Staff Software Engineer, Safety Experience

Auth21
San Francisco, California, United StatesFull-time$248,000–$310,000Posted Aug 27, 2026

About the role

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Staff Software Engineer, Safety Experience

San Francisco Bay Area

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 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.

As a Staff Engineer on the Safety Experience team, you'll be a technical leader who autonomously delivers real business impact on large, ambiguous projects. You'll design and build product features and systems that prevent harmful activities at scale while ensuring regulatory compliance. This role requires both deep technical expertise and the ability to be a force multiplier for your team: driving engineering excellence, making solid technical decisions, and remaining a top code contributor. You'll work cross-functionally to shape the technical direction of safety initiatives that protect hundreds of millions of Discord users. This role reports to the Engineering Manager of Safety Experience.

What You'll Be Doing

Lead development of high-impact, user-facing safety products that deliver measurable results for Discord's users.

Own complex, multi-milestone projects end-to-end, identifying optimal solutions, navigating ambiguity and making independent technical decisions.

Design, build, and deploy robust production APIs, backend services, and data pipelines that enable safety features to scale efficiently.

Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Policy, Data Science, ML, Legal, and Trust & Safety Operations to create solutions that are both impactful and lovable.

Drive engineering excellence by mentoring others and guiding the team through architectural challenges to ensure long-term scalability.

Respond rapidly to the ever-evolving abuse and compliance landscape with strategic thinking and swift execution.

What You Should Have

8+ years of relevant industry experience, with demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, high-impact work on complex projects.

Strong expertise in Python and back-end API frameworks (Flask, Django).

Strong front-end development skills with JavaScript (React, TypeScript) for web and mobile platforms.

Significant experience in the Safety or Anti-Abuse domain with deep understanding of trust and safety challenges at scale.

Proven track record of owning large projects end-to-end with varying degrees of ambiguity, breaking down work into well-prioritized milestones with clear dependencies.

Demonstrated ability to make independent technical decisions that balance short-term needs with long-term sustainability and scalability.

Experience driving engineering excellence: setting quality standards, conducting thorough code reviews, and applying an adversarial mindset to identify security, performance, and scaling issues.

Strong communication skills with ability to provide high-quality technical feedback, drive alignment across stakeholders, and facilitate productive debates that lead to clear decisions.

Experience using metrics and dashboards (e.g., Datadog, Mode, Faros) to make data-driven decisions and monitor system health.

Ability to be a force multiplier for your team by mentoring others, establishing best practices, and helping teammates grow their skills.

Experience utilizing AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor to supercharge dev workflows

Bonus Points

Familiarity with databases such as Cassandra, Postgres, or ScyllaDB.

Experience with real-time streaming systems like Kafka or Pub-Sub.

Track record of building and operating native mobile features on iOS and Android.

Experience designing and implementing monitoring strategies and on-call/on-point processes for production systems.

Knowledge of lower-level languages such as Go, Rust, or Elixir.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $248,000 to $310,000 + 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.

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For government reporting purposes (EEO-1), we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey. Discord is required to file annual demographic reports with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Your responses help us meet this obligation. Each question below includes an “I don’t wish to answer” option. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiring process or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in a confidential file.

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Discord is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, disability, medical condition, genetic information, military or veteran status, citizenship status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including hiring, promotion, compensation, discipline, termination, and access to benefits and training.

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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 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.

As a Staff Engineer on the Safety Experience team, you'll be a technical leader who autonomously delivers real business impact on large, ambiguous projects. You'll design and build product features and systems that prevent harmful activities at scale while ensuring regulatory compliance. This role requires both deep technical expertise and the ability to be a force multiplier for your team: driving engineering excellence, making solid technical decisions, and remaining a top code contributor. You'll work cross-functionally to shape the technical direction of safety initiatives that protect hundreds of millions of Discord users. This role reports to the Engineering Manager of Safety Experience.

What You'll Be Doing

Lead development of high-impact, user-facing safety products that deliver measurable results for Discord's users.

Own complex, multi-milestone projects end-to-end, identifying optimal solutions, navigating ambiguity and making independent technical decisions.

Design, build, and deploy robust production APIs, backend services, and data pipelines that enable safety features to scale efficiently.

Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, Policy, Data Science, ML, Legal, and Trust & Safety Operations to create solutions that are both impactful and lovable.

Drive engineering excellence by mentoring others and guiding the team through architectural challenges to ensure long-term scalability.

Respond rapidly to the ever-evolving abuse and compliance landscape with strategic thinking and swift execution.

What You Should Have

8+ years of relevant industry experience, with demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality, high-impact work on complex projects.

Strong expertise in Python and back-end API frameworks (Flask, Django).

Strong front-end development skills with JavaScript (React, TypeScript) for web and mobile platforms.

Significant experience in the Safety or Anti-Abuse domain with deep understanding of trust and safety challenges at scale.

Proven track record of owning large projects end-to-end with varying degrees of ambiguity, breaking down work into well-prioritized milestones with clear dependencies.

Demonstrated ability to make independent technical decisions that balance short-term needs with long-term sustainability and scalability.

Experience driving engineering excellence: setting quality standards, conducting thorough code reviews, and applying an adversarial mindset to identify security, performance, and scaling issues.

Strong communication skills with ability to provide high-quality technical feedback, drive alignment across stakeholders, and facilitate productive debates that lead to clear decisions.

Experience using metrics and dashboards (e.g., Datadog, Mode, Faros) to make data-driven decisions and monitor system health.

Ability to be a force multiplier for your team by mentoring others, establishing best practices, and helping teammates grow their skills.

Experience utilizing AI tools like Claude Code and Cursor to supercharge dev workflows

Bonus Points

Familiarity with databases such as Cassandra, Postgres, or ScyllaDB.

Experience with real-time streaming systems like Kafka or Pub-Sub.

Track record of building and operating native mobile features on iOS and Android.

Experience designing and implementing monitoring strategies and on-call/on-point processes for production systems.

Knowledge of lower-level languages such as Go, Rust, or Elixir.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $248,000 to $310,000 + 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.

244 results found

No results found

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Åland Islands+358

Albania+355

Algeria+213

American Samoa+1

Andorra+376

Angola+244

Anguilla+1

Antigua & Barbuda+1

Argentina+54

Armenia+374

Aruba+297

Ascension Island+247

Australia+61

Austria+43

Azerbaijan+994

Bahamas+1

Bahrain+973

Bangladesh+880

Barbados+1

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Vatican City+39

Venezuela+58

Vietnam+84

Wallis & Futuna+681

Western Sahara+212

Yemen+967

Zambia+260

Zimbabwe+263

Responsibilities

  • Lead development of high-impact, user-facing safety products
  • Own complex, multi-milestone projects end-to-end
  • Design, build, and deploy robust production APIs and backend services
  • Collaborate cross-functionally with various teams
  • Drive engineering excellence by mentoring others
  • Respond rapidly to the evolving abuse and compliance landscape

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of relevant industry experience
  • Strong expertise in Python and back-end API frameworks
  • Strong front-end development skills with JavaScript
  • Significant experience in the Safety or Anti-Abuse domain
  • Proven track record of owning large projects end-to-end
  • Strong communication skills

Benefits

  • Equity
  • Comprehensive benefits package

Skills mentioned

PythonFlaskDjangoJavaScriptReactTypeScriptBackend DevelopmentREST APIsData PipelinesApache Kafka

About Auth21

Software Development2-10 employees