Staff Software Engineer

Alarm.com • Tysons, VA

4d • Onsite

About The Position

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be a technical leader and influencer shaping the future of the Alarm.com Android application used by millions of customers every day to secure and manage their homes and businesses. Our mobile team works
on the full spectrum of features including real-time video streaming, IoT device controls, security system management, and smart home automation.
In this role, your impact will extend well beyond individual contributions. You will drive architectural direction, mentor engineers across the team, and identify high-leverage opportunities to improve our codebase, tooling, and development practices. You will lead complex, cross-cutting initiatives end-to-end -- from technical design through delivery -- while raising the overall effectiveness of the engineering organization. You are expected to operate with a high degree of autonomy, balancing hands-on execution with enabling others to do their best work.
Very few companies innovate and develop across such a broad range of technologies as Alarm.com. This position is ideal for the candidate who seeks a collaborative, people-first company culture where one can work closely with smart and highly productive people across wireless, software, and hardware/device technologies to develop outstanding consumer products.
WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
• Collaborate with outstanding people: We have a strong focus on teamwork, and we work to create a collaborative and welcoming environment that enables our teams to excel.
• Drive meaningful impact at scale: You will shape architectural decisions and engineering practices that affect millions of users and influence the direction of our entire mobile platform.
• Work with the latest technologies: Our tech stack includes Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Android SDK, Coroutines/Flow, and integration with our backend services. You'll also explore and evaluate emerging technologies to keep our platform
at the cutting edge.
• Be Empowered: We don't want to micro-manage you. We want you to identify the most important problems, own the solutions, and lead by example -- coaching others along the way.
• Focus on fun: Alarm.com places high value on our team culture. We even have a committee dedicated to hosting a stand-out holiday party, happy hours, and other fun corporate events.
• Alarm.com values working together and collaborating in person. Our employees work from the office 4 days a week.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a related field, or equivalent work experience
• 8+ years of professional Android development experience with a track record of increasing technical responsibility
• Deep proficiency in Kotlin and the modern Android ecosystem (Jetpack Compose, Coroutines/Flow, Android SDK)
• Demonstrated experience leading the architecture and delivery of large-scale Android applications
• Strong understanding of Android architecture patterns (MVVM, MVI, Clean Architecture) and the ability to design and evolve architectural frameworks
• Extensive experience with RESTful APIs, JSON parsing, and backend service integration
• Strong understanding of asynchronous programming using Coroutines and Flow
• Proven ability to mentor and elevate other engineers through code reviews, design discussions, and technical coaching
• Experience leading cross-functional collaboration with iOS engineers, backend teams, QA, Product, and UX
• Strong understanding of the Gradle build system, including custom tasks/plugins, build variants, and modular project structures
• Experience with version control (Git) and collaborative development workflows
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work in cross-functional teams
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT) to streamline development while maintaining engineering standards
• Ability to review and validate AI-generated code, tests, and documentation for correctness and maintainability

Nice To Haves

• Video streaming experience using MediaCodec, HLS/RTSP/WebRTC protocols, or custom media implementations
• Knowledge of Android NDK/JNI for native code integration
• Experience defining and driving mobile platform strategies (modular architecture, shared libraries, design systems)
• Deep knowledge of Android Jetpack components such as ViewModel, WorkManager, DataStore, and Navigation
• Experience with Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) or other cross-platform approaches
• Understanding of mobile security best practices (Keystore, encryption, secure storage, certificate pinning, authentication)
• Experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines for Android applications (GitHub Actions, Bitrise, or similar)
• Knowledge of mobile analytics and crash reporting tools (Firebase, Crashlytics, Sentry)
• Experience working with the broader Android ecosystem including Wear OS, Android TV, or app widgets
• Experience operating large-scale mobile systems in production, including release management and feature flagging
• Familiarity with .NET/C# and backend systems -- understanding the full stack helps drive better mobile solutions
• Experience with iOS development, including Swift, SwiftUI, Objective-C, and Xcode
• Track record of contributing to or leading open-source Android projects or community engagement

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical direction and architectural vision for the Alarm.com Android application, ensuring scalable, maintainable, and performant solutions.
• Lead the design and architecture of large-scale features and platform-level initiatives, making sound tradeoff decisions and clearly articulating their rationale.
• Lead complex, cross-cutting projects through the full software lifecycle -- from requirements and design through implementation, testing, and deployment, with lots of cross-team collaboration with iOS engineers, backend teams, QA, and product managers.
• Write high-quality, well-tested, production-ready code that serves as a model for the team.
• Design and implement real-time video streaming features using Android media frameworks, including HLS/RTSP protocols.
• Build responsive, performant UIs following Material Design guidelines and modern Android best practices.
• Establish and evolve architectural patterns (e.g., modular architecture, dependency injection, reactive patterns) that improve developer productivity and code quality across the codebase.
• Actively mentor and coach engineers at all levels, guiding them to become stronger technically and professionally.
• Evaluate and champion the adoption of new Android technologies, frameworks, and tools with an eye toward practical implementation and long-term maintainability.
• Proactively identify and drive solutions to significant technical challenges, systemic issues, or strategic opportunities -- without waiting for direction.
• Improve team performance through better tooling, processes, CI/CD improvements, and developer experience initiatives.
• Exercise good judgment. Know when to work quickly, and when to build a robust solution.
• Bring your ideas! We want our Staff Engineers to shape product direction, not just execute on specs.
• Other duties as assigned

Benefits

• Our total rewards package is designed to support you holistically—in your health, your finances, and your life outside of work. The package includes medical plans with company subsidies, a Health Savings Account (HSA) with a company contribution, and a 401(k) with an employer match.
• We encourage a healthy work-life balance with paid vacation that increases with tenure, paid holidays, wellness time, and paid maternity and bonding leave.
• To complete the package, we also provide company-paid disability and life insurance, all within a collaborative and casual work environment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 501-1,000 employees