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Senior Software Engineer - Audio/Video Infrastructure

San Francisco Bay Area

Discord is used by over 200 million people every month for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does on our platform: play video games. Over 90% of our users play games, spending a combined 1.5 billion hours playing thousands of unique titles on Discord each month. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to talk and hang out before, during, and after playing games.

Discord is looking for a Senior Software Engineer who is passionate about building and scaling the software that powers our realtime audio and video communication infrastructure. The Audio & Video Infrastructure team builds and maintains our WebRTC-based systems and scales the infrastructure that enables millions of concurrent voice and video conversations.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll work on technology that directly impacts how millions of people communicate daily. From casual voice chats to large-scale community events and high-stakes esports tournaments, your code will power conversations that matter. You'll tackle interesting technical challenges at scale – optimizing for ultra-low latency while maintaining quality, handling network variability across the globe, and building systems resilient enough to handle Discord's massive growth. This is an opportunity to work with cutting-edge media technology while having a real, measurable impact on user experience.

What you’ll do:

  • Build and optimize real-time Audio & Video systems that handle millions of concurrent users, focusing on implementation of scalable solutions.
  • Implement performance improvements across both control and media layers, improving latency, reliability, and user experience metrics.
  • Contribute to next-generation infrastructure architecture that pushes the boundaries of real-time communication.
  • Develop and maintain infrastructure automation to ensure reliable deployments.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams, such as the AV Clients team, to deliver features and product launches.
  • Debug and resolve complex production issues, from packet-level networking to application layer.

What you should have:

  • 4+ years of experience working on large scale distributed systems, including monitoring and performance optimization. 
  • Strong programming skills in languages like Rust, Python, C++, and/or Elixir.
  • Knowledge of network protocols and understanding of networking fundamentals (TCP/UDP, packet loss, jitter, etc).
  • Strong debugging skills and ability to troubleshoot issues across the full stack.
  • Enjoyment in coming up with pragmatic solutions to concrete problems using first principles thinking.
  • Experience with cloud providers (AWS, GCP) and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
  • Collaborative mindset with experience working in cross-functional engineering teams

Bonus points:

  • Experience with Elixir in production environments.
  • Hands-on experience with WebRTC, HLS, or DASH streaming protocols.
  • Knowledge of audio/video codecs such as Opus, H.264, HEVC, or AV1.
  • Experience with real-time transport protocols like RTP/RTCP, RTMP, or QUIC.
  • Familiarity with audio/video infrastructure or media server technologies (SFU/MCU architectures)
  • Contributions to open source projects in the audio/video space

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $196,000 to $220,500 + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role and level. Within the range, individual pay is determined by additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.

Why Discord? 

Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming. We're a multiplatform, multigenerational and multiplayer platform that helps people deepen their friendships around games and shared interests. We believe games give us a way to have fun with our favorite people, whether listening to music together or grinding in competitive matches for diamond rank. Join us in our mission! Your future is just a click away!

Discord is committed to inclusion and providing reasonable accommodations during the interview process. We want you to feel set up for success, so if you are in need of reasonable accommodations, please let your recruiter know.

Please see our Applicant and Candidate Privacy Policy for details regarding Discord’s collection and usage of personal information relating to the application and recruitment process by clicking HERE.

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