Senior Software Engineer - Data Enablement

Block; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 218,000 - 327,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Remote work option

Flexible time off

Retirement plans

Family planning benefits

Job summary

Block, a company building from many blocks to empower global economic participation, seeks a Senior Software Engineer for the Data Enablement team. You will design, build, and operate backend systems that move data across Block, enabling data acquisition, processing, and analytics for risk, compliance, and data science.

You will own projects from design through production, collaborate with data scientists and engineers, and work across streaming and batch data processing to deliver scalable,

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proven track record leading technical projects.
• Experience designing distributed backend systems in production.
• Proficiency in a backend programming language such as Java or Kotlin, with strong software design and engineering fundamentals.
• Experience building on cloud infrastructure, ideally AWS.
• The ability to learn unfamiliar systems and communicate technical trade-offs clearly, and collaborate across software engineering, data engineering, and data science.
• Bonus points for a data engineering background, including data pipelines, large-scale processing, or lakehouse and warehouse systems.
• Bonus points for hands-on experience with Kafka and Spark Structured Streaming.

Responsibilities

• Design and build shared backend services, platforms, and frameworks that support data acquisition, processing, and access across Block.
• Lead projects from problem definition and architecture through implementation, rollout, and ongoing production operation.
• Work across backend services, event-driven systems, and batch and streaming data processing to deliver reliable capabilities for downstream consumers.
• Partner with software engineers on the team and across the organization, Data Foundations engineers, and data scientists to turn their needs into reusable platform capabilities.
• Make practical architectural decisions that balance reliability, latency, scalability, cost, and maintainability.
• Improve the observability, data quality, and operational reliability of the systems you build and support.
• Mentor engineers, contribute to technical standards, and grow familiar with the team’s other domains over time.

Skills

Distributed backend

Project leadership

Cloud computing

Java/Kotlin

AWS experience

Tools

Kafka

Spark Streaming

Job description

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

The Role

The Data Enablement team builds the platforms and frameworks that move and serve data across Block. We support four core capabilities—online and offline data projections, third-party data integration, and graph data stores—for customers across the company, including Risk, Compliance, Data Engineering, and Data Science.

As a Senior Software Engineer on the team, you will design, build, and operate backend systems that make data easier to acquire, process, and use. Your work will include expanding Block’s external data acquisition capabilities and contributing to Sessions, which brings customer activity data together for analytics and machine learning, among other high-priority initiatives. You will help shape technical direction, own projects from design through production, and build shared capabilities that other teams can use.

We’re looking for a strong systems engineer who brings sound architectural judgment, takes ownership of outcomes, and is eager to learn across the backend and data engineering worlds. A deep data engineering background is valuable, but it is not a prerequisite.

You Will

Design and build shared backend services, platforms, and frameworks that support data acquisition, processing, and access across Block.

Lead projects from problem definition and architecture through implementation, rollout, and ongoing production operation.

Work across backend services, event-driven systems, and batch and streaming data processing to deliver reliable capabilities for downstream consumers.

Partner with software engineers on the team and across the organization, Data Foundations engineers, and data scientists to turn their needs into reusable platform capabilities.

Make practical architectural decisions that balance reliability, latency, scalability, cost, and maintainability.

Improve the observability, data quality, and operational reliability of the systems you build and support.

Mentor engineers, contribute to technical standards, and grow familiar with the team’s other domains over time.

You Have

8+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent experience.

Deep experience designing, building, and operating distributed backend systems in production.

A track record of leading technical projects, making sound architectural decisions, and turning ambiguous problems into well-defined, deliverable work.

Proficiency in a backend programming language such as Java or Kotlin, with strong software design and engineering fundamentals.

Experience building on cloud infrastructure, ideally AWS.

The ability to learn unfamiliar systems and domains, communicate technical trade-offs clearly, and collaborate across software engineering, data engineering, and data science.

Bonus points for a data engineering background, including data pipelines, large-scale processing, or lakehouse and warehouse systems.

Bonus points for hands-on experience with Kafka and Spark Structured Streaming. Experience building and operating low-latency streaming systems with Spark Structured Streaming is especially valuable.

Technologies We Use and Teach

Kafka, Spark, Spark Structured Streaming, Iceberg, Databricks, Snowflake, dbt, Prefect, block-forge, DataHub, Java, Kotlin, AWS, CloudEvents.

You do not need prior experience with every technology in our stack.

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page.

While there is no specific deadline to apply for this role, U.S. roles are typically open for an average of 55 days before being filled by a successful candidate. Please refer to the date listed at the top of this job page for when this role was first posted.

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource. If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information.

Zone A:
$217,800—$326,800 USD

Zone B:
$207,000—$310,400 USD

Zone C:
$196,100—$294,100 USD

Zone D:
$185,200—$277,800 USD

Contact us here with hiring practice or data usage questions.

Every benefit we offer is designed with one goal: empowering you to do the best work of your career while building the life you want. Remote work, medical insurance, flexible time off, retirement savings plans, and modern family planning are just some of our offering. Check out our other benefits at Block.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: XYZ) builds technology to increase access to the global economy. Each of our brands unlocks different aspects of the economy for more people. Square makes commerce and financial services accessible to sellers. Cash App is the easy way to spend, send, and store money. Afterpay is transforming the way customers manage their spending over time. TIDAL is a music platform that empowers artists to thrive as entrepreneurs. Bitkey is a simple self-custody wallet built for bitcoin. Proto is a suite of bitcoin mining products and services. Together, we’re helping build a financial system that is open to everyone.