Senior Software Engineer, Product Platform

Block; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

Block is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design and build foundational systems for product operations. This role requires at least 5 years of experience with software engineering fundamentals and familiarity with platforms like Kubernetes and CI/CD systems.

The ideal candidate is curious and motivated by solving complex platform challenges. They will collaborate with teams to enhance existing platforms and introduce new ones, leveraging AI tools to improve development processes and system understanding.

Qualifications

• Minimum of 5 years related experience or 3 years with a Master’s degree.
• Experience improving backend or infrastructure systems.
• Ability to work across unfamiliar systems and domains.

Responsibilities

• Design and build platform systems to aid software shipping.
• Partner with engineering teams to solve platform gaps.
• Lead technical projects from start to finish.

Skills

Software engineering fundamentals

Experience with deployment systems

Experience with CI/CD

Experience with Kubernetes

Experience with event streaming

Comfort with AI tools

Education

Bachelor's degree in a related field

Master’s degree in a related field

Tools

Kubernetes

Go

Java

Ruby

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

Product Platform Engineering builds and unifies the foundational systems Block engineers use to create, ship, and operate products. We work across platform domains such as deployment systems, event streaming, databases, workflows, and the operational systems that keep Block moving.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who is broad, curious, and energized by solving platform problems that cut across teams. You will help design and build the next generation of Block's internal platforms, improve the systems engineers depend on every day, and use AI as a native part of how you explore, build, test, and learn. This is a role for someone who wants to ask good questions, make sound technical bets, and turn complex problems into working systems.

You Will

• Design, build, and operate platform systems that help Block engineers ship software with more confidence and speed.
• Work across areas such as deployment orchestration, CI/CD, Kubernetes, event streaming, databases, internal developer platforms, and reliability tooling.
• Partner with engineering teams to understand their workflows, identify platform gaps, and deliver pragmatic solutions.
• Help unify and modernize existing platforms while creating new ones where the business needs a stronger foundation.
• Use AI tools to accelerate development, improve system understanding, prototype ideas, and raise the quality of engineering output.
• Lead technical projects from problem framing through implementation, rollout, and operational ownership.
• Make thoughtful tradeoffs between speed, reliability, maintainability, and long‑term platform direction.
• Contribute to an engineering culture that values curiosity, direct communication, early ownership, and learning through shipping.

You Have

• A minimum of 5 years of related experience with a Bachelor's degree; or 3 years and a Master’s degree; or equivalent work experience.
• Experience building, operating, or improving backend or infrastructure systems used by engineering teams.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and the ability to work across unfamiliar systems, codebases, and technical domains.
• Experience in one or more platform areas such as deployment systems, CI/CD, Kubernetes, Kafka or event streaming, Temporal, databases, observability, service infrastructure, or developer tooling.
• A track record of turning ambiguous technical problems into clear plans and working solutions.
• Comfort partnering with engineers and technical leaders across teams to understand needs, explain tradeoffs, and drive decisions.
• Interest in using AI as part of your engineering workflow and helping others learn how to apply it well.
• Curiosity, judgement, and willingness to ask questions early so the team can move with clarity.

Technologies We Use and Teach

• Kubernetes, service infrastructure, deployment orchestration, CI/CD systems, Kafka and event streaming, databases, observability tooling, internal developer platforms, Go, Java, Ruby, and AI‑assisted engineering tools.

Block is an equal‑opportunity employer. We evaluate all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances. We are committed to an inclusive interview experience, providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. Please let us know about any needed accommodations and we will treat these requests confidentially.