Staff Engineer

BlackLine Systems Inc (U.S.); Pleasanton (TX); On-site; USD 210,000 - 263,000; Full time

Job summary

BlackLine is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help build the next generation of its data platform. You will design and implement connectors to ERP, banks, payments and subledger systems, focusing on extensibility, usability and scalable data transfer across diverse protocols.

You will be a hands-on leader, mentoring engineers while shaping cloud backend components such as API gateway, job scheduler, identity management, search, and orchestration to deliver secure, scalable solutions.

Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of backend SaaS experience with multi-tenant systems.
• Proficient in C# or Java or C++.
• Strong foundations in data structures, algorithms and concurrency.
• Experience building extensible modular apps with various extension models.
• Experience with OO patterns, plugins, and external callouts.
• Proficient in SQL/No-SQL data modeling and transactional flows.
• Experience in Agile development and data integration/ETL tools.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in requirements analysis, design, and delivery of scalable backend services.
• Collaborate with product, architects, and teams to translate needs into requirements.
• Maintain business value focus and ROI in planning and communication.
• Lead design and architecture discussions and trade-offs on tech decisions.
• Estimate scope and timelines; consistently deliver on commitments.
• Enforce high quality, security, performance, and maintainability of features.
• Research and evaluate new tools; recommend implementations.
• Maintain high standards and mentor engineers; conduct peer reviews.
• Identify bottlenecks and drive process improvements or changes.
• Handle maintenance, deployment, and release support, including off-hours.

Skills

C#

Java

C++

RESTful APIs

Microservices

SQL

No-SQL

Data modeling

Event-driven architecture

OO design patterns

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

Kafka

RabbitMQ

API gateway

Identity management

Search

Job scheduling

Workflow orchestration

Job description

Staff Software Engineer – BlackLine

Make Your Mark: As a Staff Software Engineer, you will play a crucial role in building the next generation of BlackLine and data platform. BlackLine thrives on data and we are investing heavily in being able to sync data from and to BlackLine and various ERP, Bank, Payments, Tax and Subledger systems. You will be responsible for designing and building connectors to these various systems, while striving for extensibility, usability and scalability of data transfer using a full breadth of data transfer protocols available by each system.

You will be part of a team that drives innovation into our product suite by designing, developing, troubleshooting, maintaining, optimizing and scaling cloud-based backend platform components, services and frameworks, including but not limited to Event Bus, API Gateway, Developer Portal, Job Scheduler, Identity Management, Search, Workflow Orchestration and Data Integration. In addition to being a hands‑on engineer, you will also lead and mentor other engineers in the team.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical expertise and leadership in requirements analysis, design, effort estimation, development, testing and delivery of highly scalable and secure distributed backend services.
• Work with product management, architects and other engineering teams to understand stated and unstated needs and turn them into functional and technical requirements.
• Maintain a strong sense of business value and return on investment in planning, design, and communication.
• Lead technical design and architecture discussions and help drive technical decisions while making appropriate trade‑offs on technology, functionality, robustness, performance and extensibility.
• Estimate the project scope and timelines, and consistently deliver on those commitments.
• Implement, refine, and enforce software development techniques to ensure that the delivered features meet software integration, performance, security, and maintainability expectations.
• Research, test, benchmark, and evaluate new tools and technologies, and recommend ways to implement them in product development.
• Maintain high standards of software quality and technical excellence within the team by establishing good practices and writing clean, testable, maintainable, and secure code.
• Inspire a forward‑thinking team of developers, acting as an agent of change and evangelist for a quality‑first culture within the organization.
• Mentor and coach team members, guide them to solutions on complex design issues and do peer code reviews.
• Proactively identify issues, bottlenecks, gaps, or other areas of concern or opportunities and work to either directly affect change or advocate for that change.
• Perform critical maintenance, deployment, and release support activities, including occasional off‑hours support.

What You’ll Bring

• BS degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of professional experience in building Web‑scale highly available multi‑tenant SaaS with focus on backend platform, frameworks, RESTful APIs and microservices.
• Expert in one or more object‑oriented programming languages: C#, Java or C++.
• A solid computer science foundation including data structures, algorithms, and design patterns, with a proven track record of writing high concurrency, multi‑threaded, secure, scalable code.
• Proven experience delivering and extending highly extensible, modular applications with various models of extensibility such as white‑box, glass‑box, gray‑box, and black‑box.
• Experience with extensibility through OO patterns, plugins, external callouts, and events and notifications.
• Experience as a technical lead for design, architecture and code review of highly scalable distributed systems and event‑driven architecture.
• Fluent in SQL, No‑SQL, data modeling and transactional flows.
• Superior analytical, problem‑solving and system level performance analysis abilities.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Adaptable team player with strong collaboration skills and a focus on results and value delivery.
• Experience working in an Agile development environment.
• Passion for engineering excellence through automation, unit testing, and process improvements.
• Experience with data integration and ETL tools (both productized and open source).

We’re Even More Excited If You Have

• Experience with continuous delivery and infrastructure as code.
• Good knowledge of internet security issues in software design and code.
• Open source contributor.
• Proven experience in delivering one or more core platform services, such as API gateway, identity management, authentication, messaging (Kafka or RabbitMQ), workflow orchestration, job scheduling and search.
• 3+ years of experience with a public cloud (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and solid understanding of cloud‑native services.
• FinTech or Financial services domain background.
• Experience with ERP (SAP, Oracle, Netsuite or Microsoft) platforms, with a focus on the general ledger.

Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $210,000.00 – $263,000.00. Pay transparency statement: Placement within this range depends upon several factors, including the applicant's prior relevant job experience, skill set, and geographic location. In addition to base pay, BlackLine also offers short‑term and long‑term incentive programs, based on eligibility, along with a robust offering of benefit and wellness plans.

Accommodations

BlackLine is committed to creating an inclusive and accessible experience for all candidates. If you require a reasonable accommodation that would better enable your success during the application or interview process, please complete this form.

Equal Opportunity Employer

BlackLine is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to sex, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, age, religious creed, national origin, physical or mental disability, ancestry, color, marital status, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, medical condition, genetic information, or any other protected class or category recognized by applicable equal employment opportunity or other similar laws.