of users. You will collaborate with teams across Discord, including data engineers, data scientists, software engineers, and product managers, to create cutting-edge data solutions. You will report directly to the Director of Engineering for Data Platform.

To learn more about the team and technology stack, check out Discord’s engineering blog.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Technical Vision: Define and execute the technical vision for the data platform, ensuring scalable, reliable, and high-performance systems.
• Data Infrastructure: Design and optimize data systems that can process and analyze vast amounts of data.
• Data Architecture: Develop innovative data architectures to support analytics, machine learning, and operational insights.
• Monitoring Systems: Build robust monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to track data service health.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Work closely with data scientists, engineers, product managers, and leadership to align technical solutions with business goals.
• Data Governance & Security: Lead initiatives on best practices in data governance, security, and compliance.
• Leadership: Provide mentorship to junior engineers and help drive a culture of excellence and continuous improvement.
• Innovation: Stay up-to-date with emerging technologies in the data platform space and lead the adoption of new tools and practices.

What You Should Have:

• Experience: 8+ years in software engineering, focusing on large-scale distributed systems or data infrastructure.
• Data Platforms Expertise: Extensive experience with building scalable data platforms, including stream and batch processing, and data ingestion pipelines.
• Programming Languages: Proficiency in Python, Java, Rust, or similar languages.
• Open-Source Knowledge: Experience with open-source data projects and working with open-source communities.
• Data Technologies: Hands-on experience with tools such as Kafka, Spark, Flink, Airflow/Dagster, or similar.
• Database Systems: Deep understanding of SQL, NoSQL, columnar storage, and data modeling principles.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Strong knowledge of AWS, GCP, or Azure; experience with containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes) and microservices.
• Communication Skills: Excellent communication abilities to collaborate and influence across teams and levels.
• Adaptability: Proven ability to thrive in fast-paced environments.

Bonus Points:

• Passion for Gaming: A strong passion for Discord and gaming.
• Open Source Contributions: Contributions to data-related open-source projects.

Compensation:

• Base Salary: $304,000 to $342,000 annually (depending on experience).
• Additional Compensation: Equity and benefits.
• Note: The salary listed reflects base pay only and does not include equity or benefits.

Why Discord?

Discord plays a crucial role in the future of gaming, enabling players to connect with friends and share memorable experiences. If you are passionate about building cutting-edge data systems and want to be part of a company that shapes the future of online communication, this is the role for you.