Director of Engineering, Discord
Data Platform
$400-450k
+ Equity
Voice, video and text communication platform
Open for applications
Voice, video and text communication platform
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$400-450k
+ Equity
1001+ employees
Company mission
Discord's mission is to help friends and communities come together to hang out and explore their interests.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with 6+ years in a technical leadership or management role
- 3+ years of experience managing other managers
- Demonstrated success in building and leading teams responsible for large-scale data platforms and infrastructure
- Proven experience managing high-performing engineering teams and growing engineers up to and through the senior staff level
- Strong expertise in distributed systems, data infrastructure, modern data technologies (e.g., Kafka, Spark, BigQuery), and cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure)
- Solid understanding of data governance, privacy, and compliance principles
- Exceptional strategic thinking with the ability to align technical solutions with organizational goals
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across all levels of the company
Desirable
- Experience as a senior engineering leader or head of data platform in a high-scale, consumer-focused organization
- Experience with Machine Learning infrastructure and tools
- Experience hiring for rapidly growing startups
What the job involves
- We are seeking an experienced leader to join and lead our Data Platform function
- In this role, you’ll set the strategic direction and oversee the development of Discord’s data infrastructure, tools, and applications
- You will lead the teams responsible for designing, scaling, and maintaining the systems that enable data-driven decision-making across the company
- In this leadership role, you will combine technical leadership with organizational strategy to ensure our data platform empowers every part of Discord - from product innovation to operational excellence
- This is a unique opportunity to define and own the vision for Discord’s data ecosystem while building, growing, and leading a high performance engineering team
- Lead the strategic vision and technical roadmap for the Data Platform function by working with your leads, the broader Data+ML org, and executive partners across the company
- Build and lead a high-performing engineering team, providing mentorship, fostering growth, and promoting a culture of collaboration and curiosity
- Drive technical excellence and innovation, championing best practices in software development, data architecture, and system reliability
- Collaborate with Core Technology, Product Engineering, and ML Platform teams to make sound, first-principle decisions
- Leverage your technical expertise to continually improve the team and ensure Data Platform achieves extraordinary results
Our take
Discord is an industry giant in the chat app space. The free platform has rapidly become one of the most popular services in the sector since being founded in 2015. It counts over 150 million active users in 19 million communities, successfully expanding beyond its original focus on video game players to become a broader social networking app and public forum.
Discord's userbase has grown rapidly as remote work has become the norm and a new generation of internet users has come online, attracted to its youthful presentation and plethora of gaming and social tools. It has since fended off takeover bids from Microsoft and interest from other giants such as Amazon and Twitter, and has grown into a profitable company, funded by optional subscription fees and commissions from sales through the platform.
Discord’s remarkable growth, however, is not without obstacles. The company faces competition from deep-pocketed giants like Facebook, and regulatory concerns from those worried about the platform’s relatively light chat moderation. However, the company has the resources and expertise to adapt. For example, the acquisition of harassment detection software company Sentropy will go a long way towards placating the concerns of critics, as will the 2024 acquisition of teen app Gas used to give anonymous compliments to friends. All of these purchases are part of Discord's move to expand out of its mostly gaming-focused customer base.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
28% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Sep 2021
$500m
SERIES H
Dec 2020
$100m
SERIES H
Total funding: $979.3m
Company benefits
- Comprehensive medical insurance including Health, Dental and Vision
- Mental health resources and quarterly wellness stipends
- 16+ paid holidays, 4 weeks of PTO + use-what-you-need sick days
- Paid parental leave (plus fertility, adoption and other family planning benefits)
- Flexible long-term work options (remote and hybrid)
- Volunteer time off
- A diverse slate of Employee Resource Groups
- Plus commuter contributions and other perks for office-based employees
Company HQ
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Jason Citron
(CEO)Started out as a programmer at Papaya Studio, Stormfront Studios and Doublefine Productions. Also founded OpenFeint, a global mobile social gaming company.
Worked as a Software Engineer at Casamba and then Kabam. Was Lead Software Engineer at GREE International, and founded social network Guildwork.com in 2009.
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