Senior Software Engineer, Platform

Interested in working on cutting-edge blockchain technology and creating equitable access to the global financial system? Since 2014, the mission-driven team at the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) has helped fuel the tremendous growth of the Stellar blockchain network, an open-source platform that operates at high-scale today. Developers and companies around the world build on it, and the SDF team is expanding to support the rapidly growing and changing Stellar ecosystem.

As part of the Platform team, you will work on mission-critical infrastructure for the Stellar network. Our team builds open-source libraries, services, and APIs that are the primary way developers interact with the Stellar blockchain. From individual developers to large, established institutions, our tools power a huge portion of ecosystem projects and play a pivotal role in the success of the network. Your work will have a broad and meaningful impact: improving the developer experience, implementing critical performance optimizations to support scaling, and designing new architectures to tackle future challenges as the network evolves.

In this role, you will:

• Work on cutting-edge technology at the intersection of blockchain and finance.

• Drive all aspects of the development process for platform projects, from vision to implementation.

• Design new platform functionality and developer-facing APIs that enhance the ecosystem.

• Build and maintain scalable web services that align with the foundation’s mission.

• Identify developer needs and create protocols and services to improve developer velocity across the ecosystem.

• Engage with the open-source community on diverse projects, frameworks, and ideas.

• Collaborate on code reviews, design discussions, and best practices for engineering at SDF.

• Investigate and resolve performance bottlenecks to ensure our API services scale effectively.

• Author detailed technical specifications (RFCs) to contribute to our robust design process.

You have:

• 4+ years of experience developing software as part of a collaborative team.

• Strong computer science fundamentals, including data structures, algorithms, distributed systems, and information retrieval.

• Proficiency in writing server applications in languages such as Go, Python, Rust, C#, Java, or C++, and a willingness to work across languages when needed.

• Experience supporting production web services at scale.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to advocate for and lead technical discussions, especially during design and code reviews.

• A solid grasp of software design patterns and the ability to build reusable, extensible, and modular components.

• Familiarity with existing frameworks and open-source tools, coupled with a willingness to develop new ones when gaps arise.

• A passion for performance optimization, debugging, and benchmarking.

• Excitement about joining a team where autonomy is encouraged.

• An open, empathetic mindset and a commitment to fostering collaboration and putting the best ideas forward.

Bonus Points if:

• You have experience with blockchain technologies or cryptocurrencies.

• You have experience contributing to open-source projects.

• You have worked on a team or project where developers have been your primary customers.

• You have experience working on financial or payment products.

We offer competitive pay with a base salary range for this position of $185,000 - $275,000 depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location. In addition, we offer lumen-denominated grants along with the following perks and benefits:

About Stellar

Stellar is more than a blockchain. Powered by a decentralized, fast, scalable, and uniquely sustainable network made for financial products and services and a thriving and passionate ecosystem that includes a non-profit organization driven by a mission, Stellar is paving the path to unlock the world’s economic potential through blockchain technology. Built with speed and low costs in mind, the Stellar network provides builders and financial institutions worldwide a platform to issue assets, and to send and convert currencies in real time creating real world utility. Founded in 2014, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) supports the continued development and growth of the Stellar network and also serves the ecosystem of NGOs, corporations, universities, small businesses, governments, and solo entrepreneurs building on the Stellar network through tooling, funding and strategic collaborations. Together, Stellar is where blockchain meets the real world.

About the Stellar Development Foundation

The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) is a non-profit organization focused on working with and supporting change-makers to create equitable access to the global financial system through blockchain technology. SDF provides grants, investments, funding, and other awards to builders and organizations. SDF also develops resources and tooling on the Stellar network to help unlock real world utility. As a nonprofit foundation, SDF puts the health of the Stellar network and the Stellar ecosystem and its mission above all else.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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SDF is committed to diversity in its workforce and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. SDF does not make hiring or employment decisions on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other basis protected by applicable local, state or federal law.