Staff Software Engineer, Ads Platform, Level 6

Location: Bellevue, India | Los Angeles, Canada | Palo Alto, Canada

Department: Engineering

Employment Type: Full time

About Snap Inc

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.

About the Role

Snap Inc is a camera company that believes the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. We empower Snapchatters to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together through our core products: Snapchat, a visual messaging app reaching hundreds of millions daily; Lens Studio, our AR platform powering immersive experiences; and Spectacles, our AR glasses. Our Engineering teams build fun, technically sophisticated products with privacy at the forefront, moving fast with precision in a creative culture that celebrates innovation. Join our Ads Platform team as a Staff Software Engineer, Level 6, to shape the future of advertising on Snapchat by leveraging camera technology and AR to create captivating ad formats that drive real value for advertisers. In this role, you'll build next-generation ads formats and backend infrastructure, delivering more clicks, conversions, and advertiser value through end-to-end innovation—from ideation and experimentation to analysis and optimization. You'll collaborate across teams to translate product requirements into scalable solutions, advocate for best practices in availability, scalability, and cost management, and provide technical direction that influences Snap-wide initiatives. Harnessing Snapchat's camera-first ethos, you'll integrate AR lenses and Spectacles capabilities to pioneer immersive ad experiences that enhance user engagement while mentoring engineers in our dynamic, creative environment. We're seeking a proven leader with 9+ years of software development experience (or equivalent advanced degrees), expertise in high-scale systems, and a passion for ads. You'll thrive by solving ambiguous problems, proactively adopting new technologies, and fostering collaboration in our 'Default Together' culture, working 4+ days per week in-office to accelerate our innovative culture. Snap is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, offering competitive pay (Zone A: $229,000-$343,000 base; equity eligible), comprehensive benefits, and a supportive community.

What You'll Do

• Build the next generation ads formats and backend infrastructure to deliver more clicks, conversions, and value for advertisers on Snapchat
• Work end-to-end across innovating new ads product, format ideas, or infrastructure ideas, including experimentation, analysis, and optimization
• Collaborate across teams to understand product requirements, evaluate trade-offs, and deliver solutions to build innovative AR-enhanced ads products
• Advocate for and apply best practices in availability, scalability, operational excellence, and cost management
• Provide technical direction that influences the entire company, integrating camera technology and AR innovations into ads platform
• Drive technical influence spanning the company to support Snap’s performance advertising suite
• Mentor engineers on building scalable systems that power hundreds of millions of daily Snapchatters
• Optimize ad delivery systems to enhance user experiences with creative, camera-first formats
• Experiment with AR lenses and Spectacles integrations for immersive ad experiences
• Analyze performance data to iterate on ads infrastructure for maximum advertiser value

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in a relevant technical field such as computer science or equivalent years of practical work experience
• 9+ years of post-Bachelor’s software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field + 8+ years of post-grad software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field + 5+ years of post-grad software development experience
• 2+ years of experience with technical leadership or acting as the domain-expert
• Proven track record of operating highly-available systems at scale
• Ads domain expertise and a strong interest in Ads
• Excellent programming and software design skills, including debugging, performance analysis, and test design
• Ability to proactively learn new concepts and technology and apply them at work

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in technical leadership/ownership and setting technical direction for engineering projects
• Proven track record of delivering large scale projects in attribution and measurement
• Experience operating highly-available systems at significant scale
• Experience with backend services or distributed systems
• Ads domain experience

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Excellent programming and software design skills
• Debugging expertise
• Performance analysis
• Test design
• Operating highly-available systems at scale
• Proactively learning new concepts and technologies
• Solving ambiguous problems
• Strong collaboration skills
• Mentorship abilities
• Ads domain expertise
• Technical leadership
• Backend services development
• Distributed systems experience
• Scalability and optimization
• AR and camera technology integration
• Data analysis for experimentation
• Trade-off evaluation in product development

Our Benefits

• Paid parental leave
• Comprehensive medical coverage
• Emotional and mental health support programs
• Compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success
• Equity in the form of RSUs
• Office collaboration under our 'Default Together' policy (4+ days per week)
• Support for disabilities or special needs requiring accommodation
• Diverse and inclusive culture fostering innovation in camera and AR technologies

Compensation

$229,000-$343,000 annually

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

"Default Together" Policy: At Snap Inc, we practice a "default together" approach and expect team members to work in an office 4+ days per week.

Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.