Target

Staff Engineer

Target$100K — $130K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of software development experience with distributed systems in the cloud
  • Deep expertise in Golang and familiarity with relational databases
  • Ability to diagnose and resolve performance bottlenecks in systems
  • Proven mentorship skills to guide and grow engineering talent
  • Thrives in autonomous environments with ownership of architecture
  • Pragmatic in balancing architectural needs and business timing
  • Data-driven approach to evaluate engineering performance

Responsibilities

  • Own architecture and technical quality for team-developed applications
  • Drive strategic initiatives for system stability and scalability
  • Influence cross-functional teams on technical direction and solution design
  • Establish domain-wide operational excellence standards
  • Set high bars for engineering quality and conduct design reviews
  • Evaluate and improve engineering processes for team efficiency
  • Architect services with a focus on security from inception
  • Create and maintain high-quality technical documentation

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage
  • 401k plan enrollment options
  • Discretionary vacation for exempt team members
  • Paid holidays and sick leave
  • Eligibility for annual bonuses
  • Potential for restricted stock units based on role
Full Job Description
Impact
As a Staff Engineer on the Core Integrations team at Shipt, you will act as a pivotal technical leader and architect, defining the future of the high-scale systems that power our core enterprise platform and vendor integration ecosystem. You won't just execute a roadmap; you will be instrumental in defining and driving our long-term technical strategy.

Working at the critical intersection of product goals and engineering excellence, you will collaborate with Principal Engineers to ensure our architecture is not only solving today's most complex problems but is fundamentally prepared for the massive scale of the next three years. You will be a technical multiplier who sets the architectural standard for your domain, elevating the entire Core Integrations codebase through rigorous design standards, mentoring, and influencing technical direction across multiple teams.

What You’ll Need to Be Successful

Key Responsibilities

  • Architectural Strategy & Ownership:Own the architecture and technical quality for all applications developed by your team. You will lead the design and evolution of highly available microservices using technologies like Golang, Postgres, Redis, and Kafka, and will be responsible for defining and driving the technical roadmaps for these core services.

  • Systems Scaling & Performance:Drive strategic initiatives to optimize the stability, scalability, and performance of mission-critical systems, ensuring they remain the robust, efficient backbone for Shipt's retail partners.

  • Cross-Functional Influence:Regularly work across and influence Product, Platform, and other engineering teams to align on technical direction, prioritization, and solution design. You will translate complex, multi-team business requirements into elegant and maintainable technical specifications.

  • Operational Standards:Establish the domain-wide standard for operational excellence. Champion sophisticated observability, proactive monitoring, and sustainable on-call rotations, ensuring our shared services maintain maximum robustness and health.

  • Engineering Culture & Quality:Set the highest bar for engineering fundamentals, including test coverage (Unit, Integration, E2E) and code quality. Conduct deep-dive design reviews that foster continuous learning and elevate best practices across the organization.

  • Process & Systems Thinking:Evaluate and evolve engineering processes (CI/CD, RFCs, Post-mortems) to eliminate systemic inefficiencies and improve team velocity without sacrificing quality.

  • Security Stewardship:Architect services with a "Security-first" mindset, scrutinizing third-party libraries and ensuring data protection standards are woven into the initial design phase rather than added as an afterthought.

  • Technical Communication:Create and advocate for high-quality technical documentation, including high-level architecture diagrams and low-level workflow schemas, to ensure system maintainability.

What You Need to be Successful

  • Scale Experience:7+ years of software development experience, specifically building and maintaining complex, highly distributed systems in cloud environments at significant scale.

  • Technical Mastery:Deep expertise in Golang (or similar systems languages) and a sophisticated understanding of relational databases, advanced caching strategies, and message brokers (Kafka).

  • Performance Engineering:A proven ability to diagnose, resolve, and prevent complex bottlenecks in distributed architectures, high-volume services, and database query performance.

  • Strategic Mentorship: You are a dedicated mentor who can grow the careers of those around you, specifically acting as a resource and guide for Senior Engineers, Engineers and Associate Engineers. You teach others how to avoid architectural and coding pitfalls rather than simply fixing them.

  • Autonomous Drive:You thrive in environments with high degrees of freedom, taking full architectural ownership and driving the "Definition of Done" for your services from concept to operation.

  • Pragmatic Approach: You possess the judgment to balance the need for architectural purity with the reality of business delivery, knowing when to build for the long-term future and when to iterate quickly for immediate impact.

  • Analytical Quality: A data-driven approach to engineering; you use metrics to improve test runtimes, code performance, and to define meaningful SLIs/SLOs for your domain.

Skills & Education

This list includes key skills used in this job but is not inclusive of all skills needed for the role. Please see any required education below.

Agile Methodology, Apache Kafka, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Go Programming Language

 

Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience | Required

Work Arrangement

Shipt considers candidates located near a Shipt office or workspace in Birmingham, San Francisco, or Minneapolis to be hybrid, which means that they have the flexibility to work from home (with leader approval) or at a Shipt office in order to facilitate the ability to innovate, collaborate, and spark team connections. In-office expectations will vary by role and leader.  Certain roles may require in-office presence on a full-time basis. Please work with your recruiter to learn more about the classification of this role.

Employees (and eligible family members) are covered by medical, dental, vision and more.  Employees may enroll in our company’s 401k plan. Employees will also be eligible to receive discretionary vacation for exempt team members, paid holidays throughout the calendar year and paid sick leave.  Other compensation includes eligibility for an annual bonus and the potential for restricted stock units based on role.

About Target

Target Careers

Joining Target means more than just securing a job—it's an opportunity to foster a career filled with growth, innovation, and leadership. As one of the most recognized retail brands in the world, Target offers a range of job opportunities that cater to a variety of skills and professional interests. Whether you're looking for your first internship or a significant leadership role, Target provides a platform where your career can flourish.

Work You'll Do

At Target, every team member plays a critical role in driving our mission forward. You'll be part of a culture that values diversity, leadership, and professional growth. Our team is committed to innovation and being at the forefront of the retail industry. From in-store positions to corporate roles, each job at Target is geared towards enhancing our service and organizational success.

Join Our Dynamic Team

Target is not just a company; it's a community where you can build a meaningful career. Our team members enjoy comprehensive benefits that support both their professional and personal lives, including health coverage, educational resources, and exclusive employee discounts. Moreover, Target is dedicated to leadership and diversity training, ensuring that all employees have the opportunity to succeed and lead.

Innovate and Lead

With Target, you're encouraged to innovate and take charge of your career path. Our leadership programs help aspiring managers and executives gain the necessary skills to advance and make impactful decisions. By joining Target, you're stepping into a role that supports growth and leadership through hands-on experience and state-of-the-art training programs.

Explore Job Opportunities

Whether you're refining your resume or preparing for an interview, Target's career resources are designed to help you succeed. Explore a wide range of open positions on our Jobs page, from customer service experts to supply chain specialists. Each position offers a chance to experience Target's unique culture and contribute to our community-focused mission.

Stay Connected

Networking at Target goes beyond the professional sphere—it builds lasting relationships that help propel your career forward. Stay up-to-date with the latest company news, job openings, and industry insights by joining our career network. Personalize your job alerts to match your interests and skills, ensuring you never miss an opportunity to grow with us.

Join Our Team

Search for open positions that align with your skills and interests. At Target, we look for passionate, curious, creative, and solution-driven team players. Ready to start your journey with one of the most innovative retail teams in the industry?

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Learn more about Target
Size
450,000 employees
Market Cap
$66.1 billion
Industry
Net Income
$4.3 billion
Founded
1962
5 Year Trend
+8.6%
Revenue
$93.5 billion
NASDAQ

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