Bluesky

Lead technical direction, design systems, deliver full-stack features, mentor engineers, and contribute to open-source ecosystem. | 10+ years experience with React, React Native, TypeScript, AI coding tools, and proven technical leadership. | What if social media worked more like the web — open, flexible, and full of possibility? That's the future we’re building at Bluesky. Our app [https://bsky.app/] is already used daily by millions, but it's just the beginning: underneath it is a protocol designed for an entire ecosystem of apps, all connected by the same social graph. We’re looking for a staff engineer to come do the best work of their career here. This is a staff IC role. You won't manage people. You'll do something harder: help set the technical direction for a team and the standard everyone builds to. We're looking for someone operating at a staff level today, who has owned hard problems across a large system and been the person their team trusted to make the right calls. ABOUT THE ROLE: Most senior engineering jobs are some version of maintaining a large system or optimizing a mature product. This is different. Our app is still taking shape, the protocol underneath it is still being invented, and the team is small enough that one exceptional engineer can change the trajectory of the whole thing. You'll ship features used by millions within weeks, not quarters. You'll make architectural calls that many other engineers build on. We think this is the most interesting moment to be a builder in years. Agentic coding is changing what a small team can do, and we're leaning into it. We're looking for someone who is already living in that future and is excited to define what an AI-native engineering team looks like. This is a rare opportunity to work on something that matters. Social media shapes how billions of people connect and stay informed, and right now it's almost entirely controlled by companies optimizing for attention. Bluesky is the bet that it can be open instead, and built on a protocol that no one owns but everyone shares.   KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: * Cross-Stack Engineering: Work across the entire stack, including a React Native app (iOS, Android, web) and Node.js/TypeScript and Go backend services. * System Design: Build foundational systems and make critical technical design decisions that accelerate overall development speed; Own large, ambiguous problems from conception to completion. * Setting the Standard: Establish the bar for excellence in system architecture, code reviews, and shipping velocity. * Team Multiplier: Raise the technical standard for the entire team and mentor others on how to gain maximum leverage from modern engineering tooling. * Team Mentorship: Mentor a small squad (2–4 engineers), setting technical direction and upholding a high bar for code quality through mentorship and rigorous code reviews. * High-Fidelity Feature Delivery: Deliver major features to users that actively define the future direction of the product. * Ecosystem Contribution: Actively contribute to the open-source AT Protocol and Bluesky ecosystem. YOU ARE A GOOD FIT IF YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING: * Engineering Leadership: 10+ years of experience (5+ in management) building consumer-scale products and integrating AI coding tools to act as a force multiplier for the team; People who work with you get better. Your reviews, your designs, and your instincts raise the level of whole teams * Full-Stack React Expertise: Deeply experienced in TypeScript, React, and React Native (iOS/Android/Web), with a focus on motion-rich, high-polish interfaces. * Technical Decisions: You've made major technical decisions that mattered, and you've lived long enough with the consequences to know which ones were right * Agentic AI: You already use agentic coding tools every day, and you have specific, opinionated views about where they create leverage and where they break down * Technical Ownership: Proven ability to own complex areas end-to-end—from scoping and sequencing to delivering in fast-paced, autonomous environments. * Product Intuition: A UI/UX-focused engineer who understands social app mechanics and sweats the details of the user experience. We’re especially excited if you have: * Startup or social media product experience * Been a founder or part of an early team * Worked with distributed or federated systems, real-time feeds, or content delivery at scale * Familiarity with the AT Protocol, or a real itch to work on open protocols and open source * Production Go, and experience with SQL or NoSQL databases (PostgreSQL, Scylla/Cassandra) Additional Information: We're a fully remote team. This role requires significant overlap with Pacific Time (PT) working hours. To learn more about us, check out bsky.social and atproto.com. The anticipated base salary range for this position is [STAFF BAND, TBD], excluding equity. Equity will be considered in the total compensation package. Final base salary will be based on geographic location, experience level, skill set, training, licenses, and certifications.

Build and scale mission-critical data infrastructure and backend services for Bluesky AppView to support hundreds of millions of users. | 5+ years Go experience, strong software engineering skills, experience with scalable backend systems and databases, and familiarity with operating system and network limits. | This description is a summary of our understanding of the job description. Click on 'Apply' button to find out more. Role Description This role involves building data infrastructure that powers the Bluesky AppView and transforming social media. • Scale our Go production services to hundreds of millions of users • Build mission-critical data infrastructure that powers every API request Bluesky receives • Build services that scale across tens of terabytes of RAM, thousands of CPU cores, and petabytes of NVME storage Qualifications • Strong fundamental programming and software engineering skills • Extensive experience with Go (e.g. 5+ years) • Experience building scalable backend systems (1M+ ops/sec) (e.g. data services, load balancers, etc.) • Familiarity with the upper limits of operating systems, networks, and storage • Significant experience with database systems (e.g. Postgres, MySQL, SQLite) • Some experience with other data stores (e.g. Scylla/Cassandra, Redis, ClickHouse) • Some experience with search systems (e.g. Elasticsearch) • Enjoy working on small, fast-moving teams • Have read the AT Protocol docs and want to contribute Requirements • This role is NOT a good fit for you if you do not use Go at your current job Benefits • Health, dental, and vision insurance Additional Notes • The anticipated base salary range for this position is $170,000 - $230,000, excluding equity • Equity will be considered in the total compensation package • Final base salary for this role will be based on the individual’s geographic location, experience level, skill set, training, licenses, and certifications