[All remote jobs](https://jobicy.com/jobs.md)[![Harness logo](https://jobicy.com/data/server-nyc0409/galaxy/mercury/2022/01/3b1ed4078f521827fd4fd3f1ead4e484.jpg)](https://jobicy.com/company/harness.md)[Harness](https://jobicy.com/company/harness.md) # Staff Software Engineer Review the role, location requirements, compensation details, and application process before deciding whether this opportunity fits your next career move. [Apply for this job](#job-application)[View company](https://jobicy.com/company/harness.md)ShareRemote from[USA](https://jobicy.com/job-region/usa.md)SalaryUSD 150k–226k / yrDepartment[Software Engineering](https://jobicy.com/categories/engineering.md)EmploymentFull TimeExperienceSeniorPublished2 Nov 2026Apply before2 Dec 2026Listing views36Application actions2Application toolkit ## Make your next move. Prepare your resume, explore your fit, and draft a cover letter for this opportunity. AI Summary ## The role, at a glance. Harness is hiring a Staff Software Engineer for its Software Engineering Insights product, which ingests SDLC data from developer tools and turns it into actionable engineering metrics. The role focuses on designing, deploying, and maintaining scalable Java backend systems in a distributed, cloud-based environment. The engineer will own critical components, produce technical specifications, review code, troubleshoot production issues, and collaborate closely with SRE and DevOps teams. Candidates need 8–10+ years of Java backend experience, strong distributed-systems knowledge, relational database expertise, and excellent debugging skills. This is a US-remote position with periodic travel and a published annual base-salary range of USD 150,000–226,000. ## Role DNA A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description. ### Job Complexity 5/5EasyHard ### Pace & Pressure 4/5RelaxedFast-paced ### Autonomy Level 5/5GuidedFull ownership ### Communication Load 4/5IndependentCollaborative AI insightThis is a staff-level role requiring ownership of critical distributed backend systems, sound architectural judgment, and effective production troubleshooting. The work combines high-scale Java engineering, data-intensive integrations, quality ownership, and cross-functional delivery in short release cycles. ## Salary analysis Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles. Estimated job median (per year)Market rate$188,000US market range (per year)$165k–$245k0$269.50k AI insightThe yearly pay period is inferred from the job context; it was not explicitly stated by the employer. The employer discloses a USD 150,000–226,000 hiring range. The posting does not explicitly state the cadence, but yearly compensation is inferred from the full-time US staff-engineering context and the magnitude of the published range. Estimated US market compensation for comparable staff-level Java backend roles is approximately USD 165,000–245,000 per year; actual total compensation may also include incentive pay and equity. ## Core skills Skills and capabilities most closely associated with this opportunity. [Java](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Java.md)[Distributed systems](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Distributed%20systems.md)[Backend development](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Backend%20development.md)[System design](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=System%20design.md)[MySQL](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=MySQL.md)[PostgreSQL](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=PostgreSQL.md)[SQL query optimization](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=SQL%20query%20optimization.md)[Cloud computing](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Cloud%20computing.md)[AWS](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=AWS.md)[Docker](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Docker.md)[CI/CD](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=CICD.md)[Production troubleshooting](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Production%20troubleshooting.md)[Code review](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Code%20review.md)[Agile development](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Agile%20development.md)[Elasticsearch](https://jobicy.com/jobs?search_keywords=Elasticsearch.md) Sample interview questionsHow would you design a service that ingests millions of events from tools such as Jira and GitHub while remaining resilient to provider outages?I would use durable asynchronous ingestion with queues or streams, idempotency keys, retry policies with exponential backoff, and a dead-letter path for unrecoverable events. I would isolate provider-specific connectors from normalized event processing, apply rate limiting, and expose metrics for lag, failures, and replay status. This design lets the platform recover safely without duplicating downstream data. Describe how you approach performance tuning for a slow SQL query in a high-traffic backend service. I start by confirming the bottleneck with query plans, latency metrics, and realistic workload data. I evaluate indexes, join order, cardinality estimates, unnecessary scans, and whether the data model or query shape should change. After applying a targeted fix, I benchmark it, validate correctness, and monitor production behavior for regressions. What practices do you use to maintain quality when owning a critical distributed service? I define clear service contracts, failure modes, observability requirements, and operational runbooks early in design. I use thorough reviews, automated tests at multiple levels, staged deployment strategies, and alerts tied to user-impacting indicators. I also ensure the team can diagnose issues through structured logs, traces, dashboards, and documented rollback procedures. How would you handle a production incident involving delayed or missing engineering metrics for customers? I would first assess scope and customer impact using ingestion, processing, and storage telemetry. I would stabilize the system by mitigating the immediate fault, such as pausing a bad consumer, scaling constrained workers, or rolling back a recent change. Then I would validate data integrity, replay affected events where possible, communicate status clearly, and lead a blameless post-incident review with preventive actions. How do you balance staff-level technical leadership with hands-on implementation? I focus on the highest-leverage problems: clarifying architecture, reducing risk, setting quality standards, and unblocking teams. I remain hands-on for complex designs, critical implementation paths, and production investigations, while delegating well-scoped ownership to others. This keeps delivery moving while helping the team develop stronger engineering judgment. Opportunity details ## About this role. Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform company, led by technologist and entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal (founder of AppDynamics, acquired by Cisco for $3.7B). Harness has raised approximately $570M in funding and is valued at $5.5B, backed by leading investors including Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, Citi Ventures, and more. As AI accelerates code creation, the real bottleneck has shifted to everything after the code – testing, deployments, application security, reliability, compliance, and cost optimization. Harness brings AI and automation to this “outer loop,” helping teams ship software faster while maintaining security and governance throughout the entire software delivery lifecycle. Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the Harness Platform applies deep context and intelligent automation across the software delivery lifecycle with governance and policy-driven controls embedded throughout the platform. Over the past year, Harness powered over 185M deployments, 82M builds, 18T flag evaluations, 8M security scans, 9.1B optimized tests, 3T protected API calls, and helped manage $2.8B in cloud spend — enabling customers like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels to accelerate releases by up to 75%, reduce cloud costs by up to 60%, and achieve 10x DevOps efficiency. With a global team across 26 offices and 27 countries, Harness is shaping the future of AI software delivery — and we’re looking for exceptional talent to help us move even faster. ### Position Summary Harness [Software Engineering Insights (SEI)](https://www.harness.io/products/software-engineering-insights) is where engineering meets engineering intelligence. As part of this team, you’ll work on a deeply technical product that connects to 40+ developer tools like Jira and GitHub, processes millions of events, and turns raw SDLC data into actionable metrics. This is a product that engineers build for engineers, where you’ll see your work directly impact how thousands of developers build software. Expect challenges in data modeling, systems design, developer UX, and secure cloud integrations — all to help engineers and leaders build faster, better, and smarter. ### About The Role * Design, develop, deploy and maintain critical software in a fast-paced quality conscious Java environment. * Author software functional specifications and design documents for features developed. * Quickly understand complex systems/code and own key pieces of the system, including the delivered quality * Work in an agile environment, using iterative development cycles and a short customer feedback loop * Design and implementation of scalable backend software solutions * Diagnose and troubleshoot complex problems in a distributed computing environment. * Perform peer reviews of specifications, design, and code * Quickly understand complex systems/code and own key pieces of the system, including the delivered quality * Work alongside Site Reliability Engineers/DevOps and cross functional teams to deploy software or diagnose/troubleshoot any production related issues ### About You * 8-10+ years of experience developing highly scalable, distributed applications, products, and backend services using Java * A desire to build products that solve complex technical problems for end users * Experience with relational databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL * Experience with SQL query tuning, performance optimizations is a plus * Experience with search frameworks like Elasticsearch, SOLR is a plus * Experience with applications hosted on AWS/Azure/GCP is a plus * Familiarity with Docker and CI/CD processes is a plus * Deep understanding of how distributed resilient software is built and deployed * Excellent problem solving and debugging skills * Experience working in short release cycles Ready to Build Something Engineers Love. This is your chance to shape the systems that shape how software gets built. Join Harness today! ### Work Location Bay Area or Remote in the U.S. with periodic travel required ### What You Will Have At Harness * Competitive salary * Comprehensive healthcare benefits * Flexible Spending Account (FSA) * Employee Assistance Program (EAP) * Flexible Time Off and Parental Leave * Quarterly Harness TGIF-Off / 4 days * Monthly, quarterly, and annual social and team-building events * Recharge & Reset Program * Monthly internet reimbursement * Commuter benefits Factors that may be used to determine your actual pay rate include your specific skills, experience, qualifications, location, and comparison to other employees already in this role. In addition to the base salary, certain roles may qualify for a performance-based incentive and/or equity, with eligibility depending on the position. These rewards are based on a combination of company performance and individual achievements.The Hiring Range For This Position Is $150,000 – $226,000. A valid authorization to work in the U.S. is required Pay transparency $150,000—$226,000 USD ### Harness in the news: * [Accelerating Our Mission to Bring AI to Everything After Code](https://www.harness.io/blog/240m-financing-to-bring-ai-to-everything-after-code) * [Goldman Sachs leads investment in software delivery startup Harness at $5.5 billion valuation](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/11/harness-is-worth-5point5-billion-in-round-led-by-goldman-sachs.html) * [How Harness runs 16 “startups within a startup” at scale | Jyoti Bansal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvOYXKAyAqs) * [Harness Research Shows AI Visibility Crisis Fueling Security Nightmare](https://www.digit.fyi/ai-visibility-crisis-fuelling-security-nightmare/) * [Harness has been named to the Inc. Power Partner list for software delivery success](https://www.harness.io/blog/we-made-inc-s-2025-power-partners-list-again---heres-why-it-matters) All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex or national origin. At Harness, we care about your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal data. For additional information on this topic, you can visit our privacy Portal: [https://harness-privacy.relyance.ai/](https://harness-privacy.relyance.ai/) Note on Fraudulent Recruiting/Offers We have become aware that there may be fraudulent recruiting attempts being made by people posing as representatives of Harness. These scams may involve fake job postings, unsolicited emails, or messages claiming to be from our recruiters or hiring managers. Please note, we do not ask for sensitive or financial information via chat, text, or social media, and any email communications will come from the domain @harness.io. Additionally, Harness will never ask for any payment, fee to be paid, or purchases to be made by a job applicant. All applicants are encouraged to apply directly to our open jobs via our website. Interviews are generally conducted via Zoom video conference unless the candidate requests other accommodations. If you believe that you have been the target of an interview/offer scam by someone posing as a representative of Harness, please do not provide any personal or financial information and contact us immediately at [security@harness.io](mailto:security@harness.io). You can also find additional information about this type of scam and report any fraudulent employment offers via the Federal Trade Commission’s website ([https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams)](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams)), or you can contact your local law enforcement agency. 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