Software Engineer, Backend, Level 5
Snap Inc. · Bellevue, WA
$209,000–$313,000from the description
Jul 2, 2026
Bellevue, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A backend engineering role focused on designing, building, and running large-scale distributed services — including user identity, social graph, and core data persistence systems. The work involves cross-team collaboration on product requirements, trade-off analysis, and maintaining high availability at significant scale. Suited to experienced engineers with a background in distributed systems and familiarity with cloud infrastructure or NoSQL technologies.
Senior level · 6+ years · Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 8,300 people in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 6,200–10,700
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
What the occupation pays Median $164,459 (middle half $130,334–$195,752). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The title is simply 'Backend Engineer' with no level modifier, so advertised seniority is Unspecified; however, the 6+ years post-Bachelor's minimum and the expectation of independently executing medium-sized features and participating in incident response support a Senior classification.
Java, C++, and/or Python appear in both the 'Knowledge, Skills & Abilities' section and the 'Preferred Qualifications' section. Because the Preferred Qualifications section is the more authoritative placement for these skills (they are explicitly re-listed there as preferred), they are marked as preferred rather than required.
Similarly, NoSQL, Memcache/Redis, Kubernetes, and Google/AWS services appear in both sections and are explicitly listed under 'Preferred Qualifications', so they are marked preferred.
Distributed systems experience is listed under 'Minimum Qualifications' and is a hard gate.
Compensation figures shown are for Zone A (CA, WA, NYC) — $209,000–$313,000/year. Zone B is $199,000–$297,000 and Zone C is $178,000–$266,000. The role is also eligible for RSU equity.
Snap's 'default together' policy requires 4+ days per week in-office, so the role is not remote.
The degree requirement accepts equivalent practical experience in lieu of a Bachelor's degree; however, the JD also offers a Master's + 5 years or PhD + 2 years path, making the Bachelor's the stated minimum formal degree when a degree is held. Because the JD explicitly accepts 'equivalent years of practical work experience' as a substitute, the degree requirement is set to None per schema rules.
Primary location is inferred as Snap's headquarters in Santa Monica/Los Angeles, CA, though the role may be filled in other Snap office locations (Seattle, NYC, etc.).
Read the full posting
The employer publishes the full description on their own site — read it there ↗. Or sign in to read it here — it's free, and it also lets you track this application.