Senior Software Engineer, Data Platform
Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, centered around gaming. We're building the next generation Data Platform that powers decisions for one of the most vibrant platforms in the world.
About the role
We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer who gets excited about building data infrastructure at massive scale and cares deeply about the gaming communities we serve. You'll build and maintain systems processing petabytes of data, collaborate with cross-functional teams, and directly impact millions of gamers worldwide. If you light up when talking about distributed systems, user privacy, and data-driven decisions, this role is for you.
To learn more about Discord’s Data Platform, read our engineering blog, including how we built our modern data stack leveraging open-source tools.
Responsibilities
- Build and maintain data infrastructure processing petabytes of data across millions of users
- Write clean, well-tested code for data ingestion, transformation, and serving systems
- Own projects end-to-end: from design through deployment and production support
- Collaborate with data scientists, engineers, and product teams to deliver solutions that power Discord's insights
- Apply 80/20 thinking to challenge requirements, cut unnecessary complexity, and deliver optimal solutions at the right time
- Mentor teammates through code reviews, RFCs, and shared technical knowledge to elevate the whole team
Requirements
- 5+ years of software engineering experience with strong programming skills in Python, Java, Rust, Go, or similar
- Hands-on experience building or operating data infrastructure like pipelines, streaming systems, orchestration, or data warehousing at scale (BigQuery, Kafka, Spark, Flink, Airflow, Dagster, or similar)
- Proven track record of delivering complex, multi-phase projects autonomously, handling edge cases, failure modes, and scale before they become problems
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, including with cross-functional partners. You write clear technical documents, drive alignment, and bring people along on technical decisions
- Growth mindset: you’ve failed, learned, and shipped something better because of it
Bonus Points
- Passion for Discord and gaming communities