Senior Software Engineer, Discord
Data Platform
$196-245k
+ Equity
More information about location
Voice, video and text communication platform
Job no longer available
Voice, video and text communication platform
1001+ employees
Job no longer available
$196-245k
+ Equity
More information about location
1001+ employees
Company mission
To help friends and communities come together to hang out and explore their interests.
Role
Who you are
- 5+ years of experience in software engineering with a focus on large-scale distributed systems or data infrastructure
- Expertise in building and maintaining scalable data platforms, including data ingestion pipelines, stream processing, and batch processing systems
- Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, Java, Rust, or similar
- Proficiency with open source data projects and experience working with open source communities
- Hands-on experience with modern data technologies such as Kafka, Spark, Flink, Airflow/Dagster, or similar
- Deep understanding of database systems (e.g., SQL, NoSQL, columnar storage) and data modeling principles
- Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes), and microservices architecture
- Excellent communication skills with a demonstrated ability to collaborate and influence across teams and levels
- Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced environment
Desirable
- A strong passion for Discord and gaming
- Open source contributions to data-related projects
What the job involves
- We are seeking an accomplished and experienced Senior Software Engineer to join our dynamic team
- In this role, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining our data infrastructure and services
- You will collaborate with cross-functional teams, including data engineers, data scientists, software engineers, and product managers, to deliver modern and bleeding-edge solutions that drive business insights and innovation
- This role reports to our Director of Engineering, Data Platform
- Define and execute the technical vision for Discord's data platform, enabling scalable, reliable, and performant data systems
- Design, implement, and optimize data infrastructure to process and analyze petabytes of data across millions of users
- Develop innovative data architectures to support analytics, machine learning, and operational insights
- Build monitoring, logging, and alerting systems to ensure the health and performance of data services
- Partner with data scientists, data engineers, product managers, and leadership to align technical solutions with business goals
- Promote and drive best practices in data governance, security, and compliance across the organization
- Provide technical leadership, mentor junior engineers, and foster a culture of excellence and continuous improvement
- Stay up-to-date with industry trends and emerging technologies in data platform
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 200M active users in 19M 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 X, 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 HQ
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Stanislav Vishnevskiy
(Co-Founder & CTO)Previously worked as a Software Engineer at Casamba and then Kabam. Also worked as a Lead Software Engineer at GREE International, and founded social network Guildwork.com in 2009.
Humam Sakhnini
(CEO)Humam joined the Discord team in 2025 as CEO. Prior to this, he was the VIce Chairman and Chief Strategy & Talent Officer at Activision Blizzard as well as the CFO/President at King. He also spent 8 years at McKinsey & Company as a Partner.
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