Fast Facts
Figma is seeking an experienced Software Engineer to lead the Build Systems team, focusing on developing and maintaining CI infrastructure and scalable developer tools to enhance engineering efficiency.
Responsibilities: Drive technical roadmap and strategy, lead initiatives to improve build/test times, design and maintain developer tools, and architect large-scale infrastructure on AWS.
Skills: 8+ years in engineering with expertise in build systems, CI/CD optimization, and programming languages such as Go and Python; proven technical leadership and communication skills.
Qualifications: Experience with large monolithic codebases, CI/CD tools, modern build systems, and a strong mentoring approach; knowledge of industry trends is a plus.
Location: Remote in the United States or from one of our hubs in San Francisco, CA or New York, NY
Compensation: Not provided by employer. Typical compensation ranges for this position are between $130,000 - $200,000.
The Build Systems team within Figma’s Developer Experience organization owns Figma’s build and CI infrastructure, enabling engineers to ship changes to production quickly and safely. We build and operate core platforms across our polyglot monorepo, including build systems, artifact repositories, merge queues, test frameworks, and CI pipelines.
We’re looking for an experienced technical leader to help shape these platforms, uplevel the team, and deliver high-impact platforms that accelerate engineering velocity. The ideal candidate has deep experience with large monolithic codebases, builds durable and scalable systems, and is motivated by solving high-leverage problems that amplify productivity across the engineering organization.
This is a full time role that can be held from one of our US hubs or remotely in the United States.
What you'll do at Figma:
- Drive technical roadmap and strategy for the Build Systems team
- Partner with cross-functional teams and leadership to identify developer pain points and design elegant, scalable solutions
- Lead complex, multi-quarter initiatives reducing build/test times and improving CI reliability, all while balancing technical excellence with pragmatic delivery
- Design, build, and maintain modern developer tools including scalable build systems, distributed CI platforms, and test frameworks that serve thousands of engineers
- Architect and implement large-scale infrastructure on AWS that powers our entire build pipeline to ensure reliability, performance, and cost-efficiency
- Mentor and uplevel the team through technical guidance, code reviews, and architectural leadership, leading by example and actively investing in your teammates’ growth
- Collaborate with product engineers (your customers), infrastructure teams, and executive stakeholders, and communicate technical decisions clearly to audiences ranging from individual contributors to senior leadership
- Keep up to date with industry trends and best practices in build systems, CI, and developer tooling, and incorporate applicable technologies into our roadmap
We’d love to hear from you if you have:
- 8+ years of engineering experience, including 4+ years on Infrastructure, Platform, or Developer Experience teams
- Deep expertise in build systems (e.g., Bazel, Buck, Pants, Gradle) and operating large-scale monorepos
- Experience optimizing CI/CD, building developer tooling at scale, and designing reliable, high-performance distributed systems
- Hands-on experience with AWS, CI platforms (e.g., Buildkite), Infrastructure as Code, and strong coding skills in languages such as Go, TypeScript, Python, or Ruby
- Proven technical leadership, with a track record of setting technical direction, driving cross-team initiatives, and communicating effectively across a wide range of stakeholders
While it’s not required, it’s an added plus if you also have:
- Experience migrating large codebases to modern build systems (especially Bazel)
- Experience building test frameworks and improving test infrastructure
- Have excellent problem-solving skills, using a systematic and thorough approach grounded in first principles, with a bias for action and a strong focus on impact
- You’re willing to work on grungy problems when they have a high impact on the business or the health of our platform
- Care deeply about the quality of the software and systems you build, with an artisan mentality and a constant drive to improve your craft, while striking the right balance between idealism and pragmatism
- Finally, Figma is a close-knit company with a strong culture that promotes inclusivity and collaboration, taking ambitious goals and having fun doing so. You deeply value these traits and see yourself actively contributing to it
At Figma, one of our values is Grow as you go. We believe in hiring smart, curious people who are excited to learn and develop their skills. If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with the points outlined in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
