Backend Software Engineer; Python

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At Scribd (pronounced “scribbed”), our mission is to spark human curiosity. We aim to democratize the exchange of ideas and information and empower collective expertise through our products:
Everand, Scribd, Slideshare, and Fable. We value bold, real collaboration, customer focus, and intentional in-person moments to build culture. Scribd Flex allows employees to choose their daily work-style in partnership with their manager, with occasional in-person attendance required regardless of location.

We hire for GRIT:
Goals, Results, Innovative ideas, and Team collaboration. The role involves working with the ML Data Engineering team to power metadata extraction, enrichment, and content understanding across Scribd brands, processing hundreds of millions of documents and billions of images at scale.

Role Overview

We’re seeking a Software Engineer II with deep experience building event-driven, distributed, and scalable systems in Python. You will design and optimize large-scale data and service pipelines on AWS, supporting Scribd’s content enrichment and metadata systems. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to design reliable backend services that integrate ML models and LLM-based components when needed. This role offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge generative AI and metadata enrichment problems at a global scale.

Tech Stack

Backend systems are primarily built in Python, leveraging AWS services such as Lambda, ECS, SQS, and Elasti Cache. We also use Airflow, Spark, Databricks, Terraform, and Datadog for orchestration, data processing, and observability.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and implement event-driven, distributed systems to extract, enrich, and process metadata from large-scale document and media datasets.
• 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, high-performance systems.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver backend solutions that power ML-driven features.
• Optimize and refactor existing backend systems for scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Ensure system health and data integrity through monitoring, observability, and automated testing.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience on Python or distributed systems development.
• Strong proficiency in Python (3+ years). Experience with Scala is a plus.
• Proven experience designing and building event-driven, distributed, and scalable systems.
• Hands-on experience with AWS services (ECS, Lambda, SQS, SNS, Cloud Watch, etc.).
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools like Terraform.
• Solid understanding of system performance, profiling, and optimization.
• 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 information:
At Scribd, your base pay is one part of your total compensation and varies by location. Salary ranges are provided for reference and may change based on level, location, and other factors. This position may be eligible for equity and a comprehensive benefits package.

Are you based in a location where Scribd can employ you? The primary residence must be in or near listed cities in the United States, Canada, or Mexico, with surrounding metro areas within commuting distance.

• 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
• Learning & Development allowance
• Quarterly wellness, WiFi, and other stipends
• Mental Health resources and employee assistance
• Free Scribd product subscriptions
• Volunteer days and inclusive ERG programs
• Access to AI tools to boost productivity

EEO and accommodations We are an equal opportunity employer. If you require reasonable adjustments during the interview process, please email  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.