Staff Infrastructure Software Engineer, Search Platform
Dropbox
Dropbox is a Virtual First company. For this role, we are hiring in Zones 2 and 3. Please refer to our Compensation section below to see what neighborhoods fall under each Zone.
Company Description
Dropbox isn’t just a workplace—it’s a living lab for more enlightened ways of working. We're a global community of more than 2,000 bold visionaries and resourceful doers who are shaping the future of Dropbox—and with it the future of work. Our Virtual First model combines the flexibility of a distributed workplace with the power of human connection, making space for both meaningful work and meaningful relationships. With our start-up mindset and enterprise-level opportunities, you can be who you are and grow into who you’re meant to be. Here, you can own your impact to make work more intuitive, joyful, and human—for you as a Dropboxer and for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If you're ready to push boundaries—and yourself— Dropbox is ready for you.
Team Description
The Dropbox Engineering Team builds the technology that creates more enlightened ways of working for hundreds of millions of people. Every day, our platforms—including Dropbox Dash, Dropbox Sign, and our core sync engine—handle over a billion files for users worldwide, creating engineering challenges as great as the opportunity for impact. Our software engineering team uses a range of technologies to solve interesting problems, including Python, React, Node.js, JavaScript, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Android development. We think like a startup but build for an enterprise, exploring new possibilities that transform how people work. If you're excited about turning complex technical challenges into intuitive solutions at scale, join our Engineering team. Areas of work include Machine Learning Engineers, Infrastructure Engineer, Product SWE Frontend and Backend, Mobile Software Engineers (iOS and Android), Engineering Manager, Data Engineer, Software Development Engineer in Test, Security Engineering, Site Reliability Engineer, Technical Program Managers, Network Engineer, Datacenter Engineer, Technical Supply Chain Manager and more.
Role Description
- Define the Future of Search & AI Retrieval – You’ll be at the forefront of AI-driven search innovation, architecting a system from scratch that will power AI agents and intelligent assistants.
- Work on Cutting-Edge Infra & ML – Gain deep exposure to search infrastructure, RAG pipelines, and AI-powered knowledge retrieval.
- Massive Scale & Impact – Build a search platform handling trillions of documents, used by millions of users worldwide.
- Collaborative, High-Growth Team – Join a team where ownership, innovation, and impact are at the core of what we do.
Responsibilities
- Architect and Build Search from the Ground Up – Design and implement a highly scalable, AI-powered search and retrieval platform to support both traditional search and RAG-powered AI workflows.
- Unify Search & AI Retrieval – Develop a single, cohesive search system that integrates with AI agents, copilots, and automated workflows, enabling intelligent search experiences.
- Optimize Indexing & Query Execution – Scale high-performance indexing pipelines to handle trillions of documents while optimizing for latency, cost-efficiency, and relevance.
- Power AI Agents & RAG Pipelines – Build real-time retrieval infrastructure that enables AI assistants to dynamically fetch, synthesize, and generate insights from structured and unstructured data.
- Enhance ML-Driven Ranking & Relevance – Implement hybrid retrieval models (keyword, semantic, and structured queries), and embeddings-based search for AI interactions.
- Scale Search & Retrieval for AI – Ensure global scalability, and multi-language support, adapting search experiences for diverse user needs.
Requirements
- 10+ years of professional software development experience as well as 5+ years of experience building and operating large-scale search platforms.
- Expertise in search engine architecture, distributed indexing, retrieval models, and ranking optimization.
- Proficiency in lexical search, vector search, embeddings-based retrieval, and hybrid search techniques.
- Strong experience with Elasticsearch, OpenSearch, or custom search infrastructure.
- Solid programming skills in Python, Go, C++, or Java, with distributed systems experience.
- Familiarity with LLMs, AI-powered retrieval, and RAG pipelines is a plus.
Preferred Qualifications
- Capable of articulating, conceptualizing, and defining comprehensive strategies
- Exhibits a very high standard of technical judgement, innovation and execution to tackle open-ended problems that require difficult prioritization.
- Proficiency in defining both objectives and the methodologies for achieving them.
Compensation
US Zone 1
This role is not available in Zone 1
The range(s) listed above is the expected annual salary/OTE (On-Target Earnings) for this role, subject to change.
Please note, OTE are for sales roles only.
Salary/OTE is just one component of Dropbox’s total rewards package. All regular employees are also eligible for the corporate bonus program or a sales incentive (target included in OTE) as well as stock in the form of Restricted Stock Units (RSUs).
Dropbox takes a number of factors into account when determining individual starting pay, including job and level they are hired into, location/metropolitan area, skillset, and peer compensation. We target most new hire offers between the minimum up to the middle of the range.
Dropbox uses the zip code of an employee’s remote work location to determine which metropolitan pay range we use. Current US Zone locations are as follows:
• US Zone 1: San Francisco metro, New York City metro, or Seattle metro
• US Zone 2: Austin (TX) metro, Chicago metro, California (outside SF metro), Colorado, Connecticut (outside NYC metro), Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York (outside NYC metro), Oregon, Pennsylvania (outside NYC or DC metro), Washington DC metro, and West Virginia (DC metro)
• US Zone 3: All other US locations
Benefits
Dropbox is committed to investing in the holistic health and wellbeing of all Dropboxers and their families. Our benefits and perks programs include, but are not limited to:
- Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage
- 401(k) plan with a generous company match and immediate vesting
- Flexible PTO/Paid Time Off, paid holidays, Volunteer Time Off, and more, allowing you time to unplug, unwind, and refresh
- Income Protection Plans: Life and disability insurance
- Business Travel Protection: Travel medical and accident insurance
- Perks Allowance to be used on what matters most to you, whether that’s wellness, learning and development, food and groceries, and much more
- Parental benefits including: Parental Leave, Child and Adult Care, Day Care FSA, Fertility Benefits, Adoption and Surrogacy Support, and Lactation Support
- Access to over 10,000 global co-working spaces through Gable.to, making it easy to book flexible workspaces for collaboration or individual work
- Quarterly Cell phone and internet allowance
- Mental health and wellness benefits
- Disability and neurodivergence support benefits
Additional benefit details are available upon request.