Staff Software Engineer, Developer Productivity Async

United States Digital Space LLC; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 220,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity (RSUs)

Job summary

the company in the United States is seeking an experienced engineer for the Developer Productivity - Async team to improve productivity for product engineers. You will enhance asynchronous processing, maintain background job infrastructure, and improve tooling across applications using technologies like Sidekiq and Kafka.

The role emphasizes architectural thinking, collaboration with engineering teams, and leveraging AI to migrate code at scale.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software development experience.
• Strong ability to communicate across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable with architectural thinking and delivering solutions through code.
• Deep experience with Ruby and Rails, including developer tooling for large engineering teams.
• Experience with asynchronous processing using Sidekiq and/or Kafka.
• Proven track record of improving developer productivity through tooling, infrastructure enhancements, and AI.

Responsibilities

• Identify and solve inefficiencies in tooling, APIs, and feedback mechanisms to improve developer productivity.
• Design, pitch, plan, measure, and implement solutions with iterative approaches, including large-scale code migrations using AI tools.
• Collaborate with product engineering to anticipate changes and address them.
• Develop and maintain services, abstractions, and architecture to support product engineering.
• Advance the use of Kafka and Sidekiq for asynchronous processing and communication across applications.
• Harden the async infrastructure to be resilient under heavy loads and leverage LLMs to reduce incident resolution time.

Skills

10+ years software development

Ruby and Rails

architectural thinking

communication across audiences

AI tooling for code migrations

asynchronous processing

Tools

Sidekiq

Kafka

Job description

About the company

At the company, we're on a mission to grow the small business economy. We handle the hard stuff — payroll, health insurance, 401(k)s, and HR — so owners can focus on their craft and their customers. With teams in Denver, San Francisco, and New York, we support more than 500,000 small businesses nationwide and are building a workplace that reflects the people we serve.

All full-time employees receive competitive base pay, benefits, and equity (RSUs) — because everyone who helps build the company should share in its success. Offer amounts are determined by role, level, and location. Learn more about our Total Rewards philosophy.

AI is a fundamental part of how work gets done at the company. We expect all team members to actively engage with AI tools relevant to their role and grow their fluency as the technology evolves. AI experience requirements vary by role and will be assessed during the interview process.

About the Role:

As an engineer on the Developer Productivity - Async team, you will work on improving developer productivity by enhancing the tools and systems used by product engineers. You will focus on asynchronous processing, ensuring that our applications are efficient, reliable, and scalable. Your work will involve maintaining and improving the infrastructure that supports background jobs and asynchronous communication between our applications using technologies such as Sidekiq and Karafka.

About the Team:

The Developer Productivity team is dedicated to elevating the way engineers work at the company. We believe that the right tools, systems, and processes can unlock extraordinary impact across the entire engineering organization. Our goal is to equip every builder with the support they need to do their best work, from the platforms they rely on daily to the workflows that keep teams moving efficiently. We treat our fellow engineers as both customers and partners, and we are driven by a deep commitment to lifting each other up and amplifying the craft of software development at scale.

Here’s what you’ll do day-to-day:

• Identify and solve inefficiencies in the tooling, APIs, and feedback mechanisms available to product engineers to improve developer productivity.
• Design, pitch, plan, measure, and implement solutions iteratively, utilizing AI tools to perform large scale code migrations.
• Collaborate closely with product engineering colleagues to anticipate and address upcoming changes.
• Develop and maintain services, abstractions, and architecture to support product engineering.
• Advance the use of Kafka and Sidekiq for asynchronous processing and communication for the growing number of applications at the company.
• Harden the async infrastructure to be resilient in the face of heavy loads across a wide variety of use cases, utilizing LLMs to reduce incident resolution time.

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Successful applicants typically have 10+ years of software development experience
• Systems thinker with a strong ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Comfortable with architectural thinking and delivering solutions through code.
• Deep experience with Ruby and Rails, including developer tooling for large engineering teams.
• Ability to work with colleagues as both customers and partners.
• Experience with asynchronous processing using Sidekiq and/or Kafka.
• Proven track record of improving developer productivity through tooling, infrastructure enhancements, and the strategic use of AI.

Our cash compensation amount for this role is targeted at $189,000-210,000 in Denver & most remote locations, and $220,000-250,000 for San Francisco & New York. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including candidate experience and expertise and may vary from the amounts listed above.

the company has physical office spaces in Denver, San Francisco, and New York City. Employees who are based in those locations will be expected to work from the office on designated days approximately 2-3 days per week (or more depending on role). The same office expectations apply to all Symmetry roles, the company's subsidiary, whose physical office is in Scottsdale.

Note: The San Francisco office expectations encompass both the San Francisco and San Jose metro areas.

When approved to work from a location other than a the company office, a secure, reliable, and consistent internet connection is required. This includes non-office days for hybrid employees.

Our customers come from all walks of life and so do we. We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it makes our company stronger. If you share our values and our enthusiasm for small businesses, you will find a home at the company.

the company is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. the company considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. the company is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. We want to see our candidates perform to the best of their ability. If you require a medical or religious accommodation at any time throughout your candidate journey, please fill out this form and a member of our team will get in touch with you.

the company takes security and protection of your personal information very seriously. Please review our Fraudulent Activity Disclaimer.

Personal information collected and processed as part of your the company application will be subject tothe company's Applicant Privacy Notice.