Hiring: Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure Company: Snap Inc. Location: Bellevue, WA Job Posted Time: 2026-09-11 13:58:46 Target Skills & Keywords : C++, CI/CD, Java, Kubernetes, Microservices, Python, Service Mesh, Systems Design About the job 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. Required Skills: •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. Qualifications: •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. •Demonstrated success in 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. •Demonstrated capacity 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. •Operational familiarity with responsible use of emerging AI technologies to improve engineering quality, alignment, and innovation at scale. Interested candidates, please apply directly through the job posting on company's career page or try via AI auto apply on this platform. Don't miss this opportunity to join a forward-thinking team!