Staff Software Engineer, DevX

About the role

This role owns the technical strategy and execution for core developer infrastructure at Robinhood. You will define the roadmap for critical developer workflows including source control management, continuous integration, and local and remote development environments. The position is responsible for enabling software teams to build with speed, reliability, and cost efficiency at scale across the organization. You will raise engineering standards by designing robust infrastructure and establishing clear operational guidelines. This position provides technical mentorship and leadership to infrastructure engineers and platform teams. You will advocate for build and CI tooling improvements to enhance onboarding and developer experience. Success in this role requires guiding complex technical initiatives from conception through production rollout while aligning with company objectives. Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential to translate technical strategy into actionable plans for cross-functional collaboration.

Key facts

What you'll do

Architect and own the end-to-end strategy for developer infrastructure, focusing on CI, SCM, and development environment platforms.

Ensure system reliability and performance by designing infrastructure that scales with increasing operational loads and engineering demand.

Lead the implementation of remote development environments to streamline the path to first commit and accelerate engineer productivity.

Drive standardization of build systems and workflows to improve consistency, security, and cost efficiency across engineering teams.

Perform deep technical analysis and design reviews to solve complex problems in distributed build execution and dependency management.

Champion the adoption of modern build tools such as Bazel and optimize distributed and remote build execution strategies.

Define and maintain clear operational guidelines, best practices, and documentation for infrastructure and platform usage.

Collaborate closely with product and infrastructure teams to align platform initiatives with business goals and technical constraints.

Mentor engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and hands-on guidance to elevate team capabilities.

Proactively identify bottlenecks in developer workflows and implement tooling improvements to enhance onboarding and day-to-day experience.

Engage in capacity planning and forecasting to ensure infrastructure can meet current and future organizational demands.

Partner with SRE and platform teams to resolve incidents, improve observability, and maintain high service reliability standards.

Evaluate emerging technologies and integrate proven innovations into the developer infrastructure stack.

Influence engineering culture by promoting strong communication, technical excellence, and continuous learning.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience designing, scaling, and operating critical developer infrastructure or high-volume build and CI systems in production environments.

Must show mastery of modern build systems like Bazel and distributed or remote build execution with deep understanding of CI/CD at scale.

Proficiency in Go or Python programming is essential, supported by a record of building dependable, maintainable system software.

Proven ability to guide complex technical initiatives from start to finish while aligning with company objectives and cross-functional priorities.

Strong communication and collaboration skills are required to advocate for build and CI tooling, improve onboarding, and mentor other engineers effectively.

A bachelor's degree is mandatory for this role, typically in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

Candidates must have a history of delivering reliable infrastructure solutions that operate at scale under demanding conditions.

Experience leading infrastructure changes that impact multiple engineering teams and production systems is required.

Demonstrated skill in debugging complex issues in distributed systems and build pipelines is essential.

Commitment to maintaining high standards for code quality, testing, security, and operational reliability is mandatory.

Nice to have

Experience contributing to open source projects related to build systems, version control, or developer tools.

Background in financial services or regulated environments demonstrating an understanding of security and compliance requirements.

Familiarity with cloud platforms and infrastructure as code practices relevant to developer tooling.

Practical notes

Robinhood believes in-person work accelerates progress, sparks innovation, and strengthens community.

This is a full-time position located in New York, NY.

Typical interview steps include a recruiter screen, technical rounds, coding problems, system design discussions, and team fit assessments.

Some interview loops may include a take-home task to evaluate practical problem-solving skills.

Final rounds focus on team fit and provide an opportunity for candidates to ask detailed questions about the role.

Interviewers evaluate how candidates break down unfamiliar problems, emphasizing process and reasoning over simply reaching the answer.

Practicing coding problems aloud and reviewing past projects is the best preparation.

Questions to ask

Useful questions for the interview include what a typical week looks like, how work is assigned, what tools the team uses, and how feedback is given.

Asking how the role has changed recently and what the team wishes it had known when joining is encouraged.

Questions about the manager's priorities are especially valued during the interview process.

Career growth

Engineering careers at Robinhood typically progress from individual contributor to senior, staff, and principal levels.

Some engineers move into management tracks and lead teams of five to twenty people, while others remain on the technical track.

Growth is driven by demonstrated impact and ownership rather than tenure alone.

A standard engineering ladder defines clear levels with expectations for scope, quality, mentorship, and execution.

Advancing usually requires owning outcomes end to end and leading complex initiatives across teams.