Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure

About you

What you will do

• Design, build, and operate the Content Library's core Rust services (transactional storage, transform coordination, and low-latency retrieval paths) at the scale of hundreds of billions of objects.
• Own features end-to-end, from technical design through implementation, testing, deployment, and production operations (observability, on-call, and incident response for the systems you own).
• Evolve the Python userland (the transform framework, tooling, and developer experience) and support engineers across the company who build on the platform through code reviews, guidance, and well-designed APIs.
• Lead cross-functional projects with stakeholders in ML, search, product, and data teams: defining roadmaps, milestones, and technical designs that balance scalability, performance, cost, and delivery.
• Drive performance and cost-efficiency across the stack: query execution (DataFusion), Parquet file layouts, S3 access patterns, caching strategies, and PostgreSQL/Aurora tuning.
• Strengthen the platform's governance capabilities: data lineage, authorization and access controls, and deletion propagation across brands.
• Raise the engineering bar on the team through mentorship, design reviews, and improvements to our developer environment, including making agentic AI workflows more effective within our codebase while preserving quality, security, and ownership.

Requirements

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend, distributed, or data-intensive systems.
• Production experience writing Rust and strong proficiency in Python.
• A deep understanding of storage and data fundamentals: object storage (S3), columnar formats (Apache Parquet/Arrow), and relational databases (PostgreSQL and/or MySQL).
• A track record of designing and operating high-throughput, low-latency services, including the operational side: metrics, tracing, alerting, and debugging production systems.
• Demonstrated technical leadership: leading projects across team boundaries, writing design docs that build alignment, and mentoring engineers.
• Experience with AWS (e.g., S3, Lambda, ECS, Aurora) and infrastructure-as-code workflows (e.g., Terraform).
• Clear communication with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, and comfort turning ambiguous requirements into shipped software.

Ideally, you have

Are you currently based in a location where Scribd, Inc. can employ you?

• Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities. This includes surrounding metro areas or locations within a typical commuting distance:
• United States :
• Atlanta | Austin | Boston | Dallas | Denver | Chicago | Houston | Jacksonville | Los Angeles | Miami | New York City | Phoenix | Portland | Sacramento | Salt Lake City | San Diego | San Francisco | Seattle | Washington D.C.

Canada

Mexico

Benefits at Scribd, Inc.

• Scribd Flex (flexible work model)
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Mental health support and disability coverage
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick time, holidays, winter break, volunteer time, and sabbaticals
• Paid parental leave and family support benefits
• Retirement matching and employee equity
• Learning and development programs and professional growth opportunities
• Wellness and home office stipends
• Complimentary access to the Scribd, Inc. suite of products
• Enterprise access to leading AI tools
• Get to Know Scribd, Inc. About Scribd, Inc. Life at Scribd, Inc.
• We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing accommodations@scribd.com about the need for adjustments at any point in the interview process.
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• Scribd, Inc. is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences create a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.