Senior Staff Software Engineer, Core Infrastructure

About this role

<div class="content-intro"><h2>Join us in building the future of finance.</h2> <p>Our mission is to democratize finance for all. <a href="https://www.cerulli.com/press-releases/cerulli-anticipates-124-trillion-in-wealth-will-transfer-through-2048" target="_blank">An estimated $124 trillion of assets</a> will be inherited by younger generations in the next two decades. The largest transfer of wealth in human history. If you’re ready to be at the epicenter of this historic cultural and financial shift, keep reading.</p></div><h2>About the team + role</h2> <p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>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!</p> <p>This role is based in our <strong>Menlo Park, California</strong>&nbsp;office, with in-person attendance expected at least 3 days per week.</p> <p>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.</p> <h2>What you'll do</h2> <ul> <li>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</li> <li>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</li> <li>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</li> <li>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</li> <li>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</li> </ul> <h2>What you bring</h2> <ul> <li>Deep, hands-on expertise with Kubernetes internals — API server, controller reconciliation, etcd watch propagation, scheduler mechanics, and admission control</li> <li>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</li> <li>HTTP/2 and gRPC wire-level knowledge — connection management, flow control, stream multiplexing, and observability</li> <li>Terraform at architectural scale — module design patterns, provider internals, remote state management, and multi-region provisioning</li> <li>Production Go or Python for infrastructure tooling; strong fundamentals in writing well-structured, tested, operationally sound code</li> <li>Proven ability to drive cross-functional architectural change across large or complex engineering organizations — influencing without authority and shipping durable decisions</li> </ul> <h2>What we offer</h2> <ul> <li>Challenging, high-impact work to grow your career</li> <li>Performance driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, and equity ownership</li> <li>Top tier benefits to fuel your work, including supplemental health insurance, ancillary insurance, and mental health support programs</li> <li>Access to the best AI tools on the market and continuous AI skill-building for every employee, technical or not</li> <li>Lifestyle wallet — a highly flexible employer-paid benefits spending account for expenses beyond traditional benefits such as wellness, childcare, learning, and more</li> <li>Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, paid volunteer time off, parental leave, and more!</li> <li>Exceptional office experience with catered meals, events, and comfortable workspaces</li> <li>Monthly commuter stipend to help offset in-office commuting costs</li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p><div class="content-pay-transparency"><div class="pay-input"><div class="description"><p><strong>In addition to the base pay range listed below, this role is also eligible for bonus opportunities + equity + benefits.</strong></p> <p>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