Principal Frontend Engineer - Discovery

Roblox; San Mateo (CA); Hybrid; USD 295,250 - 345,040; Full time

Job summary

A leading online platform in San Mateo is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to design and implement innovative features for user discovery. This role requires extensive experience with React and other web technologies, ensuring a seamless user experience across devices. Candidates should have strong analytical skills and a passion for user-focused solutions. The position offers a competitive annual salary range of $295,250 — $345,040, with a flexible onsite schedule.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software development.
• 8+ years of experience with web or app technologies.
• Proven track record building and launching complex, consumer-facing features.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and ship features that define the discovery journey for millions of users.
• Architect universal solutions for delivering high-performance features.
• Drive UX improvements through rigorous A/B testing.

Skills

React

Typescript

Javascript

Full-stack mindset

Education

Degree in Computer Science, Applied Math, Physics, Engineering, Statistics or equivalent experience

Job description

Every day, tens of millions of people come to Roblox to explore, create, play, learn, and connect with friends in 3D immersive digital experiences– all created by our global community of developers and creators.

At Roblox, we’re building the tools and platform that empower our community to bring any experience that they can imagine to life. Our vision is to reimagine the way people come together, from anywhere in the world, and on any device. We’re on a mission to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and looking for amazing talent to help us get there.

A career at Roblox means you’ll be working to shape the future of human interaction, solving unique technical challenges at scale, and helping to create safer, more civil shared experiences for everyone.

Discovery UX sits at the intersection of product innovation and high‑scale infrastructure. Every Roblox user starts their journey on the homepage, and every Roblox developer needs to find their correct audience. Our team works closely with product and engineering teams across Roblox to bridge this gap by improving the user journey from landing on Roblox to joining an experience. We primarily work on Home, Search, Charts, and Experience Details pages, for both the Roblox website and app.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will craft robust, extensible systems for high‑traffic surfaces. While you are a frontend expert at heart, you are a versatile engineer who isn't afraid to dive into the backend or data pipelines to ship a complete feature. You will drive solutions using React and modern technologies, helping us build efficiently across devices. If you have a deep understanding of frontend architecture and a genuine curiosity for diving into data to understand “the why” behind an experiment, you will be right at home with us.

This role reports to the Engineering Manager on the Discovery UX team.

You Will:

• Design, build, and ship features that define the discovery journey for millions of users.
• Architect universal solutions for delivering high-performance features across a range of platforms and devices.
• Influence our core client‑server orchestration and how we deploy and render code dynamically across the global Roblox ecosystem.
• Drive UX improvements through rigorous A/B testing and deep‑dive analysis of experiment results.
• Collaborate with teams across Roblox to ensure a coherent user experience and technical designs that are scalable for long‑term success.

You Have:

• 8+ years of experience in software development.
• 8+ years of experience with web or app technologies (React, Typescript, Javascript).
• Proven track record building and launching complex, consumer‑facing features.
• Degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Applied Math, Physics, Engineering, Statistics, or other technical field is a plus.

You Are:

• Passionate about users: You are sensitive to the needs of our users and strive to build the best possible experience for our community.
• Versatile: You possess a full‑stack mindset and the flexibility to navigate other areas like backend or data infrastructure as needed to achieve project goals.
• Analytical: You tackle large, ambiguous problems systematically and thoroughly, ensuring solutions are robust and well‑considered.
• Data‑Curious: You are driven to understand the results of your work, diving into data to uncover hidden insights.
• Innovative: You craft creative long‑term solutions and stay in touch with industry developments.
• Team‑oriented: You respect the ideas of others and are comfortable advocating for the right technical path.

For roles that are based at our headquarters in San Mateo, CA: The starting base pay for this position is as shown below. The actual base pay is dependent upon a variety of job‑related factors such as professional background, training, work experience, location, business needs and market demand. Therefore, in some circumstances, the actual salary could fall outside of this expected range. This pay range is subject to change and may be modified in the future. All full‑time employees are also eligible for equity compensation and for benefits as described on this page.

Annual Salary Range

$295,250 — $345,040 USD

Roles that are based in an office are onsite Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, with optional presence on Monday and Friday (unless otherwise noted).

Roblox provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. Roblox also provides reasonable accommodations to candidates with qualifying disabilities or religious beliefs during the recruiting process.