Your RoleThe Online Storage team is a foundational infrastructure team within Zip's Engineering organization. We own and operate the core storage, search, and permissions infrastructure that powers everything Zip's product teams build-spanning relational databases (Aurora RDS), caching layers (Elasticache, MemoryDB), DynamoDB, S3, OpenSearch, and the permissions framework that ensures every user sees exactly the data they're authorized to see.
As a Senior Software Engineer and Site Tech Lead, you will be the senior technical voice in Toronto for both the Storage and Search domains. You will partner closely with Online Storage leadership in San Francisco, drive technical execution across the Toronto cohort, and play a hands-on role in re-architecting foundational systems to support Zip's global expansion. Your technical leadership will raise the bar for the engineers around you while directly shipping work that enables Zip to serve enterprise customers across multiple continents.
You Will- Serve as the site tech lead for the Online Storage team in Toronto, providing technical direction and day-to-day guidance to engineers across the Storage and Search domains.
- Evolve Zip's search infrastructure-including OpenSearch, search APIs, and Global Search-from a fragmented set of systems toward a unified, intelligent, and measurable search platform.
- Evolve Zip's core storage stack-Aurora RDS, Elasticache, MemoryDB, DynamoDB, and S3-to support multi-region, multi-cell architectures as Zip expands across the US and EU.
- Drive complete cell isolation: eliminate cross-cell database and search connections so that a failure in one cell cannot cascade to another.
- Mature disaster recovery posture across every stateful system, validating RTO and RPO targets through practiced fire drills rather than aspirational documentation.
- Improve the performance and debuggability of Zip's data layer, giving engineers across the org clear tooling to diagnose and resolve regressions quickly.
- Collaborate with the SF-based Online Storage team and product engineering teams to design new features and architectural patterns that better support Zip's scale and enterprise requirements.
- Act as a technical mentor and role model for engineers on the Toronto team, fostering growth and maintaining a high quality bar for all technical outcomes.
Your Qualifications- 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time spent on platform or infrastructure teams.
- Deep, hands-on experience with large-scale distributed storage systems-relational databases, caching layers, and cloud-managed storage (Aurora RDS, Redis/Elasticache, DynamoDB, S3, or equivalents).
- Proven experience designing or operating search infrastructure (OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, or similar) at scale, including relevance tuning, index architecture, and freshness considerations.
- Track record of delivering large, complex infrastructure projects end-to-end with high quality and clear communication to stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to provide technical leadership to other engineers-through design reviews, mentorship, and setting standards-whether or not you have held a formal management role.
Nice to Haves- Experience with multi-region or multi-cell architectures and the challenges of data residency and routing.
- Familiarity with data access layer patterns (ORM, Ent/TAO, or similar) and the intersection of the access layer with underlying storage performance.
- Experience implementing or improving disaster recovery processes, including fire drills and RTO/RPO validation.
- Comfort operating across multiple time zones with distributed partner teams.
The salary range for this role is $140,000 - $230,000. The salary for this position is determined based on a variety of job-related factors that may include location, relevant experience, education, or particular skills and expertise.
Perks & BenefitsAt Zip, we're committed to providing our employees with everything they need to do their best work.
- Start-up equity
- 🦷 100% health, vision & dental coverage options
- Catered breakfast, lunch, & dinner
- Flexible PTO
- 🏋 ClassPass membership
- 🚍 Monthly commuter benefit
- 🚠 Team building events & happy hours
- Home office stipend
- 🛜 Phone/internet reimbursement
- Hybrid model + 5 flexible remote days per quarter
- Paid parental leave
- Fertility benefits
- 🧒🧒 Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Unlimited AI token usage
