- Senior
- Office in Seattle
Ookla® is a global leader in connectivity intelligence, offering unparalleled network insights through the combined expertise of Speedtest®, Downdetector®, RootMetrics®, and Ekahau®.
Ookla’s complementary datasets combine crowdsourced and controlled, public and private collection methods, QoS and QoE metrics, and more to unlock correlations and actionable insights — helping organizations optimize networks, enhance digital experiences, and create better connected experiences for end-users.
Our team is a group of people brought together through passion and inspired by possibility. We are looking for team members who love solving problems, are motivated by challenges, and enjoy turning clever ideas into exceptional products. When you work for us, you are using Ookla data and insights to advance our mission of better connectivity for all.
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer on our Applications Engineering team with deep expertise in backend engineering, distributed systems, and data-intensive architectures. This role will focus on designing, implementing, and scaling systems that ingest, process, and serve billions of data points, enabling mission-critical insights for millions of users worldwide.
This is a high-impact technical leadership role: you will shape architectural direction, mentor engineers, and work cross-functionally with product, architecture, research, and infrastructure teams.
Expectations for Success
- Design and build scalable, fault-tolerant backend systems in Go, ensuring high throughput and low latency for massive data pipelines.
- Develop and optimize distributed data processing architectures leveraging AWS services (e.g., S3, Athena, Lambda, Redshift, Glue, ECS/EKS).
- Architect solutions for real-time data ingestion and transformation, powering analytics, ML/AI pipelines, and user-facing features.
- Champion best practices in system design, including observability, performance tuning, and security.
- Mentor and guide engineers across teams, elevating engineering standards and fostering technical excellence.
- Partner closely with product managers, scientists, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into robust engineering solutions.
- Lead technical roadmap initiatives, balancing short-term delivery with long-term scalability and maintainability.
- Curiosity and interest in AI-driven software development
Requirements
We are looking for the right person, not a checklist. If you think your skills align with this role, we’d love to hear from you.
Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of backend engineering experience, with at least 4+ years in senior/staff-level roles designing complex distributed systems.
Technical Skills
- Strong expertise in Go (primary language), with solid experience in at least one additional backend language (e.g., Python, Java, or Ruby).
- Deep experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS, including containerization and orchestration (ECS, EKS, Kubernetes).
- Proven ability to design high-performance APIs, microservices, and event-driven systems.
- Strong understanding of data engineering fundamentals: streaming (Kafka, Kinesis), storage formats (Parquet, Iceberg), and query engines (Athena, Singlestore, Presto).
- Proficiency with SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, Redshift).
- Experience implementing observability stacks (metrics, tracing, logging) and resilience patterns (circuit breakers, retries, failover).
- Familiarity with real-time analytics, data governance, or ML/AI infrastructure.
Professional attributes
- Excellent troubleshooting and analysis skills
- Strong communication skills both in person and via virtual mediums
- Strong planning and time management skills
- A self-driven work ethic
- Excited to learn and work with new technologies in a dynamic environment
Benefits
We care deeply about each other and the work we do, and our perks are just one way we demonstrate this. We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including (but not limited to):
- 401(k) matching
- Unlimited PTO
- Employee Stock Purchase Plan options
- Health/dental/vision insurance coverage
- Wellness benefits (Calm app, gym reimbursement, ERG groups, etc)
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) (mental health, financial advice, legal guidance, and more)
- Fertility options
- Pregnancy support
- Pet insurance
- Enhanced parental leave
- Disability coverage
As required by applicable Pay Transparency laws, Ookla provides a range for the base pay. Factors that may be used to determine your actual pay may include your specific job related knowledge, skills, experience, and geographic location. The base pay for this position ranges from $180,000/year up to $202,000/year.
If you’re passionate about joining the work we’re doing, we welcome your application and encourage applicants with both traditional and non-traditional experience that makes them an excellent candidate for the role. We strongly believe diversity of all kinds makes us better. We are an equal opportunity employer actively working to build an inclusive workforce at all levels of the company. [Read our latest diversity report from our parent company here.] Ookla is an equal opportunity employer, and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender perception or identity, national origin, age, marital status, protected veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Ookla is a division of Ziff Davis.
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