Principal Software Engineer, Game Safety

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

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Benefits

Job summary

Roblox is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for Game Safety based in San Mateo, CA. You’ll build and scale backend systems powering game moderation at Roblox at a global scale, with emphasis on real-time detection and safety products.

The role emphasizes ownership from ideation to production, cross-functional partnership with Moderation Operations, Product Management, and Data Science, and mentorship of others.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of experience building and shipping high-scale backend systems to production.
• Experience with multi-person codebases, including open-source or personal projects.
• Passion for delivering products end-to-end with cross-functional stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Build and scale distributed systems that power game moderation at Roblox.
• Operate as a high-agency problem solver across backend services, ML pipelines, and data tasks.
• Develop innovative detection approaches in an adversarial landscape using a data-driven lens.
• Lead through technical excellence and mentor teammates to raise the team’s impact.
• Partner cross-functionally with Moderation Operations, Product Management, and Data Science to deliver end-to-end safety products.

Skills

Backend systems

Machine learning

Codebase management

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

Why Safety?

We strive to connect a billion people with optimism and civility, and the Safety organization’s mission is to become the leader in civil immersive online communities. We systematically detect, remove, and prevent problematic accounts, content, and behavior, and we make Roblox accounts secure and free from compromise. The team covers a broad area of the tech spectrum, including machine learning, classifiers for 3D models, experimentation, automation, detection workflows, and AI‑powered text filters. We partner with product teams to discover new opportunities, influence the product roadmap, build safety products, and measure impact on our community of users and developers.

Why Game Safety?

As a Principal Software Engineer on Game Safety, you’ll work on the most challenging problems we face, transforming experience safety efforts into a scale‑oriented, near‑real‑time problem in an adversarial context. This requires an understanding of code, 3D content, player behavior, and more, working at Roblox scale (billions of monthly engagement hours).

You Will:

• Build and scale distributed systems that power game moderation at Roblox, ensuring billions of monthly engagement hours are safe and civil.
• Operate as a high‑agency problem solver: whether the solution requires deep‑diving into backend services, scaling ML pipelines, or diving into data, you do what’s needed to ship impactful safety products.
• Develop innovative detection approaches in a rapidly evolving, adversarial landscape, using a data‑driven lens to identify new opportunities.
• Lead through technical excellence: define the team’s direction by diving into the hardest problems, earning influence through execution and mentorship.
• Partner cross‑functionally with Moderation Operations, Product Management, and Data Science to deliver end‑to‑end products that protect our community.

You Have:

• 6+ years of experience building and shipping high‑scale backend systems to production. Experience with machine learning is a plus.
• 6+ years of experience working on multi‑person codebases, including open‑source or personal projects.
• Passion for delivering products end‑to‑end, from ideation through implementation, with laser focus on the end goal while being empathetic with cross‑functional stakeholders.

You Are:

• Resourceful: You’re adaptable in any situation and can always find a path forward.
• Analytical: Excited to investigate large, ambiguous problems, and quantify the problems and the solutions.
• User Oriented: You always start with the needs of the user, whether they are Roblox users or internal engineers before architecting a solution.
• Team Oriented: You lift up your peers and find ways to make the team stronger. You are a sought‑after mentor and foster a culture of technical excellence.
• Mission Driven: You stay laser‑focused on the mission and are versatile, creative, and strategic to achieve it. You think long‑term and find ways to deliver short‑term value on the way to getting there.

Annual Salary Range

$295,250 — $345,040 USD

For roles that are based at our headquarters in San Mateo, CA: the starting base pay depends on a variety of job‑related factors such as professional background, training, work experience, location, business needs, and market demand. The actual salary could fall outside of this expected range. All full‑time employees are also eligible for equity compensation and for benefits as described on the company benefits page.

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.