Staff Software Engineer

Zendesk • Madison, WI

7d • $164,000 - $246,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Staff Software Engineer - Search ETL About the Team Join a nimble, high-performing team at Zendesk’s Madison office dedicated to building and reinventing the backbone of our global search platform. As part of Madison’s search team, you’ll deliver innovative solutions to one of the world’s largest SaaS customer support infrastructures. The Opportunity As a Staff Software Engineer on the Search ETL team, you’ll be at the very heart of Zendesk’s flagship product: Zendesk Support. Zendesk’s search platform powers internal and external customer experiences, ingesting billions of data points per day. We’re embarking on a multi-year journey to reimagine Zendesk’s internal platform offerings. You’ll have a front-row seat (and a steering wheel) for this transformation, bringing fresh perspectives and technical leadership to a platform critical to enterprise clients and internal teams alike. What You'll Do Develop and maintain scalable robust data delivery systems in Ruby on Rails Drive innovation and modernization as we overhaul our architecture, enrich platform capabilities, and set the standard for data pipelines at scale. Make key technical decisions and own solutions end-to-end, from concept to deployment and ongoing operations. Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and engineers to scope, estimate, and deliver high-impact projects. Take part in operational excellence: from implementing canary deployments with Spinnaker, to incident response with incident.io, to proactive monitoring with Datadog. Help shape team culture through code reviews, pair programming, and knowledge sharing, always striving for collective excellence. Contribute to a positive, collaborative atmosphere in our beautiful Madison office. What You'll Bring Required: Strong experience building large-scale, high-throughput data pipelines with Ruby. Experience with queuing/messaging systems (Kafka, SQS, or similar). Hands-on background with relational and NoSQL databases Familiarity with modern CI/CD (Github Actions), containerization/deployment (Kubernetes on AWS), and operational tooling (Spinnaker, Datadog, incident.io). Ability to navigate complex system design and architectural decisions, especially in distributed platforms. Strong communication and collaboration skills—able to work productively with engineers, product, and design. Eagerness to mentor, learn, and contribute to a supportive, growth-minded team dynamic. Nice to Have: Experience with AI-driven data augmentation Exposure to Java in production environments. Insights into the challenges of integrating and scaling SaaS systems. Interest in platform modernization and re-architecture initiatives. Why Zendesk? Direct influence on a key global platform with a well-defined, ambitious 3-year roadmap. Dynamic, collaborative culture where your voice is heard and your work has real impact. Opportunities for technical and career growth alongside smart, driven teammates. #LI-JH1 As part of our commitment to fairness and transparency, we inform all applicants that artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision systems may be used to screen or evaluate applications for this position, in accordance with Company guidelines and applicable law.

Requirements

• Strong experience building large-scale, high-throughput data pipelines with Ruby.
• Experience with queuing/messaging systems (Kafka, SQS, or similar).
• Hands-on background with relational and NoSQL databases
• Familiarity with modern CI/CD (Github Actions), containerization/deployment (Kubernetes on AWS), and operational tooling (Spinnaker, Datadog, incident.io).
• Ability to navigate complex system design and architectural decisions, especially in distributed platforms.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills—able to work productively with engineers, product, and design.
• Eagerness to mentor, learn, and contribute to a supportive, growth-minded team dynamic.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with AI-driven data augmentation
• Exposure to Java in production environments.
• Insights into the challenges of integrating and scaling SaaS systems.
• Interest in platform modernization and re-architecture initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain scalable robust data delivery systems in Ruby on Rails
• Drive innovation and modernization as we overhaul our architecture, enrich platform capabilities, and set the standard for data pipelines at scale.
• Make key technical decisions and own solutions end-to-end, from concept to deployment and ongoing operations.
• Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and engineers to scope, estimate, and deliver high-impact projects.
• Take part in operational excellence: from implementing canary deployments with Spinnaker, to incident response with incident.io, to proactive monitoring with Datadog.
• Help shape team culture through code reviews, pair programming, and knowledge sharing, always striving for collective excellence.
• Contribute to a positive, collaborative atmosphere in our beautiful Madison office.

Benefits

• Direct influence on a key global platform with a well-defined, ambitious 3-year roadmap.
• Dynamic, collaborative culture where your voice is heard and your work has real impact.
• Opportunities for technical and career growth alongside smart, driven teammates.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed