Principal Software Engineer (Backend), Communication Platform

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Benefits described on page

Job summary

Roblox is seeking a Principal Software Engineer on the Communications Platform to set the technical direction for systems powering chat, direct messaging, forums, and more for millions of users worldwide.

You will design high-throughput, low-latency infrastructure, ship scalable APIs, mentor senior engineers, and collaborate with product and design to align roadmaps while maintaining safety and reliability at scale.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend or full-stack software engineering with ownership of large-scale production systems.
• Strong fundamentals in designing and operating services under real load and at global scale.
• Proficient in at least one server-side language (C#, Java, Go, C++) and comfortable navigating large codebases.
• You write sharp technical specs, reason about trade-offs, and make durable decisions.
• You drive projects end-to-end from requirements through production with cross-functional coordination.
• You proactively shape the roadmap and outcomes, not just execute plans.
• You are kind, generous, and help others succeed.
• You push AI-assisted development boundaries for your team.
• You take pride in your craft and hold high standards.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical vision for Communications Platform and translate direction into roadmaps.
• Architect high-throughput, low-latency infrastructure for tens of millions of daily users.
• Lead complex, cross-cutting technical initiatives across multiple teams.
• Own API and platform design philosophy with safety as a constraint.
• Identify systemic risks and drive investments to address them.
• Elevate technical quality through reviews, architecture feedback, and best practices.
• Develop senior engineers through mentorship and meaningful ownership.
• Partner with Engineering leadership, Product, and Design to influence roadmap Prioritization.
• Own production reliability at a platform level and ensure tooling for sustainment.

Skills

5+ years backend/full-stack experience

Distributed systems

Server-side languages

Clear communicator

End-to-end ownership

Product-driven

AI advocate

Continuous growth

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.

About the role:

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Communications Platform team, you'll set the technical direction for the systems that power how millions of Roblox users connect, express themselves, and communicate — across the app, in-experience, and on every device. Our platform underlies chat, direct messaging, forums, comments, and more, and it has to be fast, reliable, and safe at global scale. The technologies we operate include real-time socket messaging, streaming pipelines, search infrastructure, rich messaging systems, and the APIs that tie it all together.

You’ll define and evolve the architectural foundations that internal teams and our creator community rely on to ship communication features quickly and safely, and you’ll shape the long-term vision that makes our platform more capable and Roblox communications more fun and immersive.

You Will:

• Define and drive the technical vision for Communications Platform: identify where the platform needs to evolve, align stakeholders across teams, and translate that direction into executable roadmaps.
• Architect the high-throughput, low-latency infrastructure that powers communication for tens of millions of daily users, setting the standards for how systems are designed, built, and operated across the team.
• Lead the most complex, cross-cutting technical initiatives: spanning multiple teams, navigating ambiguity, and driving decisions that have long-lasting impact on the platform.
• Own the API and platform design philosophy, shaping the primitives, contracts, and extensibility models that internal teams and creators build on, with safety as a first-class constraint.
• Identify systemic risks and platform-wide technical debt before they become problems; champion the investments needed to address them.
• Be a multiplier across engineering teams: elevate technical quality through design reviews, architecture feedback, and establishing best practices that scale across teams.
• Develop senior engineers through mentorship, sponsorship, and creating opportunities for meaningful ownership.
• Partner with Engineering leadership, Product, and Design to influence roadmap prioritization and ensure technical strategy is reflected in what the team builds.
• Own production reliability at a platform level: set the standard for operational health, drive systemic performance improvements, and ensure the team has the tooling and practices to sustain it.

You Are:

• Experienced: 5+ years of backend or full-stack software engineering, with demonstrated ownership of large-scale production systems.
• A distributed systems thinker: Strong fundamentals in designing and operating services under real load and at global scale.
• Technically versatile: Proficient in at least one server-side language (C#, Java, Go, C++) and comfortable navigating large, complex codebases.
• A clear communicator: You write sharp technical specs, reason carefully about trade-offs, and make decisions that hold up over time.
• An end-to-end owner: You drive projects from requirements through production, including cross-functional coordination. You don't hand off and walk away.
• Product-opinionated: You proactively shape the roadmap and push for the right outcomes. You don't just execute plans.
• Kind and generous: You treat colleagues with respect, assume good intent, and go out of your way to help others succeed.
• An AI advocate: You actively push the boundaries of AI-assisted development for yourself and your team.
• Continuously growing: You take pride in your craft and hold yourself to a high standard.

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.

For US based roles only, please note the Company may not be able to employ candidates for this role who have United States work authorization related to certain U.S. visa categories, or support future H-1B sponsorship at this time.