Staff Software Engineer (Web Application Services)

Mozilla; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

Parental leave

401(k)/RRSP with vesting

Learning budget

Wellness stipend

Remote work office budget

Job summary

Mozilla is seeking a Staff Software Engineer for the Services team to shape architecture and technical direction for Thunderbird services such as calendar and secure file storage. You will own complex projects, influence across teams, mentor engineers, and help grow Services users and subscribers.

You will write code, build prototypes, and drive decisions across Mozilla and Thunderbird while maintaining scalable systems and adopting new technologies as needed.

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex web-scale projects and making architectural decisions.
• Ability to mentor engineers and provide productive code reviews.
• Strong knowledge of modern web technologies, testing, and documentation.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical architecture of Services products and own complex initiatives.
• Build prototypes and contribute throughout the development lifecycle from planning to maintenance.
• Collaborate with engineers, designers, and community members to drive data-driven decisions.
• Provide technical and product direction across Thunderbird and Mozilla teams as needed.
• Mentor engineers and promote sustainable, scalable software patterns.

Skills

Technical leadership

Architecture

Front-end frameworks

API development

Mentorship

Code review

Tools

JavaScript

Python

Rust

Go

C++

Job description

• As a Staff Software Engineer, Services, you’ll help shape the architecture and technical direction of web-based products that extend Thunderbird beyond email. The Services team is currently focused on building offerings such as an appointment calendar and secure file storage and transfer solutions, creating valuable experiences for our users while supporting additional revenue streams for Thunderbird
• This is a Staff-level individual contributor role with significant technical ownership and influence. You’ll work with designers, engineers, and community members to write code, build prototypes, solve complex problems, and make technical decisions that shape our products. You’ll take a holistic view of our code and systems, helping establish the architecture and software patterns that allow our Services products to evolve and scale
• You’ll also take on broad, ambiguous problems that have a direct impact on our goals, from improving our technical architecture to helping grow Services users and subscribers. Along the way, you’ll provide technical and product direction across teams, mentor other engineers, and identify ways to make our systems and processes more sustainable, scalable, and easier to work with
• Lead the technical architecture of new Services products, taking ownership of complex projects and identifying improvements that strengthen our systems as they evolve
• Write code, build prototypes and experiments, and contribute throughout the development lifecycle, from planning and testing through implementation, monitoring, and maintenance
• Help establish software patterns and make technical decisions across our Services products, including investigating and proposing technology choices
• Build and evolve analytics and infrastructure that help the team use user-generated data to inform decisions
• Take on ambiguous, high-level problems with broad scope and direct impact on Services goals, including growing users and subscribers
• Provide technical and product direction across Thunderbird and lead technical collaboration with other parts of Mozilla and community contributors when needed
• Work closely with the team and community to surface issues, refine ideas, and develop practical solutions
• Identify and plan improvements that make our systems and processes more accessible, self-serviceable, lower friction, sustainable, scalable, and easier to delegate
• Mentor other engineers through code review, documentation, technical discussions, process improvements, and ongoing guidance
• Stay current with evolving technologies, coding standards, libraries, and frameworks and apply that knowledge to your work
• What success looks like
• Success in this role will look like a strong technical leader who not only helps the Web Services team grow, but also has a direct hand in helping Thunderbird grow and evolve our product offerings
• Over time, your work will help:
• Grow & mature scalable, modern software patterns and architecture across Web Services products
• Turn new product ideas and complex technical problems into working solutions, prototypes, and experiments
• Partner with leadership and cross-functional partners (Product, Design, etc) to help generate data-driven product decisions
• Provide clear technical and product direction across complex, cross-functional work
• Help other engineers grow their technical, collaboration, and leadership skills
• Support the growth of users and subscribers as Thunderbird expands its offerings beyond email

Benefits

• Health and wellness: Mozilla covers medical, dental and vision plan premiums at 100% for U.S. and Canadian employees. Our offerings give you the options you need to manage your health — and your family’s — the way you want.
• Mental health: Mental health is as important as our physical health. That’s why Mozilla’s health benefits include therapy and coaching sessions to make sure our people have access to the care they need.
• Time away: With all of life’s demands, time away from work to disconnect and recharge is essential. In addition to country-specific holidays (12 in the U.S. and Canada), vacation and sick time start accruing right away (specifics vary by country). Everyone also takes a pause together on quarterly all-company wellness days, plus you get to celebrate the most personal holiday of all: your birthday.
• Parental leave: While Mozilla’s parental leave policies vary globally, our U.S. and Canadian-based employees can look forward to 26 weeks of paid leave for childbearing parents and 12 weeks of paid leave for non-childbearing parents.
• Financial: Mozilla is a private company, so our compensation isn’t tied to stock options or equity plans. Instead, we offer generous, performance-based bonus plans to all regular employees to underscore that we share in our success as one team. As for retirement savings for US and Canadian employees, Mozilla contributes a percentage of your eligible base salary each year to the 401(k) Plan/RRSP (regardless of whether you contribute or not), with 100% vesting.
• Learning and development: We’re big believers in learning by doing, and we also want to invest in your education and development beyond your role. Every employee is eligible for an annual professional development budget. Mozillians can put it toward technical or management training, certifications, conferences and more.
• Help when you need it: Life is full of surprises; that’s why it’s important to be prepared. Mozilla provides Life/AD&D and Short and Long Term Disability insurance (offerings may vary by locale) to ensure that you and your family will have a safety net in place should you ever need it.
• Plus a bit more: A few other benefits include a quarterly wellbeing stipend (to use on those things just for you), an employee referral bonus, internet reimbursement if you’re remote, and a budget for office essentials to make working remotely ergonomically comfortable.

A commitment to continuous learning and staying current with industry trends and technologiesExperience acting as a technical lead, solving complex technical problems, and providing mentorship and guidance to other engineersExperience with front-end frameworks, full-stack development, and/or API developmentExpert-level JavaScript skills and knowledge of at least one additional programming language, such as Python, Rust, Go, or C++10+ years of web software development experience, including experience designing scalable and efficient systems and launching complex web projects at scaleAbility and willingness to travel periodically, including internationallyStrong knowledge of software development practices, including testing, code review, and documentation, and the ability to help others develop these skillsAn understanding of the business landscape, including challenges and opportunities, and experience collaborating with teams to expand Thunderbird’s user and donor baseExcellent written and verbal English communication and documentation skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and concisely with an international, geographically distributed teamComfort working in an open-source environment and a commitment to Mozilla valuesAbility to learn, evaluate, and responsibly use emerging technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to improve work processesExperience collaborating remotely across disciplines such as engineering, product management, QA, and designExperience with product management or product-focused work