Staff Software Engineer, Safety Experience

Back to jobs New Staff Software Engineer, Safety Experience San Francisco Bay 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. As a Staff Engineer on the Safety Experience team, you'll be a technical leader who autonomously delivers real business impact on large, ambiguous projects. You'll design and build product features and systems that prevent harmful activities at scale while ensuring regulatory compliance. This role requires both deep technical expertise and the ability to be a force multiplier for your team: driving engineering excellence, making solid technical decisions, and remaining a top code contributor. You'll work cross-functionally to shape the technical direction of safety initiatives that protect hundreds of millions of Discord users. This role reports to the Engineering Manager of Safety Experience. What You'll Be Doing Lead development of high-impact, user-facing safety products that deliver measurable results for Discord's users.Own complex, multi-milestone projects end-to-end, identifying optimal solutions, navigating ambiguity and making independent technical decisions.Design, build, and deploy robust production APIs, backend services, and data pipelines that enable safety features to scale efficiently.Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Policy, Data Science, ML, Legal, and Trust & Safety Operations to create solutions that are both impactful and lovable.Drive engineering excellence by mentoring others and guiding the team through architectural challenges to ensure long-term scalability.Respond rapidly to the ever-evolving abuse and compliance landscape with strategic thinking and swift execution. What You Should Have 8+ years of relevant industry experience, with demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, high-impact work on complex projects.Strong expertise in Python and back-end API frameworks (Flask, Django).Strong front-end development skills with JavaScript (React, TypeScript) for web and mobile platforms.Significant experience in the Safety or Anti-Abuse domain with deep understanding of trust and safety challenges at scale.Proven track record of owning large projects end-to-end with varying degrees of ambiguity, breaking down work into well-prioritized milestones with clear dependencies.Demonstrated ability to make independent technical decisions that balance short-term needs with long-term sustainability and scalability.Experience driving engineering excellence: setting quality standards, conducting thorough code reviews, and applying an adversarial mindset to identify security, performance, and scaling issues.Strong communication skills with ability to provide high-quality technical feedback, drive alignment across stakeholders, and facilitate productive debates that lead to clear decisions.Experience using metrics and dashboards (e.g., Datadog, Mode, Faros) to make data-driven decisions and monitor system health.Ability to be a force multiplier for your team by mentoring others, establishing best practices, and helping teammates grow their skills.Experience utilizing AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor to supercharge dev workflows Bonus Points Familiarity with databases such as Cassandra, Postgres, or ScyllaDB.Experience with real-time streaming systems like Kafka or Pub-Sub.Track record of building and operating native mobile features on iOS and Android.Experience designing and implementing monitoring strategies and on-call/on-point processes for production systems.Knowledge of lower-level languages such as Go, Rust, or Elixir. The US base salary range for this full-time position is $248,000 to $310,000 + 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* 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 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. As a Staff Engineer on the Safety Experience team, you'll be a technical leader who autonomously delivers real business impact on large, ambiguous projects. You'll design and build product features and systems that prevent harmful activities at scale while ensuring regulatory compliance. This role requires both deep technical expertise and the ability to be a force multiplier for your team: driving engineering excellence, making solid technical decisions, and remaining a top code contributor. You'll work cross-functionally to shape the technical direction of safety initiatives that protect hundreds of millions of Discord users. This role reports to the Engineering Manager of Safety Experience. What You'll Be Doing Lead development of high-impact, user-facing safety products that deliver measurable results for Discord's users.Own complex, multi-milestone projects end-to-end, identifying optimal solutions, navigating ambiguity and making independent technical decisions.Design, build, and deploy robust production APIs, backend services, and data pipelines that enable safety features to scale efficiently.Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Policy, Data Science, ML, Legal, and Trust & Safety Operations to create solutions that are both impactful and lovable.Drive engineering excellence by mentoring others and guiding the team through architectural challenges to ensure long-term scalability.Respond rapidly to the ever-evolving abuse and compliance landscape with strategic thinking and swift execution. What You Should Have 8+ years of relevant industry experience, with demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, high-impact work on complex projects.Strong expertise in Python and back-end API frameworks (Flask, Django).Strong front-end development skills with JavaScript (React, TypeScript) for web and mobile platforms.Significant experience in the Safety or Anti-Abuse domain with deep understanding of trust and safety challenges at scale.Proven track record of owning large projects end-to-end with varying degrees of ambiguity, breaking down work into well-prioritized milestones with clear dependencies.Demonstrated ability to make independent technical decisions that balance short-term needs with long-term sustainability and scalability.Experience driving engineering excellence: setting quality standards, conducting thorough code reviews, and applying an adversarial mindset to identify security, performance, and scaling issues.Strong communication skills with ability to provide high-quality technical feedback, drive alignment across stakeholders, and facilitate productive debates that lead to clear decisions.Experience using metrics and dashboards (e.g., Datadog, Mode, Faros) to make data-driven decisions and monitor system health.Ability to be a force multiplier for your team by mentoring others, establishing best practices, and helping teammates grow their skills.Experience utilizing AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor to supercharge dev workflows Bonus Points Familiarity with databases such as Cassandra, Postgres, or ScyllaDB.Experience with real-time streaming systems like Kafka or Pub-Sub.Track record of building and operating native mobile features on iOS and Android.Experience designing and implementing monitoring strategies and on-call/on-point processes for production systems.Knowledge of lower-level languages such as Go, Rust, or Elixir. The US base salary range for this full-time position is $248,000 to $310,000 + 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