Greenhouse ·
full-timeSoftware Engineer, Distributed Systems
Discord · San Francisco Bay Area
Discord is a communication platform designed to help communities and gamers connect through voice, video, and text. The Realtime Infrastructure team manages the core systems that facilitate high-scale messaging and session updates for millions of daily active users. As a Software Engineer on this team, you will focus on building, operating, and maintaining critical distributed systems that ensure platform reliability and performance. Daily responsibilities include writing backend code, managing infrastructure, and collaborating with product teams to enable new features. You will be expected to solve complex engineering problems, maintain tier 0 services, and utilize monitoring and alerting best practices to keep the platform stable. This role is well-suited for engineers with at least two years of experience in backend development and a strong background in distributed systems. Ideal candidates are comfortable working with cloud environments, possess a deep understanding of open-source software, and are willing to engage directly with source code to troubleshoot issues. Proficiency in Elixir or Rust, as well as experience with DevOps tools like Kubernetes or Terraform, is highly valued for this position based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Education
- Level: Bachelor's degree
- Courses: B.E
Key Skills
Experience required
2-2 years experienceDiscord 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. The Realtime Infrastructure team is responsible for building and maintaining some of Discord’s highest scale and most critical services. Those systems are at the core of our text chat infrastructure and facilitate the dispatching of every update to our users sessions. This role will have a significant impact on Discord’s overall reliability and performance. It will also help our product teams build new features on top of our infrastructure. This team is small but critical, and its work has a direct impact on Discord's success and ability to scale. This role reports to the Senior Engineering Manager of Realtime Infrastructure. What You'll Be Doing Build and operate large-scale, reliable and performant distributed systems. Collaborate with product teams to create new features. Ensure Discord “just works”. Write code but also manage our infrastructure. Work with a talented team of engineers who have built one of the largest communication platforms in the world. What you should have 2+ years of experience writing and designing backend systems. Experience solving complex distributed system problems. Experience operating and maintaining critical tier 0 services. Knowledge of monitoring and alerting best practices. Familiar with open source software, and not afraid to dig into the source code of a library to find the answer you’re looking for. Bonus Points Experience with Elixir or Rust. Experience working with systems deployed in a cloud environment (GCP, AWS, etc.) Knowledge of devops tools like Salt,Terraform or k8s. You have built or contributed to open source projects. You are a Discord power user and have built bots or apps interacting with our platform. Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties). Relocation assistance may be available. T he US base salary range for this full-time position is $180,000 to $220,000 + 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.
Skills for this role
| Role | Software Engineer, Distributed Systems |
|---|---|
| Company | Discord |
| Location | San Francisco Bay Area |
| Compensation | Not disclosed |
| Posted | 2026-09-15 |
| Deadline | Rolling |
Typical process for this type of role
A general guide — the exact steps for this specific listing may vary; check the original posting for details.
- 1ApplicationSubmit your resume through the apply link.
- 2ScreeningRecruiter reviews your background against the role.
- 3AssessmentA technical test, assignment, or coding round, depending on the role.
- 4Interview(s)One or more rounds with the hiring team.
- 5OfferOffer letter with compensation and start date.
Before you apply
0/4Software Engineer, Distributed Systems at Discord: frequently asked questions
- Who can apply for the Software Engineer, Distributed Systems role at Discord?
- The listing asks for Bachelor's degree (B.E); 2-2 years of experience.
- What skills does the Software Engineer, Distributed Systems role require?
- The listing highlights AWS, GCP. Show each of these in a project or past role on your resume.
- What is the salary for this role?
- Discord has not stated compensation in the listing. Check the original posting or ask during the application process.
- Is the Software Engineer, Distributed Systems position remote, hybrid or onsite?
- The listing gives San Francisco Bay Area as the location and does not state a work mode.
- What is the application deadline?
- Discord has not listed a fixed deadline, so apply early in case the opening is filled.
- How do I apply for the Software Engineer, Distributed Systems role?
- Use the Apply button on this page. It opens the original listing on job-boards.greenhouse.io, where you submit your application with the company.
More at Discord
Other jobs at Discord
- IT Ops Engineer · San Francisco Bay Area
- IT Ops Engineer, Networking · San Francisco Bay Area
- Senior Software Engineer, Engagement · San Francisco Bay Area
- Senior Product Designer, Design Systems · San Francisco Bay Area
- Senior Data Science Manager, Developer Platform · San Francisco Bay Area
Explore Related Placements
// similar opportunities
You might also like
Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
Mixpanel
About Mixpanel Mixpanel is the leading product intelligence and analytics platform, trusted by more than 29,000 companies to help understand how people use the ...
Senior Software Engineer - Distributed Systems
Datadog
Distributed Systems engineers at Datadog design, implement and run in production the foundational platforms powering our applications. Your data pipelines will ...
Senior Staff Software Engineer, Distributed Systems
Druva
About Druva Druva is the resilience foundation for the AI enterprise, helping organizations secure and recover from connected risk across data, cyber, identity,...
Senior Software Engineer, Engagement
Discord
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 ever...
Principal Software Engineer, Engine Systems
Roblox
Every day, tens of millions of people come to Roblox to explore, create, play, learn, and connect with friends in 3D immersive digital experiences– all created ...
Software Engineer With Systems Depth
Datadog
Datadog's Software Engineers with Systems depth leverage their experience with systems and tooling to build software that ensures Datadog remains reliable, perf...