Senior Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure

About the team + role

We are building an elite team, applying frontier technologies to the world's biggest financial problems. We're looking for bold thinkers. Sharp problem-solvers. Builders who are wired to make an impact. Robinhood isn't a place for complacency, it's where ambitious people do the best work of their careers. We're a high-performing, fast-moving team with ethics at the center of everything we do. Expectations are high, and so are the rewards.

The Core Infrastructure team's mission is to build and evolve the foundational platform that every Robinhood engineering team builds on — owning the systems, primitives, and developer-facing abstractions that power 24/7 trading, crypto, and global expansion. We treat infrastructure as a product: reliable, fast to provision, and invisible to the teams above it.

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer on Core Infrastructure, you will own the architectural evolution of three deeply interconnected domains: service mesh and connectivity, compute platform, and infrastructure provisioning. Your decisions will directly shape engineering velocity, operational reliability, and Robinhood's ability to expand to new regions and markets. This is not an operations role — it's a once-in-a-platform-lifecycle opportunity to redesign the foundation before complexity becomes permanent!

This role is based in our Menlo Park, California office, with in-person attendance expected at least 3 days per week.

At Robinhood, we believe in the power of in-person work to accelerate progress, spark innovation, and strengthen community. Our office experience is intentional, energizing, and designed to fully support high-performing teams.

What you'll do

Own service mesh architecture end-to-end — standardize and evolve Robinhood's Istio and Envoy deployment, eliminate deprecated communication patterns, and build the networking foundation for multi-region operation

Drive Kubernetes compute platform evolution — define the long-term direction for cluster lifecycle, scheduling strategy, control plane architecture, and multi-region resiliency across Robinhood's entire compute fleet

Redesign infrastructure provisioning — transform Terraform from a collection of ad-hoc configurations into a scalable, self-service platform capability that enables rapid region provisioning and developer autonomy

Operate with source-level depth — diagnose and resolve issues at the Kubernetes API machinery, etcd, Envoy xDS, and Terraform provider layer, and contribute upstream where it serves the platform

Define technical direction across teams — produce architecture proposals, lead design reviews, and drive cross-functional alignment on infrastructure decisions that affect every engineering organization at Robinhood

What you bring

Deep, hands-on expertise with Kubernetes internals — API server, controller reconciliation, etcd watch propagation, scheduler mechanics, and admission control

Deep working knowledge of Istio and/or Envoy at the source code level — including the xDS API as a protocol; experience debugging at the control-plane/data-plane boundary

HTTP/2 and gRPC wire-level knowledge — connection management, flow control, stream multiplexing, and observability

Terraform at architectural scale — module design patterns, provider internals, remote state management, and multi-region provisioning

Production Go or Python for infrastructure tooling; strong fundamentals in writing well-structured, tested, operationally sound code

Proven ability to drive cross-functional architectural change across large or complex engineering organizations — influencing without authority and shipping durable decisions

What we offer

Challenging, high-impact work to grow your career

Performance driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, and equity ownership

Top tier benefits to fuel your work, including supplemental health insurance, ancillary insurance, and mental health support programs

Access to the best AI tools on the market and continuous AI skill-building for every employee, technical or not

Lifestyle wallet — a highly flexible employer-paid benefits spending account for expenses beyond traditional benefits such as wellness, childcare, learning, and more

Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, paid volunteer time off, parental leave, and more!

Exceptional office experience with catered meals, events, and comfortable workspaces

Monthly commuter stipend to help offset in-office commuting costs

In addition to the base pay range listed below, this role is also eligible for bonus opportunities + equity + benefits.

Base pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. The expected base pay range for this role is based on the location where the work will be performed and is aligned to one of 3 compensation zones. For other locations not listed, compensation can be discussed with your recruiter during the interview process.

Base Pay Range:

Zone 1 (Menlo Park, CA; New York, NY; Bellevue, WA; Washington, DC)

$264,000—$310,000 USD

Zone 2 (Denver, CO; Westlake, TX; Chicago, IL)

$264,000—$310,000 USD

Zone 3 (Lake Mary, FL; Clearwater, FL; Gainesville, FL)

$264,000—$310,000 USD