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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.
We’re looking for a Senior Staff Engineer to join our Client Platform & Performance team to help lead the technical vision for Discord’s client experience across mobile, desktop, and web, with a special focus on building a fast, reliable, and delightful product for our growing global user base.
You’ll report to our Director of Engineering, Client Platform & Performance, and play a critical role in shaping the technical foundation that powers Discord’s experience for millions of people worldwide. Our goal is to build products that our customers absolutely love — functional, reliable, usable, and delightful — with performance as a core feature and an iterative approach to solving complex problems.
What you'll be doing:
- Lead technical direction and strategy for Discord’s client platforms, driving performance improvements across mobile, desktop, and web.
- Architect and develop foundational client-side libraries and infrastructure, ensuring scalability, reliability, and exceptional end-to-end performance.
- Optimize and evolve our React Native stack where it powers parts of our mobile experience, while collaborating on performance initiatives for other client technologies.
- Own engineering quality for client performance, developing systems and processes to ensure it can be sustainably maintained and improved across all platforms.
- Mentor and grow the next generation of technical leaders at Discord.
What you should have:
- 10+ years of experience as a software engineer working on large, cross-platform applications.
- Deep understanding of client performance, with hands-on experience improving performance on mobile, desktop, and/or web platforms.
- Strong expertise in JavaScript/TypeScript and React Native or Kotlin or Swift, with additional experience in low-level performance optimization (e.g., C++, profiling tools).
- A proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex performance issues.
- Strong communication skills to drive clear technical discussions and build alignment across diverse teams.
- Experience leading technical excellence, setting best practices for performance, quality, and accessibility at scale.
Bonus Points:
- Active in the React, React Native, or broader performance communities (open source contributions, technical talks, etc.).
- Experience optimizing applications for international markets with varying network conditions.
- Experience with advanced profiling, instrumentation, and monitoring tools.
- Background in game development or game-adjacent technologies.
Candidates must reside in or be willing to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area (Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma counties). Relocation assistance may be available.
The US base salary range for this full-time position is $304,000 to $342,000 + 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.
Discord San Francisco, California, USA Office
Our platform is our headquarters! Because we believe great work isn’t tied to a physical space, most of our roles offer flexibility – whether it’s from the comfort of your home (in approved locations), an inspiring office setting or a combo of both!
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