Opportunity at
RobinhoodSenior Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure
Robinhood is an online financial services company striving to democratize finance, operating at the center of a historic wealth transfer. The company is hiring a Senior…
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About This Role
Robinhood is an online financial services company striving to democratize finance, operating at the center of a historic wealth transfer. The company is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer to join its Core Infrastructure group. This role focuses on shaping the foundational technology stack that powers continuous trading, global expansion, and cryptocurrency products. Rather than handling standard operational tasks, this position centers on redesigning and evolving platform architecture before technical…
Job Description
Robinhood is an online financial services company striving to democratize finance, operating at the center of a historic wealth transfer. The company is hiring a Senior Staff Software Engineer to join its Core Infrastructure group. This role focuses on shaping the foundational technology stack that powers continuous trading, global expansion, and cryptocurrency products. Rather than handling standard operational tasks, this position centers on redesigning and evolving platform architecture before technical complexity becomes permanent.
The engineering team treats infrastructure as a product, building reliable, fast, and invisible abstractions for internal developers. The selected engineer will own the architectural evolution across three primary domains: compute platforms, infrastructure provisioning, and service mesh connectivity. Key areas of ownership include defining long-term compute strategies, standardizing proxy and mesh deployments, and scaling provisioning frameworks for rapid regional expansion.
This position is well-suited for experienced infrastructure engineers with deep expertise in distributed systems internals, who enjoy operating at source-level depth and driving cross-functional alignment. Candidates must be prepared to work on-site at the Bellevue, Washington office for a minimum of three days per week, as Robinhood emphasizes in-person collaboration to foster innovation.
Responsibilities
- Manage the end-to-end service mesh architecture by standardizing Istio and Envoy deployments, removing deprecated patterns, and building out multi-region networking.
- Advance the Kubernetes compute platform by establishing cluster lifecycle strategies, scheduling rules, control plane layouts, and multi-region resilience.
- Modernize infrastructure provisioning by turning Terraform into a scalable, self-service developer capability that supports fast regional launches.
- Investigate and resolve complex technical challenges at the layer of Kubernetes API machinery, etcd, Envoy xDS, and Terraform providers, contributing upstream where appropriate.
- Establish technical direction by authoring architecture proposals, guiding design reviews, and aligning engineering organizations on infrastructure choices.
Requirements
- Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes internals such as API servers, controller reconciliation, scheduler mechanics, and admission control.
- Comprehensive source-level familiarity with Istio or Envoy, including the xDS API and troubleshooting at the data and control plane boundary.
- Thorough understanding of HTTP/2 and gRPC wire-level concepts covering flow control, connection handling, stream multiplexing, and observability.
- Practical architectural knowledge of Terraform encompassing module patterns, provider internals, remote state storage, and multi-region setups.
- Production-level proficiency writing structured, tested, and reliable Go or Python code for infrastructure tooling.
- Demonstrated capability to lead cross-functional architectural shifts across complex engineering structures without formal authority.
Core Skills
Benefits
- Performance-driven compensation with outsized impact multipliers, bonus structures, and equity ownership.
- Comprehensive health coverage including supplemental and ancillary insurance alongside mental health support programs.
- Access to market-leading AI tools and continuous AI skill-building resources for all staff members.
- A flexible lifestyle spending account covering wellness, childcare, and educational expenses.
- Time off programs including paid vacation, holidays, sick leave, volunteer time, and parental leave.
- On-site perks featuring catered meals, comfortable work areas, and community events.
- A monthly commuter stipend to assist with travel expenses to the office.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the location and remote work policy for this role?
The position is based in the Bellevue, Washington office. In-person attendance is required at least three days per week.
What is the salary range for this position?
The expected base pay range for Zone 1 locations, which includes Bellevue, Washington, is $264,000 to $310,000 USD. Total compensation also includes bonus opportunities, equity, and benefits.
What are the core technical domains owned in this role?
The engineer will own three interconnected domains: service mesh and connectivity, the compute platform, and infrastructure provisioning.
What programming languages are required for infrastructure tooling?
Candidates must have production experience using Go or Python to write structured, tested, and operationally sound code.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.