Staff Software Engineer, Backend - RQL

Rippling; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits

Job summary

Rippling is seeking an experienced Backend Engineer to help build core services on the Platform team. You will work on distributed processing engines and data platforms, using Python and big data stacks to deliver scalable, customer-facing and platform components.

The role emphasizes autonomy, mentoring newer engineers, and contributing to design discussions while collaborating with architects and senior developers.

Qualifications

• 8+ years experience in backend engineering roles.
• Experience writing testable and performant backend code.

Responsibilities

• Work on distributed processing engines and distributed databases.
• Develop high-quality software with Python, MongoDB, CDC and Kafka.
• Leverage big data technologies like Aurora, Trino, Presto, Pinot, Iceberg, Flink.
• Build data platforms, data lakes, and data ingestion systems at scale.
• Design, develop, test software systems, products and user-facing experiences.
• Collaborate with architects and senior developers on advanced development tasks.
• Contribute to product design and implementation discussions.
• Translate ideas into production-ready solutions.

Skills

Backend engineering

Autonomy

Mentoring

Fast-paced environment

Tools

Python

MongoDB

CDC

Kafka

Aurora

Trino/Presto

Pinot

Iceberg

Flink

Job description

About the role

The Platform team is responsible for developing core services and cross-cutting products that form the building blocks at Rippling. Other engineering teams at Rippling leverage these fundamental Lego blocks to create complex products on top of them.

The team owns the analytics, customizable workflows, data platform, reporting, permissions, and custom fields products. All these projects have customer-facing product components and core platform components supporting 10+ product teams. This is a unique opportunity to work on both product and platform layers at the same time.

At Rippling, we want users to configure and customize our features/products without complexity. Therefore, we’ve created a new language called Rippling Query Language (RQL) which allows our customers to write Queries and scripts to create Formula Fields inside of our analytics suite, applications in Data Cloud and extend functionality elsewhere across Rippling.

RQL internally has its own grammar, parser, query translator, distributed query processing engine, and a distributed datastore. You will work on challenging technical challenges like distributed systems and big data technologies.

What you will do

• Work on distributed processing engines and distributed databases
• Develop high-quality software with attention to detail using tech stacks like Python, MongoDB, CDC, and Kafka
• Leverage big data technologies like Aurora, Trino, Presto, Pinot, Iceberg, Flink and more.
• Build custom programming languages within the Rippling Platform
• Create data platforms, data lakes, and data ingestion systems that work at scale
• Design, develop, code, and test software systems, improvements, products, and user-facing experiences
• Work alongside software architects and senior developers doing state-of-the-art development work
• Contribute to product design and implementation discussions
• Find and build unique solutions to implement projects from the idea phase to production

What you will need

• 8+ years experience in backend engineering roles
• Experience writing testable and performant backend code
• Experience working in a fast-paced, dynamic environment
• Experience mentoring less-experienced developers
• Ability to thrive in an environment that grants you a lot of autonomy to explore creative solutions

Additional Information

Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email [e-mail]

Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee’s role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation–including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.