Scribd, Inc.
Senior Backend Engineer (Python + Distributed systems)
Scribd, Inc., Portland, Oregon, United States, 97204
Senior Backend Engineer (Python + Distributed Systems)
Scribd, Inc.
About The Company At
Scribd
(pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. We create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas, and empower collective expertise through our products: Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable. We support a culture where employees can be real and bold, debate and commit as we embrace plot twists, and each employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. We believe in balancing individual flexibility and community connections. Our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, lets employees choose a daily work‑style that suits their needs while prioritizing intentional in‑person moments. Occasional in‑person attendance is required for all employees, regardless of location. We hire for “GRIT” – the intersection of passion, perseverance, goals, results, innovative ideas, and positive influence.
About The Team The ML Data Engineering team powers metadata extraction, enrichment, and content understanding across all Scribd brands. We process hundreds of millions of documents and billions of images, delivering high‑quality metadata to enable content discovery and trust for millions of users worldwide. Our systems operate at massive scale, supporting diverse datasets across user‑generated content, eBooks, audiobooks, and more. We collaborate closely with applied research and product teams to deploy scalable ML and LLM‑powered solutions in production.
Role Overview We’re seeking a Senior Software Engineer with deep experience building event‑driven, distributed, and scalable systems in Python. In this role, you’ll design and optimize large‑scale data and service pipelines on AWS, support Scribd’s content enrichment and metadata systems, and work closely with cross‑functional teams to integrate machine learning models and LLM components as needed. This position offers the opportunity to work on cutting‑edge generative AI and metadata enrichment problems at a global scale.
Tech Stack Python, AWS services (Lambda, ECS, SQS, ElastiCache, CloudWatch), Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Terraform, Datadog
Key Responsibilities
Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to engineers across the organization, driving secure coding best practices.
Design, implement, and scale event‑driven, distributed systems to extract, enrich, and process metadata from large‑scale document and media datasets.
Collaborate with Data Science, Infrastructure, ML Engineering, and Product teams to architect and deliver robust systems that balance scalability, performance, and rapid iteration.
Contribute to engineering strategy, identifying gaps, proposing new initiatives, and improving existing frameworks.
Build and maintain scalable APIs and backend services for high‑throughput content processing.
Leverage AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, ElastiCache, CloudWatch) to design and deploy resilient, high‑performance systems.
Optimize and refactor existing backend systems for scalability, reliability, and performance.
Ensure system health and data integrity through monitoring, observability, and automated testing.
Requirements
7+ years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on backend or distributed systems.
Strong proficiency in Python (5+ years). Experience with Scala is a plus.
Expertise in designing and architecting large‑scale event‑driven and distributed systems.
Strong cloud expertise with AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, etc.).
Experience with infrastructure‑as‑code tools like Terraform.
Solid understanding of system performance, profiling, and optimization.
Experience leading technical projects and mentoring engineers.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.
Bonus: Familiarity with data processing frameworks (Spark, Databricks) and workflow orchestration tools.
Bonus: Experience integrating ML or LLM‑based models into production systems.
Compensation Base pay ranges are determined by local cost of labor benchmarks. For San Francisco, the range is $146,500–$228,000; outside California, $120,000–$217,000; in Canada, CAD $153,000–$202,000. This role is also eligible for competitive equity ownership and a generous benefits package.
Benefits, Perks, And Wellbeing At Scribd
Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees
12 weeks paid parental leave
Short‑term/long‑term disability plans
401k/RSP matching
Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals + accessories
Learning & Development allowance and programs
Quarterly stipend for Wellness, WiFi, etc.
Mental Health support & resources
Free subscription to the Scribd Suite of products
Referral Bonuses
Book Benefit
Sabbaticals
Company‑wide events and teamwork engagement budgets
Vacation & Personal Days, Paid Holidays (+ winter break)
Flexible Sick Time, Volunteer Day
Company‑wide Employee Resource Groups and programs fostering inclusivity and diversity
Access to AI Tools: free access to best‑in‑class AI tools to boost productivity and innovation.
Locations where Scribd Employs Primary residence in or near one of the following cities (or surrounding metro areas):
United States: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C.
Canada: Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver
Mexico: Mexico City
Learn More About Life at Scribd Want to learn more about life at Scribd? www.linkedin.com/company/scribd/life
Accessibility & Equal Opportunity Statement We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing accommodations@scribd.com. Scribd is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences creates a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.
#J-18808-Ljbffr
About The Company At
Scribd
(pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. We create a world of stories and knowledge, democratize the exchange of ideas, and empower collective expertise through our products: Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable. We support a culture where employees can be real and bold, debate and commit as we embrace plot twists, and each employee is empowered to take action as we prioritize the customer. We believe in balancing individual flexibility and community connections. Our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, lets employees choose a daily work‑style that suits their needs while prioritizing intentional in‑person moments. Occasional in‑person attendance is required for all employees, regardless of location. We hire for “GRIT” – the intersection of passion, perseverance, goals, results, innovative ideas, and positive influence.
About The Team The ML Data Engineering team powers metadata extraction, enrichment, and content understanding across all Scribd brands. We process hundreds of millions of documents and billions of images, delivering high‑quality metadata to enable content discovery and trust for millions of users worldwide. Our systems operate at massive scale, supporting diverse datasets across user‑generated content, eBooks, audiobooks, and more. We collaborate closely with applied research and product teams to deploy scalable ML and LLM‑powered solutions in production.
Role Overview We’re seeking a Senior Software Engineer with deep experience building event‑driven, distributed, and scalable systems in Python. In this role, you’ll design and optimize large‑scale data and service pipelines on AWS, support Scribd’s content enrichment and metadata systems, and work closely with cross‑functional teams to integrate machine learning models and LLM components as needed. This position offers the opportunity to work on cutting‑edge generative AI and metadata enrichment problems at a global scale.
Tech Stack Python, AWS services (Lambda, ECS, SQS, ElastiCache, CloudWatch), Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Terraform, Datadog
Key Responsibilities
Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to engineers across the organization, driving secure coding best practices.
Design, implement, and scale event‑driven, distributed systems to extract, enrich, and process metadata from large‑scale document and media datasets.
Collaborate with Data Science, Infrastructure, ML Engineering, and Product teams to architect and deliver robust systems that balance scalability, performance, and rapid iteration.
Contribute to engineering strategy, identifying gaps, proposing new initiatives, and improving existing frameworks.
Build and maintain scalable APIs and backend services for high‑throughput content processing.
Leverage AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, ElastiCache, CloudWatch) to design and deploy resilient, high‑performance systems.
Optimize and refactor existing backend systems for scalability, reliability, and performance.
Ensure system health and data integrity through monitoring, observability, and automated testing.
Requirements
7+ years of professional software engineering experience with a focus on backend or distributed systems.
Strong proficiency in Python (5+ years). Experience with Scala is a plus.
Expertise in designing and architecting large‑scale event‑driven and distributed systems.
Strong cloud expertise with AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, etc.).
Experience with infrastructure‑as‑code tools like Terraform.
Solid understanding of system performance, profiling, and optimization.
Experience leading technical projects and mentoring engineers.
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent professional experience.
Bonus: Familiarity with data processing frameworks (Spark, Databricks) and workflow orchestration tools.
Bonus: Experience integrating ML or LLM‑based models into production systems.
Compensation Base pay ranges are determined by local cost of labor benchmarks. For San Francisco, the range is $146,500–$228,000; outside California, $120,000–$217,000; in Canada, CAD $153,000–$202,000. This role is also eligible for competitive equity ownership and a generous benefits package.
Benefits, Perks, And Wellbeing At Scribd
Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees
12 weeks paid parental leave
Short‑term/long‑term disability plans
401k/RSP matching
Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals + accessories
Learning & Development allowance and programs
Quarterly stipend for Wellness, WiFi, etc.
Mental Health support & resources
Free subscription to the Scribd Suite of products
Referral Bonuses
Book Benefit
Sabbaticals
Company‑wide events and teamwork engagement budgets
Vacation & Personal Days, Paid Holidays (+ winter break)
Flexible Sick Time, Volunteer Day
Company‑wide Employee Resource Groups and programs fostering inclusivity and diversity
Access to AI Tools: free access to best‑in‑class AI tools to boost productivity and innovation.
Locations where Scribd Employs Primary residence in or near one of the following cities (or surrounding metro areas):
United States: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Phoenix, Portland, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington D.C.
Canada: Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver
Mexico: Mexico City
Learn More About Life at Scribd Want to learn more about life at Scribd? www.linkedin.com/company/scribd/life
Accessibility & Equal Opportunity Statement We want our interview process to be accessible to everyone. You can inform us of any reasonable adjustments we can make to better accommodate your needs by emailing accommodations@scribd.com. Scribd is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We encourage people of all backgrounds to apply, and believe that a diversity of perspectives and experiences creates a foundation for the best ideas. Come join us in building something meaningful.
#J-18808-Ljbffr