Staff Engineer - Systems

Freshworks; Chennai District; On-site; INR 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Freshworks is seeking a Staff Engineer – Systems in Chennai, India. This role focuses on architecting scalable and efficient platform solutions for their SaaS products, including CRM and IT Automation.

The ideal candidate will have over 9 years of experience, excellent skills in Java, and a strong background in distributed systems and API design. A commitment to mentoring younger engineers is essential.

Join Freshworks to make a real impact in a diverse and vibrant workplace.

Qualifications

• A minimum of 9 years of relevant professional experience in software engineering and systems/platform engineering.
• Expert-level experience with Java and Spring-based backend development.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams including architects, product managers, design, QA, operations and customer-facing teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, document and deliver scalable, low-latency and cost-efficient platform solutions.
• Build APIs, services and platform features that seamlessly scale.
• Continuously improve scalability, reliability, and operational excellence.

Skills

Java

Spring framework

Data structures

Algorithms

Distributed systems

Linux environments

CI/CD practices

Education

Bachelor's Degree in a technical field or equivalent work experience

Job description

Job Description

Overview of the role:

Freshworks is looking for a self-motivated Staff Engineer – Systems to architect, build and scale next-generation platform and foundation services that power our CRM, Support, IT Automation, Sales and Marketing SaaS products. In this role, you will solve complex distributed systems and big-data problems at internet scale, building services that are low latency, highly available, cost efficient and resilient for rapid growth.

As a Staff Systems Engineer, you will design, document and implement multi-tier software applications across databases, services and web layers. You will build APIs, services and platform features that support complex customer and developer scenarios, while improving scalability, performance, reliability and deployment velocity. You will work closely with architects, engineers, product managers, design, QA, operations and customer-facing teams to create solutions that meet business needs and provide a seamless Freshworks experience.

You will be hands‑on in writing clean, maintainable code, troubleshooting critical production issues in a SaaS environment, and guiding engineering teams through sound technical decisions. Young and enthusiastic engineers will look up to you for mentorship, code quality, systems thinking and the engineering discipline required to build reliable software at scale.

Responsibilities:

As an engineering leader, understand, own, and deliver the Engineering Roadmap for your teams.

• As a systems architect, design, document and deliver scalable, low‑latency and cost‑efficient platform solutions for developer‑facing and product‑facing services.
• As a hands‑on engineer, build APIs, services and platform features that seamlessly scale for current and future growth across Freshworks products.
• As a platform builder, strive to deliver a seamless and intuitive platform experience for internal developers, partners and customers to customize, integrate and automate workflows.
• As a problem solver, build innovative solutions from scratch and work with architects and engineers across product teams to drive adoption.
• As a performance champion, continuously raise the bar on scalability, reliability, usability, deployment velocity and operational excellence.
• As an experienced engineer, identify critical technical debt and define practical, iterative plans to improve system health without slowing business impact.
• As a senior programmer, establish a high bar for writing maintainable software through coding efforts, code reviews and quality standards integrated into CI/CD pipelines.
• As an ace troubleshooter, take on complex production issues in distributed SaaS environments, analyse root causes and define preventive measures.
• As a persistent student, keep an eye on technology trends and open‑source projects that can be leveraged to improve Freshworks platform capabilities.
• As a mentor, guide engineers across functions and help them develop strong systems thinking, clean coding discipline and ownership mindset.
• As a compliance owner, implement and support Freshworks compliance and information security processes for self and team.

Qualifications

Requirements:

• Education: Bachelor's Degree in a technical field OR equivalent work experience.
• A minimum of 9 years of relevant professional experience in software engineering and systems/platform engineering.
• Experience owning end‑to‑end architecture for small to medium‑sized products or platform services.
• Expert‑level experience with Java and Spring‑based backend development.
• Strong expertise in data structures, algorithms and advanced object‑oriented programming concepts.
• Extensive knowledge of Linux environments and production troubleshooting in SaaS systems.
• Experience building large‑scale, high‑performance services with low‑latency and high‑availability expectations.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, multi‑tier application architecture, databases, APIs, services and web‑layer design.
• Experience working with assertive deployment schedules, CI/CD practices and operational ownership in agile teams.
• Accomplished at writing clean, maintainable code with limited abstraction and strong engineering discipline.
• Solid problem‑solving skills with the ability to analyse complex systems and make practical technical decisions.
• Experience working with cross‑functional teams including architects, product managers, design, QA, operations and customer‑facing teams.
• Clear spoken and written communication skills with the ability to influence, mentor and drive technical alignment across teams.

Additional Information

At Freshworks, we have fostered an environment that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion, welcoming colleagues of all backgrounds, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and ethnicities. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer environment that boosts the goals of our employees, communities, and business. Fresh vision. Real impact. Come build it with us.