Staff Software Engineer, Traffic

DoorDash USA; San Francisco, Seattle, New York (CA, WA, NY); Hybrid; USD 194,000 - 285,000; Full time

Job summary

DoorDash is recruiting experienced engineers to join the Traffic team and build the next generation of our global, latency-sensitive traffic platform. You will work on core components like Envoy Data Plane, xDS control planes, and scalable infrastructure across multiple regions.

This hybrid role reports to the Engineering Manager of the Traffic Team and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, or New York.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience as a software engineer in infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering.
• Experience with programming languages like Go, C++, Python or Rust.
• Experience with AWS and Kubernetes.
• Background working on latency-sensitive systems.
• Proficient with AI coding tools in the full software lifecycle.
• Experience with service mesh technologies such as Envoy, Istio or Linkerd.
• Familiarity with xDS or control plane architectures.
• Strong networking fundamentals: TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTP/2, gRPC, Load Balancing.
• Experience building RPC frameworks or client-side networking libraries.
• Experience with AWS Networking Primitives like Load Balancers, Privatelink.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tooling like Terraform.
• Experience with Gitops tooling such as ArgoCD, Helm, Atlantis.

Responsibilities

• Design and build large-scale distributed systems that are high RPS and latency sensitive.
• Troubleshoot, debug, and fix issues that affect production and maintain our SLAs.
• Collaborate with other platform and product engineers to deliver on feature requests.
• Find ways to improve the team’s productivity and operational capabilities through automation and AI tools.
• Participate in a shared on-call and lead production investigations and incidents.

Job description

About the Team

Help us build the world's most reliable, on-demand logistics engine for last-mile delivery! We're bringing on experienced engineers to help us create and maintain a 24x7, no downtime, global infrastructure system that powers DoorDash’s three-sided marketplace of consumers, merchants, and dashers.

About the Role

We are looking for experienced engineers to join the Traffic team and help build the next generation of DoorDash’s Traffic platform. Our team develops and operates the critical traffic infrastructure that powers communication between thousands of services across multiple regions, as well as the ingress systems that handle external traffic entering the DoorDash platform.

You will work on core components of our traffic stack, including the Envoy Data Plane, xDS control planes and proxyless architecture. This role sits at the intersection of distributed systems, networking, and large-scale infrastructure. This role includes designing, building, and maintaining systems that must operate reliably and efficiently across some of the most critical and latency-sensitive workloads at DoorDash.

You will report to the Engineering Manager of the Traffic Team within the Infrastructure organization. This role is hybrid working from one of our engineering hubs based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle or New York

You’re excited about this opportunity because you will…

• Design and build large-scale distributed systems that are high RPS and latency sensitive
• Troubleshoot, debug, and fix issues that affect production and maintain our SLAs
• Work collaboratively with other platform and product engineers to deliver on feature requests and solve their problems
• Find ways to improve the team’s productivity and operational capabilities through the use of automation, AI tools, and other avenues
• Participate in a shared on-call and support rotation and lead production investigations and incidents

We’re excited about you because…

• You have 8+ years of experience as a software engineer in infrastructure, networking, or platform engineering.
• Experience with Programming Languages like Go, C++, Python or Rust
• Experience with AWS and Kubernetes
• Background working on and debugging high-QPS or latency-sensitive systems
• You are curious, independent, ambitious, and can find solutions and make progress in an ambiguous and challenging environment
• You have proficiency in using AI coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) in the full software development lifecycle, including designing, generating code, testing, monitoring and releasing software
• Experience with service mesh technologies such as Envoy, Istio or Linkerd
• Familiarity with xDS or control plane architectures
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals like TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTP/2, gRPC, Load Balancing
• Experience building RPC frameworks or client-side networking libraries
• Experience with AWS Networking Primitives like Load Balancers, Privatelink, etc.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code tooling like Terraform
• Experience with Gitops delivery tooling such as ArgoCD, Helm, Atlantis.

Compensation

The successful candidate’s starting pay will fall within the pay range listed below and is determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. Base salary is localized according to an employee’s work location. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future.

In addition to base salary, the compensation for this role includes opportunities for equity grants. Talk to your recruiter for more information.

DoorDash cares about you and your overall well-being. That’s why we offer a comprehensive benefits package to all regular employees, which includes a 401(k) plan with employer matching, 16 weeks of paid parental leave, wellness benefits, commuter benefits match, paid time off and paid sick leave in compliance with applicable laws (e.g. Colorado Healthy Families and Workplaces Act). DoorDash also offers medical, dental, and vision benefits, 11 paid holidays, disability and basic life insurance, family-forming assistance, and a mental health program, among others.

To learn more about our benefits, visit our careers page here .

See below for paid time off details:

• For salaried roles: flexible paid time off/vacation, plus 80 hours of paid sick time per year.
• For hourly roles: vacation accrued at about 1 hour for every 25.97 hours worked (e.g. about 6.7 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 3.4 hours/month if working 20 hours/week), and paid sick time accrued at 1 hour for every 30 hours worked (e.g. about 5.8 hours/month if working 40 hours/week; about 2.9 hours/month if working 20 hours/week).

The national base pay range for this position within the United States, including Illinois and Colorado.

$193,800 - $285,000 USD

About DoorDash

At DoorDash, our mission to empower local economies shapes how our team members move quickly, learn, and reiterate in order to make impactful decisions that display empathy for our range of users—from Dashers to merchant partners to consumers. We are a technology and logistics company that started by enabling door-to-door delivery, and we are looking for team members who can help us go from a company that is known as the place you order food to a company that people turn to for any and all goods. DoorDash is growing rapidly and changing constantly, which gives our team members the opportunity to share their unique perspectives, solve new challenges, and own our careers. We're committed to supporting employees’ happiness, healthiness, and overall well-being by providing comprehensive benefits and perks including premium healthcare, wellness expense reimbursement, paid parental leave and more.

Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to growing and empowering a more inclusive community within our company, industry, and cities. That’s why we hire and cultivate diverse teams of people from all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe that true innovation happens when everyone has room at the table and the tools, resources, and opportunity to excel.

Statement of Non-Discrimination: In keeping with our beliefs and goals, no employee or applicant will face discrimination or harassment based on: race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, age, gender, marital/domestic partner status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or veteran status. Above and beyond discrimination and harassment based on “protected categories,” we also strive to prevent other subtler forms of inappropriate behavior (i.e., stereotyping) from ever gaining a foothold in our office. Whether blatant or hidden, barriers to success have no place at DoorDash. We value a diverse workforce – people who identify as women, non-binary or gender non-conforming, LGBTQIA+, American Indian or Native Alaskan, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, differently-abled, caretakers and parents, and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. Thank you to the Level Playing Field Institute for this statement of non-discrimination.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, and any other state or local hiring regulations, we will consider for employment any qualified applicant, including those with arrest and conviction records, in a manner consistent with the applicable regulation.

If you need any accommodations, please inform your recruiting contact upon initial connection.