Opportunity at
DiscordSenior Software Engineer, Application Security
Discord is a platform where millions of people hang out and talk, many of them around video games. The company says it wants to make it…
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About This Role
Discord is a platform where millions of people hang out and talk, many of them around video games. The company says it wants to make it easier and more enjoyable for people to spend time together before, during and after gaming, and it treats security and privacy as central to its success. This full-time Senior Software Engineer role sits on Discord's Application Security team, which works to protect users' accounts.…
Job Description
Discord is a platform where millions of people hang out and talk, many of them around video games. The company says it wants to make it easier and more enjoyable for people to spend time together before, during and after gaming, and it treats security and privacy as central to its success. This full-time Senior Software Engineer role sits on Discord's Application Security team, which works to protect users' accounts.
In this role, the engineer will lead full-stack work that hardens session handling and sign-in, and will own the correctness of security-sensitive sign-in services while running and upkeeping them. The team partners with Product to drive adoption of stronger sign-in methods and to ship account security tools for users. The engineer will also research emerging threats to account security, design and implement new platform security capabilities, and build self-service, automated controls that help find and reduce account security flaws.
The posting asks for more than five years securing live applications, at least three years of coding in a general-purpose language like Python, Go, Java or Rust, and practical work on sign-in and account protection, touching WebAuthn, passkeys, FIDO2 and MFA, plus session handling. The position is based on the US West Coast and can be remote; candidates in the Bay Area may work from the San Francisco office. The posted US base salary range is USD 196,000 to 245,000, before equity and benefits.
Responsibilities
- Lead full-stack projects that strengthen session security and sign-in for users
- Enhance, operate and upkeep authentication services where security is paramount, taking responsibility for their accuracy
- Coordinate with Product so that stronger sign-in methods gain uptake, and help release account protection features that customers can use directly
- Find and design responses to new threats against user accounts
- Investigate and build fresh security features across the platform
- Build self-service, automated security controls and tools that find and reduce account security flaws
Requirements
- 5+ years securing production applications
- 3+ years writing code in a general-purpose language like Python, Go, Java or Rust
- Practical track record of delivering live software, including protective features, controls or safeguards
- Practical work on sign-in and account protection, touching WebAuthn, passkeys, FIDO2 and MFA, plus session handling
- Ability to reason about complex systems and give engineers clear guidance on secure design
- Experience leading security projects with cross-functional groups
- Experience building or hardening desktop or native mobile client applications
- Experience operating in cloud environments; the team uses Google Cloud, and other platforms are acceptable
Qualifications
- Experience with a systems language such as C or C++
- Background building, running and troubleshooting systems in live service
- Knowledge of frequent app-level weaknesses across every platform the company releases to
Core Skills
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Can this role be done remotely?
The posting says the role is based on the US West Coast and can be remote. Candidates in the Bay Area are welcome to work from the San Francisco office.
What is the base salary?
The US base salary range is USD 196,000 to 245,000. The posting says this excludes equity and benefits.
What experience does the role need?
The posting asks for 5 or more years securing production applications and 3 or more years programming in a general-purpose language.
Does the posting mention accommodations?
Yes, the posting says reasonable accommodations are available during the interview process, and candidates can ask their recruiter.
Sample Interview Questions
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