Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform

Discord is opening an engineering hub in Lisbon, our first dedicated one outside of our San Francisco HQ. And we’re building it from the ground up. As a member of our founding team, you’ll help set the direction for teams across Core Technology, advancing work that keeps Discord reliable for millions of people around the world, helps our engineers move faster, and protects our platform at scale. You’ll also help shape the culture of the hub so it feels unmistakably Discord while developing a distinctly Lisbon identity of its own.

We're looking for someone who gets excited about building data infrastructure at massive scale and cares deeply about the gaming communities we serve. Someone with passion for building lovable products for Discord users and Discord engineers. We're building the next generation Data Platform that powers decisions for one of the most vibrant platforms in the world.

If you're the kind of Staff Engineer who sees ambiguity as an invitation — who builds systems that make whole teams faster, shapes technical strategy across the org, and wants your decisions to directly impact millions of gamers worldwide — we want to talk to you.

To learn more about Discord's Data Platform, read our engineering blog, including how we built our modern data stack leveraging open-source tools!

What You'll Be Doing

• Own the technical direction of major Data Platform initiatives like governance and compliance, scaling, or stream processing, from problem to production system and post-launch health
• Be a force multiplier: build reusable primitives, unblock teammates, and raise the quality bar across the team
• Stay a top code contributor. You write real production code while helping others reach the same bar
• Partner with XFN stakeholders to translate business problems into clear technical strategy
• Champion debate, decide, and commit and 80/20 thinking to drive robust technical solutions supporting multiple teams

What You Should Have

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with a track record of driving large, ambiguous technical initiatives end-to-end
• Expertise in distributed systems and data infrastructure at scale. You've anticipated hard problems before they became incidents
• Demonstrated ability to multiply a team's impact through architectural thought leadership, design reviews, reusable abstractions, and well-timed mentorship
• Strong technical judgment: when to go fast vs. slow, when to build vs. integrate, and how to bring stakeholders along
• Cross-functional influence: you've driven alignment across engineering, product, and business without relying on authority

Bonus Points

• Passion for Discord and gaming
• Experience with data governance, privacy compliance, real-time analytics infrastructure, or cost optimization in large-scale data environments

Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to the Lisbon Area and attend the office 3-4 days a week.