Staff Software Engineer, Core

Who we are

We are building the next-generation AI-powered platform and web application for easy and fast creation of audio and video content. Growing this revolutionary product involves unique technical challenges and requires solving hard and complex problems.

The Core Team builds features to help our users find each other and use Descript to create and communicate their ideas with the world. We own critical systems ancillary to the business, such as access control, team management, project organization, usage tracking, payments, and more.

We are looking for a Staff full-stack software Engineer to help us expand these foundational systems.

What You’ll Do

Set the technical direction for Descript’s identity model, paving clear paths that will guide all teams to build features such that it scales coherently to the next level

Lead large multi-quarter initiatives by collaborating with cross-functional partners, creating clarity out of ambiguity, and mediating technical disagreements in a way that balances speed and correctness

Own building and shipping features across all levels of the stack (frontend and backend), writing high-quality testable code that's functional, long term maintainable and performant

Influence the strategy and roadmap by proactively identifying and recommending high ROI areas to invest in. Keep tabs on org-wide technical strategy as well as industry best practices, spreading that information for the benefit of all.

Mentor other Engineers and advise teams on architecture and quality

What You Bring

Full-stack product engineer. It’s ok if you don’t love CSS, but you should be comfortable integrating and debugging functionality and logic end to end and think about systems holistically.

Strategic decision making and ability to push back on unnecessary complexity or scope creep to deliver projects with multi-milestone deliverables

Experience To Bring Forth Proven Industry Practices That Fit Well With Our Tech Stack And Business Needs

Well versed in web development and associated devtools

Technologies: Typescript, REST API development, relational DBs

Track record evolving and re-architecting complex systems to accommodate growth while maintaining stability

Comfortable walking off the beaten path, at the edge of systems

Competent thinking about security risks & mitigations

Experience Integrating 3rd Party Services

Strong at testing and debugging

Solid collaboration and communication

Growth mindset

Nice To Have

AI curious: You've explored AI tools, recognize them as useful for specific situations, and know how to use them effectively while acknowledging their limitations

Experience Building Account Management Features Such As

Invite flows, domain discovery, team management

Enterprise features like audit logs, SSO and SCIM

Opinions/experience with authz at scale: roles, permissions, RBAC, FGA

About Descript

Descript is building a simple, intuitive, fully-powered editing tool for video and audio — an editing tool built for the age of AI. We are a team of 150 and the backing of some of the world's greatest investors (

OpenAI

,

Andreessen Horowitz

,

Redpoint Ventures

,

Spark Capital

).

Descript is the special company that's in possession of both product market fit and the raw materials (passionate user community, great product, large market) for growth, but is still early enough that each new employee has a measurable influence on the direction of the company.

Benefits Include A Generous Healthcare Package, 401k Matching Program, Catered Lunches, And Flexible Vacation Time.

Our headquarters

are located in the Mission District of San Francisco, CA. We're hiring for a mix of remote roles and hybrid roles.  For those who are remote, we have a handful of opportunities throughout the year for in person collaboration.  For our hybrid roles, we're flexible, and you're an adult—we don't expect or mandate that you're in the office every day. We do believe there are valuable and serendipitous moments of discovery and collaboration that come from working together in person.

Descript is an equal opportunity workplace—we are dedicated to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. We believe in actively building a team rich in diverse backgrounds, experiences, and opinions to better allow our employees, products, and community to thrive.