
Senior Backend Engineer, IAM
Reddit, Inc. · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $228,950 / year
- United States
Tailored resume — keyword-matched to this role.
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Job highlights
- Develop and maintain critical user identity systems.
- Build scalable backend services for a major website.
- Mentor and coach other engineers on the team.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams at Reddit.
- Drive high-impact projects and architecture improvements.
About the role
About Reddit
Reddit is a community of communities. It’s built on shared interests, passion, and trust, and is home to the most open and authentic conversations on the internet. Every day, Reddit users submit, vote, and comment on the topics they care most about. With 100,000+ active communities and approximately 126 million daily active unique visitors, Reddit is one of the internet’s largest sources of information. For more information, visit www.redditinc.com. This is a fully remote role. Reddit has a flexible first workforce.Team Overview
The Identity and Access Management team develops and maintains a set of mission critical, highly performant, and highly scalable systems that manage user identity, authentication, and authorization for all of our millions of daily users and backend services.Some Of Our Present And Future Challenges Include
- Building systems around authentication, authorization and identity to meet the needs of Reddit’s engineering organization and millions of daily users.
- Design, build and ship backend services powering experiences for one of the most visited sites in the world.
- Work with product management, security, client engineering, and backend teams to define and implement Reddit’s IAM vision and roadmap.
Role Responsibilities
As a senior engineer on this team, you’ll be a technical coach and mentor. You’ll draw on your technical expertise to ensure these systems have high uptime and strong performance while working with others to build a roadmap to match the needs of an ever growing engineering organization.In Your Day-to-day, You Will
- Steer: Work with the team to select, scope, and drive high leverage projects that align with Reddit’s goals.
- Build: Execute on a strategy and create a more performant, more scalable, higher quality architecture around authentication, authorization and identity.
- Amplify: Mentor, coach, and collaborate with other technical contributors.
- Collaborate: Work together with a variety of cross functional teams across Reddit Engineering.
- Evolve: Learn and improve your own technical and non-technical abilities.
Who You Might Be
- 5+ years of experience designing and developing large-scale distributed backend systems with at least 2+ years focused on security-sensitive domains (IAM, Security, Privacy, or Anti-Abuse).
- Technical understanding of core identity concepts, authentication protocols (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML), session management and/OR Authorization access models (ABAC, RBAC, ReBAC), centralized authorization engines.
- Proficiency in one or more general purpose programming languages (preferably Go).
- Experience with (or curiosity to learn about) essential cloud infrastructure (Kubernetes, CI/CD, AWS, GCP).
- Experience identifying and driving high-impact projects that align with the company's strategy.
- High empathy and excellent communication skills to collaborate across the organization.
Benefits
- Comprehensive Healthcare Benefits and Income Replacement Programs
- 401k with Employer Match
- Global Benefit programs that fit your lifestyle, from workspace to professional development to caregiving support
- Family Planning Support
- Gender-Affirming Care
- Mental Health & Coaching Benefits
- Flexible Vacation & Paid Volunteer Time Off
- Generous Paid Parental Leave
Pay Transparency
This job posting may span more than one career level. In addition to base salary, this job is eligible to receive equity in the form of restricted stock units, and depending on the position offered, it may also be eligible to receive a commission. Additionally, Reddit offers a wide range of benefits to U.S.-based employees, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, 401(k) program with employer match, generous time off for vacation, and parental leave. To learn more, please visit https://www.redditinc.com/careers/. To provide greater transparency to candidates, we share base salary ranges for all US-based job postings regardless of state. We set standard base pay ranges for all roles based on function, level, and country location, benchmarked against similar stage growth companies. Final offer amounts are determined by multiple factors including, skills, depth of work experience and relevant licenses/credentials, and may vary from the amounts listed below. The Base Salary Range For This Position Is $190,800—$267,100 USD. In select roles and locations, the interviews will be recorded, transcribed and summarized by artificial intelligence (AI). You will have the opportunity to opt out of recording, transcription and summarization prior to any scheduled interviews. During the interview, we will collect the following categories of personal information: Identifiers, Professional and Employment-Related Information, Sensory Information (audio/video recording), and any other categories of personal information you choose to share with us. We will use this information to evaluate your application for employment or an independent contractor role, as applicable. We will not sell your personal information or disclose it to any third party for their marketing purposes. We will delete any recording of your interview promptly after making a hiring decision. For more information about how we will handle your personal information, including our retention of it, please refer to our Candidate Privacy Policy for Potential Employees and Contractors. Reddit is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and is committed to building a workforce representative of the diverse communities we serve. Reddit is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If, due to a disability, you need an accommodation during the interview process, please let your recruiter know.Key skills/competency
- Senior Backend Engineer
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Distributed Systems
- Authentication
- Authorization
- Go Programming Language
- Cloud Infrastructure
- Kubernetes
- AWS
- Security-Sensitive Domains
Skills & topics
- Senior Backend Engineer
- IAM
- Identity and Access Management
- Backend Development
- Distributed Systems
- Go
- Authentication
- Authorization
- Cloud Computing
- AWS
- Kubernetes
- Security
- Software Engineer
- Remote
- Tech
- Engineering
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience in large-scale distributed systems and security-sensitive domains like IAM. Quantify achievements and showcase leadership.
- Showcase technical expertise: Emphasize proficiency in Go, authentication protocols (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML), and authorization models (ABAC, RBAC). Mention cloud infrastructure experience (Kubernetes, AWS).
- Demonstrate soft skills: Illustrate high empathy and strong communication skills through examples of cross-functional collaboration and mentorship.
- Understand Reddit's culture: Research Reddit's mission, values, and its flexible-first, remote-friendly approach to work.
- Prepare for interviews: Be ready to discuss technical challenges in IAM, system design, and your experience mentoring junior engineers.
Technical preparation
Master Go programming language and its concurrency features.,Deep dive into OAuth2, OIDC, SAML, and authorization models.,Practice designing distributed systems and IAM architecture.,Familiarize with Kubernetes, CI/CD, and AWS services.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex IAM challenge you solved.,How do you mentor junior engineers effectively?,Share an experience collaborating with cross-functional teams.,How do you prioritize and drive high-impact projects?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the base salary range for a Senior Backend Engineer IAM at Reddit?
- The base salary range for this Senior Backend Engineer IAM position at Reddit in the U.S. is $190,800 to $267,100 USD. Final offers depend on experience, skills, and location.
- Is this Senior Backend Engineer IAM role remote or on-site?
- This Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit is fully remote, supporting their flexible-first workforce model.
- What programming language is preferred for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit?
- Proficiency in Go is preferred for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit, though experience in other general-purpose programming languages is also valued.
- What are the key technical skills required for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM position at Reddit?
- Key technical skills for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM at Reddit include experience with large-scale distributed backend systems, security-sensitive domains (IAM, Security, Privacy), authentication protocols (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML), authorization models (ABAC, RBAC), and cloud infrastructure (Kubernetes, AWS, GCP).
- Does Reddit offer benefits for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM position?
- Yes, Reddit offers comprehensive benefits including healthcare, 401k with match, global benefits for lifestyle needs, family planning support, mental health resources, and generous paid parental leave for its employees.
- Will my interview for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit be recorded?
- In select roles and locations, interviews for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM position at Reddit may be recorded by AI for transcription and summarization. You will have the opportunity to opt out prior to the interview.
- What is the expected experience level for the Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit?
- The Senior Backend Engineer IAM role at Reddit requires 5+ years of experience in designing and developing large-scale distributed backend systems, with at least 2+ years focused on security-sensitive domains.
- What kind of mentorship is involved for a Senior Backend Engineer IAM at Reddit?
- As a Senior Backend Engineer IAM at Reddit, you will act as a technical coach and mentor, guiding and collaborating with other technical contributors to ensure system performance and quality.