Software Engineer

Nextdoor, Inc.•San Francisco, CA

5d•$185,000 - $210,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As a Software Engineer at Nextdoor, you’ll work across multiple phases of software development life cycle within a project to design, implement, and maintain the core backend systems that power the Company’s feed infrastructure. At Nextdoor, we operate in an AI-first environment and expect every team member to actively use AI tools as part of their workflow. We aren't looking for prompt engineers; we’re looking for people who use tools like Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Glean to challenge their own thinking and take full ownership of AI-assisted outputs. We also offer a warm and inclusive work environment that embraces a hybrid employment model, blending an in office presence and work from home experience for our valued employees. The hiring team will go over these expectations with you if you are being considered for a role near one of our offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, New York, and London.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or foreign equivalent in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or closely related field
Two (2) years of progressive, post-baccalaureate experience in the position offered, as a Software Development Engineer, or closely related position. and/or the ability to perform at an advanced level in the domain
Full term of experience must include: Utilizing software development processes at all levels of software delivery lifecycle (requirements gathering, documentation, design, development, code review, testing and production support)
Developing and maintaining large-scale and distributed system services in multiple environments
Utilizing data processing languages/tools, including Spark and Kafka, to build big data pipelines to extract and transform data into a usable format that can be used to power metrics dashboards
Utilizing Structured Query Language (SQL) and MySQL for data mining and manipulation, analysis, and modeling of data sets to ensure data is reliable in Software Platform
Utilizing workflow orchestration and data processing tools, including Airflow and Spark, to automate and improve large-scale data processing workflows
Writing automated regression tests for code and review designs and codes from other software engineers to ensure a high quality for software development
Writing unit test cases to ensure that new and existing code works according to specifications
Managing underlying performance impacts for code changes in large distributed systems
Designing and implementing microservices architecture to support scalable backend product functionality across distributed systems
Designing, documenting, and implementing service interfaces and backend integrations, including RESTful APIs and gRPC-based inter-service communication
Leading or participating in backend system refactoring and modernization efforts to improve scalability, maintainability, and operational efficiency in distributed production environments
Applying performance optimization and system design principles to evaluate and improve the efficiency of backend services, algorithms, and large-scale data pipelines

Nice To Haves

Actively use AI tools like Claude, Gemini, ChatGPT, and Glean as part of their workflow.

Responsibilities

Actively collaborate with product managers, frontend engineers, data scientists, and other backend engineers to understand the needs of the users and define the technical requirements for new features, improvements, and bug fixes
Monitor the performance of the feed infrastructure to identify bottlenecks and resolve issues in a timely manner to optimize system performance
Implement data security and privacy best practices for feed infrastructure
Mentor and support junior engineers
Participate in in-person Nextdoor events such as trainings, off-sites, volunteer days, and team building exercises
Build in-person relationships with team members and contribute to Nextdoor’s company culture