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FigmaSoftware Engineer - Distributed Systems
Figma is seeking an experienced Software Engineer - Distributed Systems to join the Infrastructure team and help power real-time collaborative design tools utilized by millions worldwide.…
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About This Role
Figma is seeking an experienced Software Engineer - Distributed Systems to join the Infrastructure team and help power real-time collaborative design tools utilized by millions worldwide. In this position, you will develop and support the foundational infrastructure that enables fast, seamless collaboration and product innovation. This role is ideal for engineers who want to focus on core technical challenges across storage platforms, compute orchestration, developer tooling, networking, and real-time data…
Job Description
Figma is seeking an experienced Software Engineer - Distributed Systems to join the Infrastructure team and help power real-time collaborative design tools utilized by millions worldwide. In this position, you will develop and support the foundational infrastructure that enables fast, seamless collaboration and product innovation.
This role is ideal for engineers who want to focus on core technical challenges across storage platforms, compute orchestration, developer tooling, networking, and real-time data systems. You will collaborate closely with product and infrastructure units to create resilient, performant, and secure architectures while guiding engineering best practices.
Figma operates as a design platform that unites teams through brainstorming, prototyping, coding translation, and AI-driven iteration. The company offers a collaborative environment focused on continuous learning, where professionals can influence critical infrastructure strategy and scale systems that support global users.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain scalable infrastructure systems to support product growth and user collaboration
- Architect and evolve distributed platforms including storage systems, compute orchestration, and streaming technology
- Enhance the developer experience by creating internal platforms, APIs, CI/CD pipelines, and build tools
- Partner across product and infrastructure departments to ensure systems are secure, performant, and maintainable
- Contribute to platform strategy, engineering roadmaps, and organizational best practices
- Troubleshoot and fix complex production problems crossing multiple service layers
- Mentor team members and cultivate an inclusive, collaborative engineering culture
Requirements
- At least 5 years of software engineering background focusing on infrastructure or backend engineering
- Deep comprehension of distributed systems principles such as sharding, replication, consistency, and eventual convergence
- Practical background working within cloud-native ecosystems including AWS, GCP, or Azure, alongside container orchestration and infrastructure-as-code
- Fluency in programming languages such as Go, Python, Ruby, Rust, or TypeScript
- Demonstrated system design capabilities with a history of delivering resilient production systems
- Strong interpersonal and communication abilities with experience mentoring others
Qualifications
- Background scaling storage platforms like Postgres, Redis, S3, or DynamoDB
- Experience operating streaming technologies such as Kafka
- Familiarity with traffic management, service mesh tools like Istio or Envoy, and DDoS mitigation
- Track record of building complex, real-time distributed systems at scale
- Experience developing developer productivity utilities, build systems, and development environments
- History of evolving large-scale shared developer platforms for better reliability and velocity
Core Skills
Benefits
- Equity in the company
- Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage
- Retirement plans featuring company contributions
- Parental leave along with family and reproductive planning assistance
- Wellness and mental health support
- Paid time off, holidays, and paid sick leave
- Employer-provided flexible paid time off for exempt employees
- Company recharge days
- Cell phone and home internet stipends
- Lifestyle spending accounts
- Annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales positions
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the employment type for this position?
This is a full-time position.
Where is this job located?
The position can be held from one of Figma's US hubs or remotely anywhere within the United States.
What is the salary range for this role?
The annual base salary range is $153,000 to $376,000 USD, with the actual compensation depending on factors such as qualifications, market demands, and work location.
How many years of experience are required?
Candidates must have 5 or more years of software engineering experience, with a specific focus on backend or infrastructure engineering.
Are there specific interview requirements for candidates?
Candidates are required to keep their cameras on during video interviews, and hired individuals must attend in-person onboarding.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.
