Staff Software Engineer, iOS

Snap Inc is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate. Snap contributes to human progress by empowering people to express themselves, live in the moment, learn about the world, and have fun together.

The Company operates Snapchat, a visual messaging app that enhances your relationships with friends, family, and the world, and Specs Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary dedicated to making computing more human, in addition to Bitmoji, Saturn, and other digital services.

Snap Inc. is a technology company. We believe the camera presents the greatest opportunity to improve the way people live and communicate.

Our three core products are Snapchat, a visual messaging app that strengthens relationships with friends, family, and the world; Lens Studio, an augmented reality platform that powers AR experiences across Snapchat and other services; and Spectacles, our AR glasses.

Snap Engineering builds technically sophisticated products used by hundreds of millions of Snapchatters around the world every day. We move quickly, operate with precision, and build with privacy at the forefront.

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer, iOS to help shape the architecture and performance of Snapchat’s Camera.

What you’ll do

• Own and evolve critical parts of Snapchat’s Camera architecture and iOS platform.
• Design and build high-performance, reliable systems operating under tight latency, memory, power, and stability constraints.
• Set technical direction for complex initiatives spanning application architecture, rendering, concurrency, performance, and platform infrastructure.
• Lead technically ambiguous projects from early exploration through architecture, implementation, launch, and long-term operation.
• Make thoughtful tradeoffs across performance, product experience, maintainability, reliability, and engineering velocity.
• Partner closely with Product, Design, and Engineering teams to shape both product and technical direction.
• Raise the engineering bar through architecture reviews, code reviews, mentorship, and improvements to engineering practices.
• Identify systemic technical challenges and drive solutions that improve Snapchat’s performance, reliability, and developer velocity.
• Use modern development and AI-assisted engineering tools thoughtfully while maintaining a high bar for correctness, security, performance, and production quality.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Deep expertise building and optimizing complex iOS applications.
• Strong understanding of iOS internals, application lifecycle, concurrency, memory management, and performance.
• Strong knowledge of Objective-C, including the Objective-C runtime and behavior beneath common framework abstractions.
• Strong computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, concurrency, and software architecture.
• Ability to design maintainable systems and make sound architectural decisions within large, mature codebases.
• Experience solving problems involving latency, CPU/GPU performance, memory, power efficiency, or application stability.
• Ability to lead technical direction, navigate ambiguity, and influence engineers and stakeholders beyond your immediate area of ownership.
• Strong technical judgment and ability to mentor experienced engineers and raise engineering standards across a team or domain.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 9+ years of software development experience with a Bachelor’s degree; 8+ years with a Master’s degree; or 5+ years with a PhD.
• Significant experience building production iOS applications.
• Demonstrated technical leadership, including ownership of complex systems or serving as a technical authority for a team or engineering domain.

Preferred Qualifications

• Deep experience with Objective-C and iOS.
• Experience with Swift.
• Experience with C/C++ and interoperability across language boundaries.
• Experience with graphics or real-time systems using Metal, OpenGL, or similar technologies.
• Experience optimizing applications for latency, memory, CPU/GPU utilization, power efficiency, and stability.
• Experience leading architecture or technical initiatives across multiple engineers or teams.

If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please don’t be shy and provide us some information.

"Default Together" Policy at Snap: At Snap Inc. we believe that being together in person helps us build our culture faster, reinforce our values, and serve our community, customers and partners better through dynamic collaboration. To reflect this, we practice a “default together” approach and expect our team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. 

At Snap, we believe that having a team of diverse backgrounds and voices working together will enable us to create innovative products that improve the way people live and communicate. Snap is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws. EOE, including disability/vets.

Our Benefits: Snap Inc. is its own community, so we’ve got your back! We do our best to make sure you and your loved ones have everything you need to be happy and healthy, on your own terms. Our benefits are built around your needs and include paid parental leave, comprehensive medical coverage, emotional and mental health support programs, and compensation packages that let you share in Snap’s long-term success!