Staff Software Engineer, Creator Backend Systems

Snap Inc.

Staff Backend Engineer designing, implementing, and operating critical scalable services at Snap Inc. Collaborate across teams to deliver innovative products with high quality and operational excellence.

Posted 7/20/2026full-timeSanta Monica • California • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $229,000 - $343,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in designing and implementing scalable services, with a strong focus on operational excellence, code correctness, and security. Proven ability to lead technical direction and manage the full lifecycle of high-scale services in a collaborative environment.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Software Development ExperienceTechnical LeadershipDistributed Systems ArchitectureHigh Scale Service OwnershipAI Tools Utilization

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Software DevelopmentSystem DesignDebuggingCode Quality AssuranceScalability Best PracticesOperational ExcellenceHigh Velocity Engineering WorkflowsService ImplementationPerformance OptimizationData Management

Soft Skills

CollaborationProblem-SolvingCommunicationTrade-Off EvaluationAdvocacy for Best Practices

Certifications & Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Computer ScienceMaster's Degree in Technical FieldPhD in Related Technical Field

Industry Keywords

User Identity ServicesFriend GraphCore Persistence LayerHigh QPSMulti-Region Services

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Distributed Systems

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Design, implement, and operate our most critical and scalable services - ranging from user identity services, friend graph, and our core persistence layer
Work across teams to understand product requirements, evaluate trade-offs, and deliver the solutions needed to build innovative products
You evaluate, appropriately test, and debug your work, striving for high quality
Advocate for and apply best practices when it comes to availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management
Utilize AI tools and high velocity engineering workflows to design and ship scalable services while upholding rigorous standards for code correctness, security, and production ready quality code

Requirements

What you’ll need

Bachelor's Degree in a relevant technical field such as computer science or equivalent years of practical work experience
9+ 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 experience
1+ years of experience with technical leadership or acting as the domain-expert to a technical organization
Experience leading the technical direction of engineering projects, including the architecture, design, and development of distributed systems
Proven track record owning the full lifecycle of a high scale service: design, implementation, rollout, and on-call/operational ownership at scale (high QPS, large data volumes, or multi-region).

Benefits

Comp & perks

paid parental leave
comprehensive medical coverage
emotional and mental health support programs
compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success