Staff Software Engineer - Content Relevance, 11+ Years of Experience

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together. The Company’s three core products are Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world; Lens Studio, an augmented reality platform that powers AR across Snapchat and other services; and its AR glasses, Spectacles.

Snap Engineering teams build fun and technically sophisticated products that reach hundreds of millions of Snapchatters around the world, every day. We’re deeply committed to the well-being of everyone in our global community, which is why our values are at the root of everything we do. We move fast, with precision, and always execute with privacy at the forefront.

The Content Relevance Team is responsible for building state-of-the-art content recommendation systems to power Snapchat’s Content products including Friend Story, Discover Feed and Spotlight. Snap’s content product is one of the world’s largest content products and is growing rapidly. As disclosed in Snap’s 2024 Q3 earnings, total time spent watching content grew 25% YoY and Spotlight reached 500M (+21% YoY) monthly active users. The Content Recommendation system is at the front and center of fulfilling this mission of building Snap’s Content ecosystem, and we build large-scale Data and ML/Ranking systems to optimize the experience for both viewers and creators.

We are looking for a Staff Software Engineer with deep knowledge about large-scale Recommendation systems, and preferably with relevant experience from building Content/Ads/Search products. This Engineering Lead will optimize and design key components of our Content Delivery & Recommendation stack, which includes Indexing, Retrieval, Feature Management, Feature Serving, Online ML/Ranking System, Marketplace, etc. The engineer will drive technical direction for the team to solve the top challenges described above. We also expect the staff engineer to coach the rest of team members technically, and collaborate with XFN partners.

What you’ll do:

• Drive technical direction for the team in building large-scale content delivery and recommendation systems

• Identify opportunities by leveraging deep knowledge in content recommendation and ML / Ranking systems

• Coach the rest of team members and grow them technically

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Deep knowledge about large-scale recommendation and ML/Ranking systems

• Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at significant scale

• Experience in at least one of the following areas:

  • Retrieval Systems (Indexing, Retrieval, ANN Embedding Based Retrieval System)

  • Large-scale ML Feature Management & Serving

  • Online Ranking Serving System (ML Inference, Ranking, Marketplace)

  • Full-stack Ranking Backend Generalists with Prior Experience in Large-scale Consumer Products
     

Minimum Qualifications: 

• BS/BA degree in a technical field such as Computer Science or equivalent years of experience

• 11+ years of software development experience

• 3+ years experience working with distributed Ranking / Recommendation applications in production

Preferred Qualifications:

• Deep knowledge and experience in recommendation system development life cycles

• Deep Expertise in one or more of the following areas: Retrieval Systems, ML Feature Management and Serving Systems, Vector Database (ANN), Online Ranking and Marketplace Systems, etc.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. 

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!

Compensation

In the United States, work locations are assigned a pay zone which determines the salary range for the position. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. The starting pay may be negotiable within the salary range for the position. These pay zones may be modified in the future.

Zone A (CA, WA, NYC):

The base salary range for this position is $222,000-$333,000 annually.

Zone B:

The base salary range for this position is $211,000-$316,000 annually.

Zone C:

The base salary range for this position is $189,000-$283,000 annually.

This position is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.