Senior Software Engineer, Media Creation

EngineersOfAI; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

401k with match

Global benefit programs

Job summary

Reddit is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to define backend architecture powering media creation tools. You will build scalable APIs and services that support video and image workflows, collaborating with product, design, and engineering teams worldwide.

You will work on distributed systems, optimize performance, and mentor junior engineers while balancing speed and reliability in a fully remote environment. Experience with media pipelines and modern backend tech is valued.

Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years in large-scale distributed systems.
• 5+ years in hands-on software development in Go, Python, Java, C++, or similar languages.
• Experience designing and implementing maintainable APIs (GraphQL/REST/gRPC).
• Experience with distributed caching and Redis.
• Strong communication and ability to work across remote teams.

Responsibilities

• Own backend infrastructure for media creation and APIs for frontend clients.
• Define backend architecture powering media capture, edit, and publish workflows.
• Contribute to full development cycle: design, implement, test, launch.
• Collaborate with product, design, and other engineers.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote best practices in the team.
• Balance speed with quality to deliver new products quickly.

Skills

Distributed systems

APIs design

GraphQL

REST

gRPC

Thrift

Redis

Go

Python

Java

C++

Communication

Remote collaboration

Backend architecture

Education

BS in Computer Science

Tools

FFMPEG

GPAC

Job description

Reddit is a community of communities. It is built on shared interests, passion, and trust, and is home to the most open and authentic conversations on the internet. Every day, Reddit users submit, vote, and comment on the topics they care most about. With 100,000+ active communities and approximately 130 million daily active unique visitors, Reddit is one of the internet’s largest sources of information. For more information, visit www.redditinc.com.

We are seeking a product-minded Senior Software Engineer to help us build the next generation of media creation tools at Reddit. In this role, you will define the backend architecture that powers how Redditors capture, edit, and publish engaging video and image content. You will tackle complex technical challenges to support our media product strategy and deliver high-quality media experiences globally.

Key Responsibilities

• Work cross-functionally with product, design, and other engineering counterparts to execute on product and business strategy and build novel products and features that our users will love.
• Own backend infrastructure for media creation, building fast, maintainable APIs that seamlessly integrate with our frontend clients to provide a magical, real-time creator experience.
• Contribute to the full development cycle: technical design, development, test, experimentation, analysis, and launch.
• Participate with a team of thoughtful, fast-moving, and motivated engineers.
• Contribute to standards that improve developer workflows, recommend best practices, and help mentor junior engineers on the team to grow their technical expertise.
• Move fast while balancing quality. We can’t afford extensive processes, and we also can’t afford show-stopping bugs.
• We need someone who can balance speed with quality while quickly building brand-new products.

Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science, a similar technical field of study or equivalent practical experience.
• 3+ years of industry experience in large-scale distributed systems.
• 5+ years of hands-on, professional software development experience in one or more general purpose programming languages (Go, Python, Ruby, Java, C++).
• Experienced with GraphQL, REST, HTTP, gRPC, Thrift basics, and the ability to design and implement maintainable APIs.
• Experienced with distributed caching layers, and distributed large scale data storage systems like Redis.
• Strong organizational skills, the ability to prioritize tasks and to deliver projects on schedule.
• Excellent communication skills. You collaborate effectively with teams in a fully remote environment and discuss complex topics with technical and non-technical audiences.

What Will Set You Apart

• Proven track record of strong product thinking, with experience translating complex user workflows (like video editing timelines or AI generation tools) into robust backend state management.
• Experience building asynchronous media processing pipelines and scalable event-driven microservices.
• Familiar with background data fetching.
• Strong data analysis skills using SQL.
• Hands‑on expertise with tools like FFMPEG, GPAC and similar media frameworks for processing, modifying, and manipulating media streams.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits and Income Replacement Programs
• 401k with Employer Match
• Global Benefit programs that fit your lifestyle, from workspace to professional development