Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure

Snap Inc.; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 229,000 - 343,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

RSUs Equity

Job summary

Snap Inc. is seeking a Staff Tech Lead for Service Infrastructure to drive the architecture, design, and scaling of the backend platform powering Snap’s core services.

You will own multi-year roadmaps, set technical direction, and partner with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable, high-performance systems. You will mentor engineers, improve developer velocity, and apply AI-driven enhancements to platform quality and operational workflows.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• 9+ years of software development experience; or 8+ with a Master’s; or 5+ with a PhD.
• Experience as a technical lead or owner of complex initiatives.
• Experience building and operating backend systems or distributed systems in production.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical direction for Snap’s Service Infrastructure platform with multi-quarter roadmaps.
• Design, build, and operate foundational backend infrastructure for reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Act as a hands-on Staff-level tech lead driving high-impact initiatives from concept to rollout.
• Partner with engineers and leaders to align on technical direction, priorities, and investments.
• Improve developer and operator experience by creating durable systems and abstractions.
• Drive best practices in service reliability, observability, incident response, and cost efficiency.
• Mentor engineers and resolve complex technical conflicts across teams.
• Help shape infrastructure for an AI-first future with scalable, responsible AI opportunities.

Skills

Backend systems design

Distributed systems

Technical leadership

System design

Operational readiness

Incident response

AI-infrastructure familiarity

Mentoring engineers

Ambiguity handling

Cross-team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree in CS/Engineering or equivalent

Master’s degree in technical field

PhD in related technical field (optional)

Tools

Go

Java

Python

C++

Kubernetes

Containerized systems

Developers platforms

Internal infrastructure tooling

Job description

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

The Company operates Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world, and Specs Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary dedicated to making computing more human, in addition to Bitmoji, Saturn, and other digital services.

We are looking for an L6 Staff Tech Lead to join our team responsible for building, managing, and scaling the critical Service Infrastructure that powers Snap's entire backend. We don't just host microservices, we build the platform that handles provisioning, lifecycle management, scaling, CI/CD, and operations for Snap's most critical workloads. Our systems are widely adopted across the company and power products including Stories, Messaging, Content Feed, Growth, Ads, ML Platform, Maps, and Media Delivery at internet scale.

This role is for a backend engineer focused on Service & Compute Infrastructure, with the opportunity to shape the architecture and technical direction of one of Snap's most critical platforms. This is an exciting opportunity to define how Snap's Service Infrastructure evolves to meet the demands of an AI-first world. If you're passionate about large-scale distributed systems and infrastructure, we would love to hear from you. Learn more about our work in this blog post.

What you’ll do

• Lead the technical direction for Snap’s Service Infrastructure platform, defining multi-quarter and multi-year roadmaps across areas such as service mesh, compute, observability, and adjacent platform capabilities.
• Design, build, and operate foundational backend infrastructure that powers critical services across Snap with a focus on reliability, scalability, performance, and operational excellence.
• Act as a hands-on Staff-level tech lead, driving ambiguous and high-impact technical initiatives from concept through architecture, implementation, rollout, and iteration.
• Partner closely with engineers and leaders across infrastructure and product teams to align on technical direction, priorities, trade-offs, and long-term platform investments.
• Improve the developer and operator experience for teams building on Snap’s backend platform by creating durable systems, abstractions, and mechanisms that raise engineering velocity and quality at scale.
• Drive best practices in service reliability, observability, incident response, system performance, and cost efficiency across mission-critical infrastructure.
• Mentor and uplevel other engineers, provide technical leadership across team boundaries, and help resolve complex technical conflicts to move the organization forward.
• Help shape how Snap’s infrastructure evolves for an AI-first future, including identifying opportunities where AI can improve platform quality, developer productivity, or operational workflows in a responsible and scalable way.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Deep experience designing, building, and operating backend services or distributed systems at significant scale.
• Strong technical leadership skills, with the ability to set vision, ideate high-impact projects, and translate strategy into executable roadmaps.
• Proven ability to lead complex, cross-functional initiatives over multiple quarters while balancing architectural quality, reliability, and delivery velocity.
• Strong foundation in system design, including APIs, service architecture, compute platforms, storage concepts, observability, and workflow orchestration.
• Proven track record of owning highly available, mission-critical systems, including operational readiness, incident response, and systemic improvements.
• Strong judgment in making technical trade-offs and prioritizing the right long-term platform investments for a large engineering organization.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to influence engineers and leaders across Senior Manager- or Director-level organizations.
• Ability to mentor, unblock, and elevate other engineers while creating structures and mechanisms that make teams more effective over time.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and driving clarity in technically complex problem spaces.
• Familiarity with responsible use of emerging AI technologies to improve engineering quality, alignment, and innovation at scale.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 9+ years of software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field and 8+ years of software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field and 5+ years of software development experience.
• Experience as a technical lead, domain expert, or owner of complex technical initiatives.
• Experience building and operating backend systems or distributed systems in production environments.
• Experience leading architecture or platform direction beyond an individual team, with demonstrated influence across stakeholders and partner teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with service infrastructure domains such as service mesh, compute platforms, observability, or related backend platform systems.
• Experience with large-scale microservices, cloud infrastructure, storage systems, or platform architecture.
• Experience with Go, Java, Python, C++, or similar backend languages.
• Experience with Kubernetes, containerized systems, developer platforms, or internal infrastructure tooling.
• Experience driving long-term technical strategy for a platform or infrastructure area.
• Track record of delivering large-scale, high-impact technical work across team boundaries.
• Experience applying AI to infrastructure, developer tooling, platform quality, or engineering productivity is a plus.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

Equal Opportunity Employment

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law (by example, the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, where applicable).

Snap Inc. is a proud equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

Benefits

Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. The starting pay may be negotiable within the salary range for the position. These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC): The base salary range for this position is $229,000-$343,000 annually.

Zone B: The base salary range for this position is $218,000-$326,000 annually.

Zone C: The base salary range for this position is $195,000-$292,000 annually.

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.