Staff Software Engineer Backend (Communications Platform)

Squarespace is looking for a Backend Staff Software Engineer to lead the technical direction of our Communications Platform team. The Communications Platform is a critical engine powering customer engagement across Squarespace — providing internal teams with a scalable reliable and secure infrastructure for delivering communications via email push notifications and in-product messaging.

The team owns multiple interconnected production platforms that collectively send over 1.75+ million notifications per day strategic initiatives including platform modernization In-Product Placements and multi-channel communication capabilities.

In this role you’ll serve as the senior technical voice for the team — driving architecture shaping roadmap execution and elevating the engineering quality of a small but high-impact team. This is a hands-on role with real technical depth paired with broad cross-functional influence.

This is a hybrid role based in our NYC office (3 days per week) reporting to the Engineering Manager of Communications Platform.

• Drive the architecture design and implementation of the Communications Platform’s platforms — including Email Delivery In-Product Notifications and Push Notifications.
• Define and own the technical strategy for platform modernization reliability hardening and engineering standards across backend services.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership and mentorship to a team of backend and frontend engineers helping them grow in system design decision-making and ownership.
• Write high-quality Java code and stay close to execution — leading design reviews code reviews and architectural decisions that raise the bar across the codebase.
• Proactively identify and address systemic risks in performance reliability security and operability before they become incidents.
• Serve as a key technical partner on cross-team and company-wide architecture initiatives.
• Balance short-term delivery with long-term platform health communicating tradeoffs clearly to stakeholders and leadership.

• 10+ years of backend engineering experience with significant time building and operating large-scale customer-facing systems.
• Deep expertise in Java and backend service development including APIs async processing messaging systems (ex: Kafka) and data stores (ex: MongoDB CockroachDB).
• Strong experience with distributed systems in production — including reliability scaling failure modes and observability.
• A proven track record of technical leadership at the Staff or Senior-plus level influencing architecture across multiple teams or services.
• Experience evolving existing systems — modernizing legacy platforms simplifying complexity and strengthening reliability without unnecessary rewrites.
• Experience operating within platform engineering contexts where your customers are internal or external product teams and the quality of your APIs and abstractions directly shapes their velocity.
• A strong understanding of multi-channel communication infrastructure (email delivery push in-product notifications) is a meaningful plus.
• The ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical partners.
• A mindset oriented toward mentorship collaboration and inclusive technical leadership.

• Java Spring Kafka MongoDB CockroachDB Kubernetes GCP.
• The team actively uses Claude Code Cursor and GitHub Copilot to accelerate development and code review.

• A choice between medical plans with an option for 100% covered premiums 
• Fertility and adoption benefits
• Access to supplemental insurance plans for additional coverage
• Headspace mindfulness app subscription
• Global Employee Assistance Program
• Retirement benefits with employer match
• Flexible paid time off
• 12 weeks paid parental leave and family care leave
• Pretax commuter benefit
• Education reimbursement
• Employee donation match to community organizations
• 7 Global Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)
• Dog-friendly workplace
• Free lunch and snacks
• Private rooftop
• Hack week twice per year

The base salary for this position will vary based on job-related criteria including relevant skills experience and location among other factors.

In addition to the cash compensation above (which includes base salary and where applicable for eligible roles may include overtime pay) Squarespace employees are eligible to be granted an option to purchase our common stock. Sales positions generally offer a competitive On Target Earnings (OTE) incentive structure in addition to base salary.

Squarespace is a design-driven platform helping entrepreneurs build brands and businesses online. We empower millions of customers in more than 200 countries and territories with all the tools they need to create an online presence build an audience monetize and scale their business. Our suite of products range from websites domains ecommerce and marketing tools as well as tools for scheduling with Acuity and creating and managing social media presence with Bio Sites and Unfold. Our team of more than 1700 is headquartered in New York City with offices in Dublin Ireland and Aveiro Portugal. For more information about our company visit https://www.squarespace.com/about/careers.

Today more than a million people around the globe use Squarespace to share different perspectives and experiences with the world. Not only do we embrace and celebrate the diversity of our customers but we also work toward the same in our employees. At Squarespace we are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race color ethnicity ancestry religion national origin gender sex gender identity or expression sexual orientation age citizenship marital or parental status disability veteran status or other class protected by applicable law. We are proud to be an equal opportunity workplace.

#LI-Hybrid

What We Do

Squarespace is a design-driven platform helping entrepreneurs build brands and businesses online. We empower millions of customers in more than 200 countries and territories with all the tools they need to create an online presence build an audience monetize and scale their business. At Squarespace we celebrate creative possibility. With a culture rooted in curiosity Squarespace aims to provide its employees with the support to turn possibility into reality – learning from challenges and celebrating progress. At Squarespace we root for customer and employee success uplifting them with the tools needed to achieve their goals while also applauding what makes them unique and fulfilled. Our customers and employees alike are imaginative with the confidence to put their ideas out into the world and welcoming input and iteration. And our people run towards the next frontier to create our success motivated by the unknown and inspired by “first-ever” opportunities truly embracing a sense of possibility.

Why Work With Us

Squarespace employees are ownership-minded builders tenacious resourceful hands-on humble self-motivated experimental curious resilient inclusive and empathetic.

Gallery