Senior Software Engineer, Safety Backend

Back to jobs Senior Software Engineer, Safety Backend San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles Area Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games. Keeping our platform safe requires infrastructure that is accurate, scalable, and fair and the engineering challenges that come with that are genuinely hard. Our Safety Engineering teams build and operate the systems that power content moderation, enforcement, and safety signal processing at scale. Our team developed Osprey, the open-source investigation and incident response tool that allows safety teams to understand what is happening on their platforms and take actions at scale. Osprey has since been open-sourced and donated to ROOST, reflecting our commitment to industry-wide safety improvements. We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer who thrives on complex, ambiguous problems and can take full ownership of critical infrastructure from design through post-launch iteration. What You'll Be Doing Own complex safety infrastructure projects end-to-end, from initial design through post-launch monitoring and iterationBuild and maintain production systems that operate at massive scale, participating in on-call rotationsApply an adversarial mindset to your work — thinking through security, abuse scenarios, edge cases, and scalability concernsCollaborate closely with Trust & Safety, ML, Policy, and product teams to understand requirements and deliver effective solutionsBreak down large, multi-milestone projects into prioritized work streams while managing stakeholders and dependencies across teamsContribute to technical design discussions and write RFCs; help establish best practices and maintain a high quality bar through code reviews and mentorship What You Should Have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience focused on backend services and/or infrastructureStrong programming skills in Python; we work occasionally in Rust and TypeScript as wellExperience building and operating distributed systems and production services at scale such as GCP or AWSStrong debugging skills and ability to navigate complex, multi-service codebasesExcellent collaboration and communication skills, including experience working with cross-functional partnersA quality-centered mindset with attention to the right details at every stage of development Bonus Points Experience with content moderation, trust & safety, or related problem domainsExperience with ML/LLM integrationExperience with observability tooling, metrics, and monitoring systems at scaleA strong passion for Discord and making online communities safer This position is US-based only. We are seeking candidates located in the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Areas. Candidates in the Los Angeles area can work remotely. Candidates in the San Francisco area are required to be in the office 2 days per week. Relocation assistance may be available to the San Francisco Bay Area. Candidates must be located within one of the following counties: Los Angeles area: (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura Counties)San Francisco Bay Area: (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties) The US base salary range for this full-time position is $220,500 to $269,500 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits. Why Discord? Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away! Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know. Please see our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy for details regarding Discord’s collection and usage of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking HERE. Apply for this job indicates a required field First Name* Last Name* Preferred First Name Email* Phone Country* Phone* 244 results found No results found Afghanistan+93Åland Islands+358Albania+355Algeria+213American Samoa+1Andorra+376Angola+244Anguilla+1Antigua & Barbuda+1Argentina+54Armenia+374Aruba+297Ascension Island+247Australia+61Austria+43Azerbaijan+994Bahamas+1Bahrain+973Bangladesh+880Barbados+1Belarus+375Belgium+32Belize+501Benin+229Bermuda+1Bhutan+975Bolivia+591Bosnia & Herzegovina+387Botswana+267Brazil+55British Indian Ocean Territory+246British Virgin Islands+1Brunei+673Bulgaria+359Burkina Faso+226Burundi+257Cambodia+855Cameroon+237Canada+1Cape Verde+238Caribbean Netherlands+599Cayman Islands+1Central African Republic+236Chad+235Chile+56China+86Christmas Island+61Cocos (Keeling) Islands+61Colombia+57Comoros+269Congo - Brazzaville+242Congo - Kinshasa+243Cook Islands+682Costa Rica+506Côte d’Ivoire+225Croatia+385Cuba+53Curaçao+599Cyprus+357Czechia+420Denmark+45Djibouti+253Dominica+1Dominican Republic+1Ecuador+593Egypt+20El Salvador+503Equatorial Guinea+240Eritrea+291Estonia+372Eswatini+268Ethiopia+251Falkland Islands+500Faroe Islands+298Fiji+679Finland+358France+33French Guiana+594French Polynesia+689Gabon+241Gambia+220Georgia+995Germany+49Ghana+233Gibraltar+350Greece+30Greenland+299Grenada+1Guadeloupe+590Guam+1Guatemala+502Guernsey+44Guinea+224Guinea-Bissau+245Guyana+592Haiti+509Honduras+504Hong Kong SAR China+852Hungary+36Iceland+354India+91Indonesia+62Iran+98Iraq+964Ireland+353Isle of Man+44Israel+972Italy+39Jamaica+1Japan+81Jersey+44Jordan+962Kazakhstan+7Kenya+254Kiribati+686Kosovo+383Kuwait+965Kyrgyzstan+996Laos+856Latvia+371Lebanon+961Lesotho+266Liberia+231Libya+218Liechtenstein+423Lithuania+370Luxembourg+352Macao SAR China+853Madagascar+261Malawi+265Malaysia+60Maldives+960Mali+223Malta+356Marshall Islands+692Martinique+596Mauritania+222Mauritius+230Mayotte+262Mexico+52Micronesia+691Moldova+373Monaco+377Mongolia+976Montenegro+382Montserrat+1Morocco+212Mozambique+258Myanmar (Burma)+95Namibia+264Nauru+674Nepal+977Netherlands+31New Caledonia+687New Zealand+64Nicaragua+505Niger+227Nigeria+234Niue+683Norfolk Island+672North Korea+850North Macedonia+389Northern Mariana Islands+1Norway+47Oman+968Pakistan+92Palau+680Palestinian Territories+970Panama+507Papua New Guinea+675Paraguay+595Peru+51Philippines+63Poland+48Portugal+351Puerto Rico+1Qatar+974Réunion+262Romania+40Russia+7Rwanda+250Samoa+685San Marino+378São Tomé & Príncipe+239Saudi Arabia+966Senegal+221Serbia+381Seychelles+248Sierra Leone+232Singapore+65Sint Maarten+1Slovakia+421Slovenia+386Solomon Islands+677Somalia+252South Africa+27South Korea+82South Sudan+211Spain+34Sri Lanka+94St. Barthélemy+590St. Helena+290St. Kitts & Nevis+1St. Lucia+1St. Martin+590St. Pierre & Miquelon+508St. Vincent & Grenadines+1Sudan+249Suriname+597Svalbard & Jan Mayen+47Sweden+46Switzerland+41Syria+963Taiwan+886Tajikistan+992Tanzania+255Thailand+66Timor-Leste+670Togo+228Tokelau+690Tonga+676Trinidad & Tobago+1Tunisia+216Turkey+90Turkmenistan+993Turks & Caicos Islands+1Tuvalu+688U.S. Virgin Islands+1Uganda+256Ukraine+380United Arab Emirates+971United Kingdom+44United States+1Uruguay+598Uzbekistan+998Vanuatu+678Vatican City+39Venezuela+58Vietnam+84Wallis & Futuna+681Western Sahara+212Yemen+967Zambia+260Zimbabwe+263 Location (City)* Resume/CV* Attach Enter manually Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf Cover Letter Attach Enter manually Accepted file types: pdf, doc, docx, txt, rtf Education School Select... Degree Select... Discipline Select... Why do you want to work at Discord?* LinkedIn Profile Website How did you hear about this job? Are you legally authorized to work in the United States for our Company?* Select... Are you currently located in the US?* Select... Are you currently based in or willing to relocate to the Bay Area or Los Angeles area for this position?* Select... Voluntary Self Identification For government reporting purposes (EEO-1), we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Discord is required to file annual demographic reports with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Your responses help us meet this obligation. Each question below includes an “I don’t wish to answer” option. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file. Additionally, we also have [optional] questions. These help us understand the composition of our broader applicant pool and have no impact on your application or hiring decisions. Your answers are kept secure, pseudonymized, and separate from your application and personal data. By answering, you consent to our use of your responses for the reasons above. If you change your mind later about sharing this information, you can withdraw consent anytime by reaching out to us at privacy@discordapp.com. Discord is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training. Gender* Select... Race and Ethnicity* Select... Veteran Status* Select... Disability Status* Select... Gender Identity (optional) Select... Race or Ethnicity (optional) Select... I consider myself a member of the LGBTQ+ community. (optional) Select... Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games. Keeping our platform safe requires infrastructure that is accurate, scalable, and fair and the engineering challenges that come with that are genuinely hard. Our Safety Engineering teams build and operate the systems that power content moderation, enforcement, and safety signal processing at scale. Our team developed Osprey, the open-source investigation and incident response tool that allows safety teams to understand what is happening on their platforms and take actions at scale. Osprey has since been open-sourced and donated to ROOST, reflecting our commitment to industry-wide safety improvements. We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer who thrives on complex, ambiguous problems and can take full ownership of critical infrastructure from design through post-launch iteration. What You'll Be Doing Own complex safety infrastructure projects end-to-end, from initial design through post-launch monitoring and iterationBuild and maintain production systems that operate at massive scale, participating in on-call rotationsApply an adversarial mindset to your work — thinking through security, abuse scenarios, edge cases, and scalability concernsCollaborate closely with Trust & Safety, ML, Policy, and product teams to understand requirements and deliver effective solutionsBreak down large, multi-milestone projects into prioritized work streams while managing stakeholders and dependencies across teamsContribute to technical design discussions and write RFCs; help establish best practices and maintain a high quality bar through code reviews and mentorship What You Should Have 5+ years of professional software engineering experience focused on backend services and/or infrastructureStrong programming skills in Python; we work occasionally in Rust and TypeScript as wellExperience building and operating distributed systems and production services at scale such as GCP or AWSStrong debugging skills and ability to navigate complex, multi-service codebasesExcellent collaboration and communication skills, including experience working with cross-functional partnersA quality-centered mindset with attention to the right details at every stage of development Bonus Points Experience with content moderation, trust & safety, or related problem domainsExperience with ML/LLM integrationExperience with observability tooling, metrics, and monitoring systems at scaleA strong passion for Discord and making online communities safer This position is US-based only. We are seeking candidates located in the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Areas. Candidates in the Los Angeles area can work remotely. Candidates in the San Francisco area are required to be in the office 2 days per week. Relocation assistance may be available to the San Francisco Bay Area. Candidates must be located within one of the following counties: Los Angeles area: (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura Counties)San Francisco Bay Area: (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties) The US base salary range for this full-time position is $220,500 to $269,500 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits. Why Discord? Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests, and helps developers build and grow their businesses. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away! Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know. Please see our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy for details regarding Discord’s collection and usage of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking HERE. 244 results found No results found Afghanistan+93Åland Islands+358Albania+355Algeria+213American Samoa+1Andorra+376Angola+244Anguilla+1Antigua & Barbuda+1Argentina+54Armenia+374Aruba+297Ascension Island+247Australia+61Austria+43Azerbaijan+994Bahamas+1Bahrain+973Bangladesh+880Barbados+1Belarus+375Belgium+32Belize+501Benin+229Bermuda+1Bhutan+975Bolivia+591Bosnia & Herzegovina+387Botswana+267Brazil+55British Indian Ocean Territory+246British Virgin Islands+1Brunei+673Bulgaria+359Burkina Faso+226Burundi+257Cambodia+855Cameroon+237Canada+1Cape Verde+238Caribbean Netherlands+599Cayman Islands+1Central African Republic+236Chad+235Chile+56China+86Christmas Island+61Cocos (Keeling) Islands+61Colombia+57Comoros+269Congo - Brazzaville+242Congo - Kinshasa+243Cook Islands+682Costa Rica+506Côte d’Ivoire+225Croatia+385Cuba+53Curaçao+599Cyprus+357Czechia+420Denmark+45Djibouti+253Dominica+1Dominican Republic+1Ecuador+593Egypt+20El Salvador+503Equatorial Guinea+240Eritrea+291Estonia+372Eswatini+268Ethiopia+251Falkland Islands+500Faroe Islands+298Fiji+679Finland+358France+33French Guiana+594French Polynesia+689Gabon+241Gambia+220Georgia+995Germany+49Ghana+233Gibraltar+350Greece+30Greenland+299Grenada+1Guadeloupe+590Guam+1Guatemala+502Guernsey+44Guinea+224Guinea-Bissau+245Guyana+592Haiti+509Honduras+504Hong Kong SAR China+852Hungary+36Iceland+354India+91Indonesia+62Iran+98Iraq+964Ireland+353Isle of Man+44Israel+972Italy+39Jamaica+1Japan+81Jersey+44Jordan+962Kazakhstan+7Kenya+254Kiribati+686Kosovo+383Kuwait+965Kyrgyzstan+996Laos+856Latvia+371Lebanon+961Lesotho+266Liberia+231Libya+218Liechtenstein+423Lithuania+370Luxembourg+352Macao SAR China+853Madagascar+261Malawi+265Malaysia+60Maldives+960Mali+223Malta+356Marshall Islands+692Martinique+596Mauritania+222Mauritius+230Mayotte+262Mexico+52Micronesia+691Moldova+373Monaco+377Mongolia+976Montenegro+382Montserrat+1Morocco+212Mozambique+258Myanmar (Burma)+95Namibia+264Nauru+674Nepal+977Netherlands+31New Caledonia+687New Zealand+64Nicaragua+505Niger+227Nigeria+234Niue+683Norfolk Island+672North Korea+850North Macedonia+389Northern Mariana Islands+1Norway+47Oman+968Pakistan+92Palau+680Palestinian Territories+970Panama+507Papua New Guinea+675Paraguay+595Peru+51Philippines+63Poland+48Portugal+351Puerto Rico+1Qatar+974Réunion+262Romania+40Russia+7Rwanda+250Samoa+685San Marino+378São Tomé & Príncipe+239Saudi Arabia+966Senegal+221Serbia+381Seychelles+248Sierra Leone+232Singapore+65Sint Maarten+1Slovakia+421Slovenia+386Solomon Islands+677Somalia+252South Africa+27South Korea+82South Sudan+211Spain+34Sri Lanka+94St. Barthélemy+590St. Helena+290St. Kitts & Nevis+1St. Lucia+1St. Martin+590St. Pierre & Miquelon+508St. Vincent & Grenadines+1Sudan+249Suriname+597Svalbard & Jan Mayen+47Sweden+46Switzerland+41Syria+963Taiwan+886Tajikistan+992Tanzania+255Thailand+66Timor-Leste+670Togo+228Tokelau+690Tonga+676Trinidad & Tobago+1Tunisia+216Turkey+90Turkmenistan+993Turks & Caicos Islands+1Tuvalu+688U.S. Virgin Islands+1Uganda+256Ukraine+380United Arab Emirates+971United Kingdom+44United States+1Uruguay+598Uzbekistan+998Vanuatu+678Vatican City+39Venezuela+58Vietnam+84Wallis & Futuna+681Western Sahara+212Yemen+967Zambia+260Zimbabwe+263