Posted by employer 12 months ago
First seen on Joblaze 6 months ago
Last verified on the company career page 15 hours ago
Skills & Technologies
Not disclosed in this posting: years of experience, work arrangement, visa sponsorship.
Benefits
Joblaze summary
The Staff Software Engineer on the Safety Processing team at Discord focuses on developing scalable backend systems to manage safety-related signals, ensuring a secure environment for users. Proficiency in Python and strong architectural skills are essential, as the role involves leading projects and mentoring team members through complex design challenges. This position is ideal for experienced engineers with a background in trust and safety, particularly those who have worked on adversarial systems. The role contributes significantly to Discord's mission of fostering a safe and inclusive gaming community.
Joblaze insights
- Listed about 6 months ago — first seen on Joblaze April 14, 2026. Last confirmed on Discord's careers page October 29, 2026.
- Salary band is above the typical range for Backend roles (median ~$180,000).
- Starts above 78% of 80 comparable staff backend roles in United States that list Python we track (median $216,500 across 34 companies). See Python salary trends
- Python appears in 33.7% of 306 comparable staff backend roles in United States; JavaScript appears in 2.9% of 306 comparable staff backend roles in United States.
Quick facts
- What's the salary range?
- Discord lists $248,000–$310,000 for this role.
- What's the tech stack?
- Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: JavaScript, ML/AI, Python, React, Rust, TypeScript.
- What seniority level is this role?
- Discord targets staff-level candidates for this position.
- Is this full-time or contract?
- Full-time for this Staff Software Engineer, Safety Processing role at Discord.
From the original posting
Discord has a highly engaged community of millions of daily active users who use the platform for many different reasons, but there’s one thing that nearly everyone does: play video games. Discord plays a uniquely important role in the future of gaming, and we are focused on making it easier and more fun for people to hang out before, during, and after playing games.
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our Safety Processing team. This team plays a crucial role in ensuring trust and safety across Discord, processing signals from user reports and automated systems to identify and remove harmful or illegal content from our platform. You’ll lead backend projects, provide architectural guidance, and help build scalable systems that protect our users. Your work will directly impact the safety of our platform and help make Discord a place where everyone can belong. To learn more about Discord Engineering, take a look at our engineering blog.
What You'll Be Doing:
- Lead, design, and build scalable backend systems for processing safety-related signals, primarily using Python
- Guide and mentor the team through architectural and system design challenges, ensuring long-term scalability as Discord continues to grow
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to build tools for content moderation and related compliance efforts. This includes in house solutions and vendors
- Implement and enhance ML/AI models and automation to improve efficiency in content moderation and decision-making processes
- Build solutions with an adversarial mindset, anticipating and addressing safety challenges such as malicious behavior and illegal content on the platform
- Drive workstreams and provide leadership to the team, mobilizing others to accomplish projects and deliver impactful outcomes
What We Look For:
- Python Expertise: Extensive experience developing and maintaining backend systems using Python
- Architectural Leadership: Strong system design and architecture skills with the ability to build scalable, reliable systems for content moderation with an emphasis on large scale projects, programs, or initiatives measured in quarters or years
- Leadership in Execution: Ability to define workstreams, lead projects, and guide other engineers through implementation
- Adversarial Mindset: Experience in a domain that required an adversarial mindset such as trust, safety, security, or privacy
- On-Call Experience: Experience being in a 24/7 on-call rotation for production systems
Bonus Points:
- Experience working with ML/AI models in content moderation
- Familiarity with Typescript/Javascript/React and frontend technologies
- Familiarity with Rust
- Previous experience at companies with a strong focus on safety, security, or trust & safety
This position is US-based only. We are seeking candidates located in the Los Angeles or San Francisco Bay Areas. Candidates in the Los Angeles area can work remotely. Candidates in the San Francisco area are required to be in the office 2 days per week. Relocation assistance may be available to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Candidates must be located within one of the following counties:
- Los Angeles area: (Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, or Ventura Counties)
- San Francisco Bay Area: (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties)
The base salary range for this full-time position is listed below. This position will also be eligible for equity and 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 role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include equity, or benefits.
Why Discord?
Standard company text repeated across Discord's postings is omitted here.