Staff Software Engineer, Rider

Lyft • San Francisco, CA

16h • Hybrid

About The Position

At Lyft, our purpose is to serve and connect. We aim to achieve this by cultivating a work environment where all team members belong and have the opportunity to thrive. Lyft is looking for software engineers from a scope of disciplines. We are growing our team with people who want to build, improve and incorporate technologies that make the lives of our community more enriched. As an engineer at Lyft, you'll collaborate with teams like product, data science, analytics, and operations on code that empower us to iterate quickly, while focusing on delighting our passengers and drivers. The Rider organization is focused on building a seamless, best-in-class rideshare experience for riders. From the foundational functionality of requesting a ride to the tailored interactions with your flight, we sweat the small stuff to help make Lyft the best transportation solution. As a Staff Software Engineer on the Rider Team, you will act as a critical technical leader, taking holistic ownership of complex systems, defining strategic roadmaps, driving cross-functional alignment and engineering excellence to improve the rideshare experience.

Requirements

• BS/MS or equivalent in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of software engineering industry experience, with a proven track record of technical leadership and system ownership.
• Deep expertise in designing, debugging, and running fault-tolerant, highly available, large-scale distributed systems.
• Demonstrated experience driving technical roadmaps, managing cross-team dependencies, and influencing system architecture at an organizational level.
• Solid knowledge of distributed systems, relational databases, and NoSQL databases.
• Experience working with public cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, GCP, Microsoft Azure) and modern container orchestration technologies (e.g., Kubernetes, Docker, cri-o).
• Ability to communicate complex technical trade-offs effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work with a low-ego, highly collaborative, and cross-functional mindset while actively lifting up the engineers around you.

Responsibilities

• Shape the long-term architecture for systems, taking accountability for both short-term functionality and long-term health
• Translate high-level business goals into actionable engineering projects.
• Own the technical roadmap from conception to delivery, managing cross-team dependencies and mitigating risks
• Champion improvements in system, observability, performance, and tech debt reduction, extending your influence beyond your immediate team
• Establish best practices for deployment, alerting, and on-call health.
• Take holistic ownership of the platform's stability, tracking down issues root causes and building preventive safeguards for your immediate scope and beyond.
• Drive alignment across product, design, and operations.
• Proactively resolve bottlenecks and make decisive trade-offs to protect system architecture from competing organizational priorities
• Mentor and level up the engineers around you.
• Delegate stretch opportunities, lead cross-team reviews, and foster a culture of strong technical excellence
• Serve as a dependable, high-bar interviewer and active participant in Lyft’s broader internal engineering community

Benefits

• Great medical, dental, and vision insurance options with additional programs available when enrolled
• Mental health benefits
• Family building benefits
• Child care and pet benefits
• 401(k) plan with company match to help save for your future
• In addition to 12 observed holidays, salaried team members have discretionary paid time off, hourly team members have 15 days paid time off
• 18 weeks of paid parental leave. Biological, adoptive, and foster parents are all eligible
• Subsidized commuter benefits
• Monthly Lyft credits and complimentary Lyft Pink membership

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: Associate degree