Staff Software Engineer

Warby Parker; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, vision, and dental insurance

Life and AD&D Insurance

Paid sick leave

Paid Holidays

Vacation days per year

Retirement savings plan (401(k))

Parental leave (non-birthing parents included)

Short-term disability

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Free eyewear

Job summary

A prominent eyewear company in New York is seeking a Staff Software Engineer. You will lead the development of search, recommendation, and personalization systems, collaborating with cross-functional teams to architect high-performance backend services. The role demands technical excellence with a focus on user experience and system scalability. The ideal candidate has extensive experience in managing complex software projects, particularly in cloud and machine learning environments.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in professional software development.
• Experience building and scaling search/recommendation systems.
• Ability to mentor others and lead complex software projects.
• Expertise in Golang, Python, or C# and their ecosystems.
• Proficiency in AWS and distributed systems.
• Understanding of data architecture and ML-focused design patterns.
• Strong communication and ability to mentor others.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of backend applications.
• Promote adoption of new technologies.
• Ensure products meet high standards of quality.
• Monitor applications and resolve issues efficiently.
• Lead code reviews and maintain code quality.
• Emphasize testing throughout the SDLC.
• Monitor applications and resolve SLA violations.

Skills

Golang

Python

C#

Cloud technologies (AWS)

Machine learning

Distributed systems

Agile work processes

Data architecture patterns

Leadership

Education

Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

AWS

OpenSearch

Elasticsearch

SageMaker

Personalize

Bedrock

Job description

Overview

Warby Parker is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the development of our search, recommendations, and personalization platform. You'll architect and build the systems that help millions of customers discover their perfect eyewear, working at the intersection of large-scale data processing, machine learning, and distributed systems. Reporting to the Senior Director of Engineering, you'll collaborate with Product Managers, Data Scientists, and cross-functional teams to design and deliver high-performance backend services that power product discovery across our retail and e-commerce channels. Your work will directly impact how customers find and engage with our products, requiring both technical excellence and strategic thinking to balance user experience, business objectives, and system scalability.

Responsibilities

• Be the technical leader of teams designing and developing world-class backend applications that power our business
• Promote the adoption of new technologies that advance and evolve our product
• Tackle challenges of scale though solid engineering practices and creative problem solving
• Ensure your products are resilient and meet well-defined service level agreements with client stakeholders
• Lead code reviews and help maintain high standards of code quality
• Exceed quality expectations through a strong test-minded approach at every step of the SDLC
• Monitor your application and resolve issues and SLA violations quickly and efficiently

Who You Are

• You have a degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent work experience with 7+ years in professional software development
• Has demonstrated experience building and scaling search, recommendation, and personalization systems in production environments
• An expert in high-level languages such as Golang, Python, or C# with deep understanding of their ecosystems and best practices
• Has a mastery of domain modeling, system design, and data architecture patterns relevant to information retrieval and machine learning systems
• Proficient in cloud technologies (particularly AWS), distributed systems, and service-oriented architectures with focus on high-availability and low-latency services
• Understand the full stack of modern recommendation systems including data pipelines, feature engineering, model serving, and A/B testing frameworks
• Well-versed in agile work processes and comfortable breaking down complex search and ML initiatives to deliver value incrementally
• A clear, concise communicator who can translate technical concepts for cross-functional stakeholders and influence architectural decisions
• Possesses a strong belief in accountability and holds engineering teams to high standards around code quality, testing, observability, and performance
• Demonstrated ability to deliver complex software projects with a high level of autonomy while mentoring others
• Not on the Office of Inspector General's List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE)

Extra Credit

• Experience with AWS cloud infrastructure, particularly services like OpenSearch/Elasticsearch, SageMaker, Personalize, or Bedrock
• Background in machine learning engineering, including model training, evaluation, and deployment pipelines
• Experience with vector databases and semantic search technologies
• Familiarity with real-time streaming data processing and event-driven architectures

In compliance with local and state requirements, Warby Parker is committed to pay transparency. We offer a comprehensive compensation package that includes not only a competitive base salary/hourly rate but also variable compensation for eligible employees.

For applicable postings, the range listed is a good faith estimate of the compensation for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation is thoughtfully determined by a variety of factors, including the candidate's qualifications, experience, internal equity, and relevant market data.

For applicable postings, non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime pay if you are required to work more than 40 hours in a workweek.

Benefits (Full-time)

• Health, vision, and dental insurance
• Life and AD&D Insurance
• Paid sick leave
• Paid Holidays
• Vacation days per year
• Retirement savings plan (401(k))
• Parental leave (non-birthing parents included)
• Short-term disability
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Bereavement Support
• Optical Education Reimbursement
• Free eyewear
• And more (just ask!)

Some benefits of working at Warby Parker for part-time employees:

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Free eyewear
• Paid sick leave
• And more (just ask!)

Warby Parker will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the California Fair Chance Act.

If you are a California resident, please review the additional privacy disclosures available in Section 8 of our Privacy Policy, which provides a summary of how we collect, use, disclose, and share personal information about you and explain your rights under the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

CO only: The application window for this position is anticipated to close on the apply before date listed. We encourage interested candidates to apply through our Career website.

1 WA only: Full-Time employees’ paid sick leave is accrued at a rate of 1 hour per every 26 hours worked. Full-time employees receive 5 paid holidays and 5-10 vacation days per year (after waiting period, depending on tenure and hours worked). 2 WA PT only: Paid sick leave (accrued at a rate of 1 hour per every 30 hours worked).