Staff Software Engineer

GitHub is the world’s leading platform for agentic software development, and they are seeking a Staff Software Engineer for their GraphQL Platform Team. The role involves leading the architecture and evolution of GitHub’s federated GraphQL platform, collaborating with various teams to enhance API access and scalability.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of GitHub’s federated GraphQL platform at global scale
• Drive the technical roadmap for GraphQL Federation adoption in collaboration with partner teams
• Design and build core federation infrastructure, including gateways, schema composition, and query planning
• Solve complex, cross‑team technical challenges that span multiple systems and services
• Develop shared GraphQL tooling, libraries, and abstractions that lower friction for engineering teams
• Set and uphold high standards for schema design, reliability, performance, and operational excellence
• Monitor platform health and proactively address reliability, scalability, and performance risks
• Mentor engineers and influence technical excellence across GitHub
• Communicate technical strategy and trade‑offs clearly to engineering leadership
• Participate in on‑call rotations to ensure platform availability and health

Requirements:

• 9+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Associate's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 7+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Doctorate in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR equivalent experience
• 10+ years of experience building and operating high‑scale web or platform systems
• Deep experience designing, building, and scaling GraphQL APIs, including federation
• Hands‑on experience with GraphQL Federation infrastructure (routers, schema composition, gateways)
• Strong background in performance optimization, monitoring, and reliability at scale
• Experience with cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes, containerization, and CI/CD automation
• Proficiency in Go and/or Ruby, with experience setting technical standards across teams