Senior Infrastructure Software Engineer, Search Platform

Senior Infrastructure Engineer

Dropbox is a Virtual First company. For this role, we are hiring in Zones 2 and 3. Please refer to our Compensation section below to see what neighborhoods fall under each Zone.

Role Description

As a Senior Infrastructure Engineer, your role will be crucial in shaping and constructing the robust systems that not only support our current flagship products but also lay the groundwork for the next wave of engineering innovations. From optimizing user experiences across various projects to ensuring seamless scalability and data integrity, you'll be at the forefront of shaping the technological backbone of our platform.

Collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, you'll leverage your expertise to tackle audacious challenges and push the boundaries of what's possible. Your contributions will directly impact millions of users, as every line of code you write furthers our mission to revolutionize the way people work and collaborate.

Join us in redefining the future, where your passion for building scalable, reliable systems will drive meaningful change on a global scale.

Our Engineering Career Framework is viewable by anyone outside the company and describes what's expected for our engineers at each of our career levels. Check out our blog post on this topic and more here.

Responsibilities

• Build a Next-Generation Search Platform: Develop a robust, highly scalable in-house search platform to power Dropbox Dash -AI-powered search for work.
• Unify Search Experiences: Design and implement a singular search platform that integrates search for Dropbox Dash with Dropbox's file and folder search, delivering a seamless and cohesive user experience.
• Support Diverse Search Use Cases: Enable a wide range of search and retrieval capabilities, including lexical search, vector search, multi-modal search, Q&A, and recommendations, to meet evolving customer needs.
• Scale the Indexing Platform: Build a highly scalable indexing infrastructure capable of handling trillions of documents while ensuring performance, reliability, and efficiency.
• Drive International Expansion: Expand the search platform's capabilities to support Dropbox's growing global user base, ensuring a consistent, high-quality experience worldwide.

Many teams at Dropbox run Services with on-call rotations, which entails being available for calls during both core and non-core business hours. If a team has an on-call rotation, all engineers on the team are expected to participate in the rotation as part of their employment. Applicants are encouraged to ask for more details of the rotations to which the applicant is applying.

Requirements

• BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or related technical field involving coding (e.g., physics or mathematics), or equivalent technical experience
• 9+ years of professional software development experience
• Proven track record constructing and managing expansive, multi-threaded, geographically dispersed backend systems
• Proficient in programming and debugging across a range of languages such as Python, Go, C/C++, or Java
• Extensive experience working with operating system internals, filesystems, databases, networks, and compilers considered advantageous
• Ability to navigate and thrive in ambiguous situations, showcasing adaptability and open-ended problem solving.
• Capable of taking ownership of long-term projects and seeing them through to completion.
• Ability to set medium-to-long term strategy for business-impacting projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with Search Infrastructure tools such as ElasticSearch

Compensation

US Zone 2

$202,700—$274,300 USD

US Zone 3

$180,200—$243,800 USD

The range(s) listed above is the expected annual salary/OTE (On-Target Earnings) for this role, subject to change. Please note, OTE are for sales roles only. Salary/OTE is just one component of Dropbox's total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for the corporate bonus program or a sales incentive (target included in OTE) as well as stock in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs). Dropbox takes a number of factors into account when determining individual starting pay, including job and level they are hired into, location/metropolitan area, skillset, and peer compensation. We target most new hire offers between the minimum up to the middle of the range. Dropbox uses the zip code of an employee's remote work location to determine which metropolitan pay range we use. Current US Zone locations are as follows:

• US Zone 1: San Francisco metro, New York City metro, or Seattle metro
• US Zone 2: California (outside SF metro), Colorado, Connecticut (outside NYC metro), Delaware, Illinois (Chicago metro), Indiana (Chicago metro), Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan (Chicago metro), New Hampshire, New Jersey (outside NYC metro), New York (outside NYC metro), Oregon, Pennsylvania (D.C. metro), Pennsylvania (outside NYC metro), Texas (Austin metro) Virginia (DC metro), Washington (outside Seattle metro), Washington DC metro, West Virginia (DC metro), Wisconsin (Chicago metro)
• US Zone 3: All other US locations

Check Your Zone

Read more about our Benefits.

Company Description

Dropbox isn't just a workplace—it's a living lab for designing a more enlightened way of working. We're a global community of bold visionaries and resourceful doers shaping the future of Dropbox and, in turn, the future of work. Our Virtual First model combines the autonomy of a distributed workplace with the power of human connection, creating space for meaningful work and lasting relationships. With a startup mindset and enterprise-level opportunities, we expect Dropbox employees to think critically, stay curious, and use modern tools, including AI, to improve how work gets done. Here, you can be who you are and grow into who you're meant to be. You own your impact, helping make work more intuitive, joyful, and human for yourself and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If you're ready to push boundaries and challenge yourself, Dropbox is ready for you.

Team Description

The Dropbox Engineering Team develops the technology, platforms, and products that create more enlightened ways of working for hundreds of millions of people. Customers rely on Dropbox to manage, share, and collaborate on content seamlessly—our engineering makes that easier and more intuitive than ever before. Our platform features a robust systems software layer that stores and processes exabytes of data, and a suite of growing services that enhance core products like our sharing and sync engine. We're also driving innovation with new offerings such as Dash, our AI-powered knowledge management engine. Our infrastructure spans high-performance servers and cutting-edge components across multiple data centers worldwide, ensuring reliability, speed, and scalability at a global scale. We think like a startup but build for an enterprise, exploring new possibilities that transform how people work. If you're excited about turning complex technical challenges into intuitive solutions at scale, join our Engineering team.

Virtual First

Dropbox's Virtual First way of working is designed to help people do their best work with flexibility, autonomy, and connection. Day to day, teams work remotely with nonlinear schedules and core collaboration hours that support deep focus and individual working styles. We prioritize asynchronous communication to improve clarity, respect deep work time, and reduce unnecessary meetings. While remote work is the primary experience for our employees, we also prioritize intentional, in-person connection. We bring teams together through regular team gatherings, on-demand workspaces, and Dropbox Neighborhood events in order to strengthen team cohesion, foster creativity, and enhance momentum. Virtual First is built to provide the same access to opportunity, growth, and impact for everyone, regardless of location.

This role requires travel to offsites and various other team gatherings (approximately 5-10% of the year or 2-3 days per quarter). We provide advance notice when possible and encourage candidates to discuss any accommodation needs during the interview process.

AI Fluency

AI fluency is a core part of how we work and grow. It's not about being an expert—it's about using these tools thoughtfully and effectively to improve your work and support others. We look for four key behaviors in candidates:

• Ownership : You use AI responsibly by protecting data, applying sound judgment, and taking accountability for the quality and accuracy of your work.
• Experimentation: You explore new AI capabilities and apply them to improve workflows within approved tools and practices.
• Leverage: