Staff Software Engineer, Backend, Content Infra, L6

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. The Company’s three core products are Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world; Lens Studio, an augmented reality platform that powers AR across Snapchat and other services; and its AR glasses, Spectacles.

 Snap Inc. is a camera company. We believe that reinventing the camera represents our greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Our products empower people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

Snap Engineering teams build fun and technically sophisticated products that reach hundreds of millions of Snapchatters around the world, every day. We’re deeply committed to the well-being of everyone in our global community, which is why our values are at the root of everything we do. We move fast, with precision, and always execute with privacy at the forefront.

Some core features we build and maintain include Snapchat’s Camera, Creative Tools, Maps, Chat, Memories, Stories, Discover, Games, and Minis. Our Infrastructure teams deliver an innovative and cost-efficient platform that ensures Snapchat is the fastest way to communicate with your friends, no matter where you are in the world. We have one of the fastest growing digital ad platforms, and our Monetization teams drive measurable returns for advertisers through novel ad formats like Augmented Reality. As a Snap Engineering team member, you’ll help us build the future of communication.

We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join Snap!

What you’ll do:

• Lead technical strategy for large-scale retrieval and ranking pipelines, setting roadmaps, creating measurable goals, and driving execution across teams.

• Evaluate trade-offs between latency, accuracy, and scalability for recommendation pipelines, mentoring teams on best practices.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Product, Operations, and Cloud Providers, to develop scalable and efficient infrastructure solutions.

• Advocate for and apply best practices when it comes to availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management

• Provide technical direction that influences the entire company

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Hands-on knowledge of cloud infrastructure and operational excellence patterns and practices

• Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at scale

• Ability to proactively learn new concepts and technology and apply them at work

• Excellent programming and software design skills, including debugging, performance analysis, and test design

• Experience with Java, Go, C++, and/or Python

• Ability leading and executing large, complex technical initiatives

• Strong collaboration and mentorship skills

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors in technical field such as computer science, mathematics, statistics or equivalent years of experience

• 9+ years of software experience

• Experience in technical leadership/ownership and setting technical direction for engineering projects

• Experience architecting, designing, and developing distributed systems

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in technical leadership/ownership and setting technical direction for engineering projects

• Proven track record of delivering large scale projects in attribution and measurement

• Experience operating highly-available systems at significant scale 

• Experience with backend services or distributed systems 

• Experience with state of the art Recommendation systems and underlying infrastructure

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office at least 80% of the time (an average of 4 days per week).

If you are not based in the same location(s) listed for this role and are open to relocation, we encourage you to apply to take advantage of our generous relocation policy. 

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. 

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with applicable law (by example, the requirements of the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance and the Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring, where applicable).

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. The starting pay may be negotiable within the salary range for the position. These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC):

Zone B:

Zone C:

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.