Staff Software Engineer (Omnichannel Notifications System)

Snap Inc.; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Parental leave

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

401(k) with match

Gym perks

Job summary

Snap Inc. is seeking a Staff Engineer / Tech Lead to shape the next generation of core infrastructure powering notifications across all surfaces. You will set the technical direction for our omnichannel notification system and work on scalable backend services.

This high-impact role requires deep systems expertise, ability to mentor engineers, and strong collaboration with product, data science, ML, and design teams to deliver reliable, timely notifications at scale.

Qualifications

• Strong system design foundation (APIs, data models, queues, orchestration).
• Experience mentoring engineers and guiding technical strategy.
• Proven ownership of highly available, scalable systems with on-call.
• Excellent cross-functional collaboration with Product, DS/ML, Design.
• Experience building backend services or distributed systems at scale.

Responsibilities

• Set the technical direction and long-term architecture for the omnichannel notification platform.
• Design, build, and operate scalable backend services delivering notifications across channels.
• Define shared APIs, data models, and integration mechanisms for product teams.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives across Engineering, Product, Data Science, ML, Design.
• Improve availability, latency, observability, privacy, and operational excellence.
• Mentor engineers and raise the bar for design and implementation.

Skills

System design

Mentor engineers

Backend services

Observability

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Cloud architectures

Incident response

Leadership

Architectural direction

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related

Master's degree in technical field

PhD in related field

Tools

Kafka

Google Pub/Sub

Cloud Tasks

Memcached/Redis

Cloud services (AWS/Google Cloud)

Job description

• We’re looking for a Staff Engineer / Tech Lead to build the next generation of core infrastructure responsible for serving notifications across all notification surfaces. This is a high-impact, high-visibility role where you’ll set the technical direction for our omnichannel notification system
• Our north star is simple to state and hard to do well: send the right notification to the right person, at the right time, on the right channel to delight and engage Snapchatters
• Our technical vision is to give every Snap team one channel-agnostic API and inventory model, backed by centralized reachability, budgeting, ranking, rendering, delivery, and measurement. You’ll have the opportunity to influence and set the technical direction for notifications orchestration, user experience, and the platform that powers it all
• Set the technical direction and long-term architecture for Snap’s omnichannel notification platform
• Design, build, and operate highly available, scalable backend services that deliver notifications across multiple channels and surfaces
• Define shared platform abstractions, APIs, data models, and mechanisms that enable product teams to integrate with notifications consistently
• Lead complex, cross-functional initiatives spanning Engineering, Product, Data Science, Machine Learning, Design, and other partner teams
• Build systems for notification orchestration, channel selection, timing optimization, attention budgeting, ranking, targeting, experimentation, and measurement
• Establish engineering practices that improve availability, latency, observability, privacy, cost efficiency, and operational excellence
• Participate in incident response and lead systemic improvements to prevent recurring issues
• Translate ambiguous product and business needs into pragmatic technical strategies and multi-quarter roadmaps
• Mentor engineers, provide technical guidance, and raise the bar for design, implementation, and operational quality across the organization
• Drive alignment across teams and influence architecture and priorities without relying on direct authority

Benefits

• Up to 28 weeks of parental leave and return-to-work program
• Adoption, surrogacy, infertility, and fertility preservation benefits
• Backup child care coverage, center-based care support, & caregiver assistance
• Dependent Daycare Flexible Spending Account
• Short-term disability, long-term disability, basic life insurance, and AD&D insurance
• Services to support your path to parenthood & beyond - fertility support & family planning via Carrot, SNOO, Hinge Health
• Lactation rooms (based on office location) and breastmilk shipping coverage
• For Snap, employees taking care of loved ones with complex, chronic, or ongoing care needs (i.e. parent with Dementia, spouse with Cancer, child with Autism), your family can save time, money, & stress with Wellthy
• Comprehensive medical coverage, including PPO, HDHP with HSA, and HMO options
• Dental coverage, including orthodontia benefits
• Vision coverage, including frame and contact allowance and LASIK benefits
• Free membership to One Medical for primary and urgent healthcare services
• Business Travel Insurance
• Gym perks and discounts
• Team fitness classes and races
• Sports leagues
• Cooking and nutritional workshops
• Well-being reimbursement
• Unlimited access to virtual physical therapy with Anthem
• 15 sessions per year of mental health for you + dependents through Lyra
• Generous time off and leave programs. In the US, this includes the following:
• Up to 3 weeks (120 hours) of vacation time and 1 floating holiday for non-exempt team members
• 15 sick and safe days per year
• 12 paid holidays per year
• Meditation and yoga classes
• Social gatherings, team outings, and volunteering programs
• Speaker series, classes, and subscriptions to educational programs
• Snap Inc. provides a 401(k) plan that allows you to save on a pre-tax, Roth, and after-tax basis for your retirement (yes, we even have the Mega backdoor option!) Snap will also match 100% up to 3% of your contribution and then 50% on your 4th and 5th%
• Flexible Spending Accounts for healthcare, daycare and commuter
• Health Savings Account with employer contributions
• Rocket Lawyer memberships
• Financial education programs
• Snap exclusive discounts and perks
• Compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Strong foundation in system design (APIs, data models, storage, pub/sub, queues, and workflow orchestration) and performance/latency optimizationAbility to mentor and uplevel engineers, provide clear technical guidance, and create structures that make the team more effective over timeExcellent collaboration and communication skills; able to work effectively with Product, DS, ML, Design, and other engineering teams to align on requirements and trade‑offsExperience designing, building, and operating backend services or distributed systems at significant scaleDeep experience with observability (metrics, logging, tracing, dashboards) and using data to debug, harden, and evolve large-scale systemsProven track record of owning highly-available, mission‑critical systems, including on‑call participation, incident response, and driving systemic fixesBachelors in technical field such as computer science, mathematics, statistics or equivalent years of experienceExperience building and operating reliable, scalable services in cloud technologies9+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field + 8+ year of post-grad software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 5+ years of post-grad software development experienceDemonstrated ability to lead technical strategy for a team or domain, influencing architecture, reliability, and long‑term roadmaps across multiple teamsExperience with pub/sub and task‑queue systems (e.g., Kafka, Google Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks, or internal equivalents) in high‑throughput environmentsExperience with notification, messaging, growth, or experimentation platforms, including ranking, targeting, and A/B testing at scaleExperience with NoSQL data stores, caches (e.g., Memcache/Redis), and cloud services (Google Cloud, AWS, or similar)Experience with one or more of: Java, Go, C++, and/or Python