Senior Software Engineer (Backend / Full Stack), Communications Platform

Roblox; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 196,750 - 243,290; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Benefits provided as per company policy

Flexible working conditions

Job summary

Roblox is looking for a Senior Software Engineer for their Communications Platform team based in San Mateo, CA. You'll design systems that enable millions of users to connect and communicate through messaging and forums.

The role requires over 5 years of experience in software engineering, particularly in backend development. You’ll build reliable infrastructure and mentor junior engineers while contributing to exciting communication features. The role offers a competitive salary between $196,750 and $243,290, along with equity compensation.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend or full-stack software engineering experience.
• Strong fundamentals in designing and operating services at scale.
• Proficient in at least one server-side language.

Responsibilities

• Design and operate infrastructure for real-time messaging and communication.
• Lead technical initiatives from definition to delivery.
• Build APIs for internal teams and creators.
• Define technical direction and ownership.
• Mentor engineers and drive performance improvements.

Skills

Backend or full-stack software engineering

Designing and operating distributed systems

Proficient in server-side languages (C#, Java, Go, C++)

Strong communication skills

Project ownership from requirements to production

Product-oriented mindset

Advocacy for AI-assisted development

Commitment to personal 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.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Communications Platform team, you'll build and own 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 be building the primitives that internal teams and our creator community rely on to ship communication features quickly, with safety as a first-class technical constraint that shapes the design of every system we build.

You Will:

• Design, build, and operate the high-throughput, low-latency infrastructure that powers communication for tens of millions of daily users, such as real-time messaging, streaming, search, and more.
• Lead end-to-end delivery of complex technical initiatives: from defining requirements and authoring design docs to shipping and operating in production.
• Build APIs and client libraries for both internal engineering teams and Roblox's creator community, making it simple to build rich, powerful communication features on our platform.
• Define technical direction for your areas of ownership: set API contracts, establish core primitives, identify risks early, integrate user safety principles, and raise the bar for engineering best practices.
• Partner with Product, Design, QA, and across engineering groups to scope and deliver high-quality products.
• Own production reliability: participate in on-call, drive performance improvements, and set a high bar for operational health.
• Mentor and level up engineers around you through code review, design feedback, and knowledge sharing.

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. Experienced with, or curious about client or app development.
• 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

$196,750 — $243,290 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.