Senior Backend Engineer; Python + Distributed systems

Senior Backend Engineer (Python + Distributed Systems)

Join to apply for the Senior Backend Engineer (Python + Distributed Systems) role at Scribd, Inc.

Scribd's mission is to spark human curiosity by creating a world of stories and knowledge. We 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, commit, and take action to prioritize the customer. Our flexible work benefit, Scribd Flex, allows employees to choose a work style that fits their needs, while prioritizing intentional in‑person moments for collaboration, culture, and connection.

The ML Data Engineering team powers metadata extraction, enrichment, and content understanding across all Scribd brands, handling hundreds of millions of documents and billions of images to deliver high‑quality metadata for millions of users worldwide.

We’re seeking a Senior Backend 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. You’ll work closely with cross‑functional teams to build reliable backend services that integrate machine‑learning models and LLM components when needed, tackling generative AI and metadata enrichment problems at a global scale.

Python, AWS (Lambda, ECS, SQS, Elasti Cache, Cloud Watch), Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Terraform, Datadog.

• Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and guidance to engineers across the organization.
• Lead the design, implementation, and scaling of event‑driven, distributed systems for metadata extraction.
• Partner with Data Science, Infrastructure, ML Engineering, and Product teams to architect robust systems balancing scalability, performance, and rapid iteration.
• Contribute to engineering strategy, identify gaps, propose initiatives, and improve frameworks.
• Build and maintain scalable APIs and backend services for high‑throughput content processing.
• Leverage AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, Elasti Cache, Cloud Watch) to design and deploy resilient systems.
• Optimize and refactor existing backend systems for scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Ensure system health and data integrity through monitoring, observability, and automated testing.

• 7+ years of professional software engineering experience with backend or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in Python (5+ years); experience with Scala is a plus.
• Expertise designing and architecting large‑scale event‑driven and distributed systems.
• Strong cloud expertise with AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, SNS, Cloud Watch).
• 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 experience.
• Bonus: familiarity with data processing frameworks (Spark, Databricks) and workflow orchestration tools.
• Bonus: experience integrating ML or LLM‑based models into production systems.

• Healthcare Insurance Coverage (Medical/Dental/Vision): 100% paid for employees.
• 12 weeks paid parental leave.
• Short‑term/long‑term disability plans.
• 401(k)/RSP matching.
• Onboarding stipend for home office peripherals and accessories.
• Learning & Development allowance and programs.
• Quarterly stipend for wellness, Wi‑Fi, etc.
• Mental health support and resources.
• Free subscription to the Scribd suite of products.
• Referral bonuses.
• Book benefit.
• Sabbaticals.
• Company‑wide events.
• Team engagement budgets.
• Vacation & personal days.
• Paid holidays (including winter break).
• Flexible sick time.
• Volunteer day.
• Company‑wide Employee Resource Groups fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace.
• Access to AI tools to boost productivity and innovation.

Employees must have their primary residence in or near one of the following cities:
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. (US);
Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver (Canada);
Mexico City (Mexico).

Mid‑Senior level

Full‑time

Engineering and Information Technology;
Software Development

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 create a foundation for the best ideas.