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Robinhood is seeking a Senior Staff Software Engineer to own the architectural evolution of Core Infrastructure—the foundational platform that powers all engineering teams. This is a high-impact, once-in-a-platform-lifecycle opportunity to redesign infrastructure before complexity becomes permanent.
You will own three deeply interconnected domains: service mesh and connectivity, compute platform, and infrastructure provisioning. Your decisions will directly shape engineering velocity, operational reliability, and Robinhood's ability to expand globally.
Key responsibilities include:
- Own service mesh architecture end-to-end: standardize and evolve Istio and Envoy deployments, eliminate deprecated communication patterns, and build the networking foundation for multi-region operation.
- Drive Kubernetes compute platform evolution: define long-term direction for cluster lifecycle, scheduling strategy, control plane architecture, and multi-region resiliency across the entire compute fleet.
- Redesign infrastructure provisioning: transform Terraform from ad-hoc configurations into a scalable, self-service platform that enables rapid region provisioning and developer autonomy.
- Operate with source-level depth: diagnose and resolve issues at the Kubernetes API machinery, etcd, Envoy xDS, and Terraform provider layers; contribute upstream where it serves the platform.
- Define technical direction across teams: produce architecture proposals, lead design reviews, and drive cross-functional alignment on infrastructure decisions affecting the entire engineering organization.
Required expertise:
- Deep, hands-on knowledge of Kubernetes internals (API server, controller reconciliation, etcd, scheduler, admission control).
- Deep working knowledge of Istio and/or Envoy at source code level, including xDS API and control-plane/data-plane debugging.
- HTTP/2 and gRPC wire-level knowledge (connection management, flow control, stream multiplexing, observability).
- Terraform at architectural scale (module design, provider internals, remote state, multi-region provisioning).
- Production Go or Python for infrastructure tooling with strong fundamentals in well-structured, tested, operationally sound code.
- Proven ability to drive cross-functional architectural change in large engineering organizations, influencing without authority and shipping durable decisions.
Role is based in Menlo Park with in-person attendance expected at least 3 days per week. Robinhood offers competitive compensation with performance multipliers, equity, comprehensive benefits, AI tool access, flexible spending accounts, generous time off, and exceptional office experience.
