Staff Software Engineer - Applications Engineering
Description
The Opportunity:
We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer on our Applications Engineering team with deep expertise in backend engineering, distributed systems, and data-intensive architectures. This role will focus on designing, implementing, and scaling systems that ingest, process, and serve billions of data points, enabling mission-critical insights for millions of users worldwide.
This is a high-impact technical leadership role: you will shape architectural direction, mentor engineers, and work cross-functionally with product, architecture, research, and infrastructure teams.
Key Responsibilities:
- Design and build scalable, fault-tolerant backend systems in Go, ensuring high throughput and low latency for massive data pipelines.
- Develop and optimize distributed data processing architectures leveraging AWS services (e.g., S3, Athena, Lambda, Redshift, Glue, ECS/EKS).
- Architect solutions for real-time data ingestion and transformation, powering analytics, ML/AI pipelines, and user-facing features.
- Champion best practices in system design, including observability, performance tuning, and security.
- Mentor and guide engineers across teams, elevating engineering standards and fostering technical excellence.
- Partner closely with product managers, scientists, and business stakeholders to translate requirements into robust engineering solutions.
- Lead technical roadmap initiatives, balancing short-term delivery with long-term scalability and maintainability.
- Curiosity and interest in AI-driven software development
Job Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
- 8+ years of backend engineering experience, with at least 4+ years in senior/staff-level roles designing complex distributed systems.
- Strong expertise in Go (primary language), with solid experience in at least one additional backend language (e.g., Python, Java, or Ruby).
- Deep experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS, including containerization and orchestration (ECS, EKS, Kubernetes).
- Proven ability to design high-performance APIs, microservices, and event-driven systems.
- Strong understanding of data engineering fundamentals: streaming (Kafka, Kinesis), storage formats (Parquet, Iceberg), and query engines (Athena, Singlestore, Presto).
- Proficiency with SQL and NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Redis, Redshift).
- Experience implementing observability stacks (metrics, tracing, logging) and resilience patterns (circuit breakers, retries, failover).
- Familiarity with real-time analytics, data governance, or ML/AI infrastructure.
- Excellent troubleshooting and analysis skills
- Strong communication skills both in person and via virtual mediums
- Strong planning and time management skills
- A self-driven work ethic
- Excited to learn and work with new technologies in a dynamic environment
- Background Check Required
About
Ookla® is a global leader in connectivity intelligence, offering unparalleled network insights through the combined expertise of Speedtest®, Downdetector®, RootMetrics®, and Ekahau®. Ookla’s complementary datasets combine crowdsourced and controlled, public and private collection methods, QoS and QoE metrics, and more to unlock correlations and actionable insights — helping organizations optimize networks, enhance digital experiences, and create better connected experiences for end-users.
Our team is a group of people brought together through passion and inspired by possibility. We are looking for team members who love solving problems, are motivated by challenges, and enjoy turning clever ideas into exceptional products. When you work for us, you are using Ookla data and insights to advance our mission of better connectivity for all.
About Ziff Davis
Ziff Davis (NASDAQ: ZD) is a vertically focused digital media and internet company whose portfolio includes leading brands in technology, shopping, gaming and entertainment, connectivity, health, cybersecurity, and martech. Today, Ziff Davis is focused on seven key verticals – Technology, Connectivity, Shopping, Entertainment, Health & Wellness, Cybersecurity and Marketing Technology. Its brands include IGN, Mashable, RetailMeNot, PCMag, Humble Bundle, Spiceworks, Ookla (Speedtest), RootMetrics, Everyday Health, BabyCenter, Moz, iContact and Vipre Security.
Our Benefits
Ookla offers competitive salaries in addition to robust, health and wellness-focused benefits, including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as life and disability benefits. Our employees enjoy Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), a 401(k) with company match, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
We are committed to work-life balance with Flexible Time Off, Volunteer Time Off, and paid holidays. We offer family building and caregiving support and generous Family Care and Parental leave, when you need it. We also provide Fitness Reimbursement and access to wellness programs, ensuring our team stays healthy both physically and mentally.
At Ziff Davis, we remain dedicated to creating an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed. We offer Employee Resource Groups, company-sponsored events, and regular opportunities for professional growth through educational support, mentorship programs, and career development resources. Our employees are recognized and celebrated through employee engagement programs and recognition awards.
If you're seeking a dynamic and collaborative work environment where you can see the direct impact of your performance and thrive both personally and professionally, then Ookla is the place for you.
Compensation Range
Ziff Davis provides a range for the base pay. Factors that may be used to determine your actual pay may include your specific job related knowledge, skills, experience, and geographic location. The salary compensation for this role is$180,000/year up to $202,000/year. Individual pay within the compensation range for this business unit specific role is determined based on a variety of factors including experience, scope of the role, capabilities to perform the role, education and training, as well as business and company performance.
Ziff Davis is an Equal Opportunity Employer. At Ziff Davis, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has always been about fairness, equal opportunity, and belonging. DEI enables us to attract and retain the best talent, regardless of background or circumstances, while enabling our thousands of employees worldwide to thrive.