LiveKit
Technology
DistributedSystemsEngineer
Neural analysis suggests this role is
optimal for Senior/Staff candidates.
“Distributed Systems Engineer at LiveKit. Skills: Distributed systems, Core services, Telephony, Observability. Design core systems. Evolve core systems”
Industry & Context.
Tackle tough problems; Diagnose critical paths; Reduce complex systems
What They're Looking For.
Must Have
Experience designing distributed systems, Deliver distributed systems in production, Take ownership end-to-end, Prototype, test, ship, monitor, iterate, Comfortable with consensus, Comfortable with coordination, Comfortable with distributed failure modes, Think in terms of data flow, Think in terms of state, Think in terms of performance, Think in terms of correctness, Reduce complex systems into components, Value clear communication, Value practical engineering, Build systems others enjoy working with
Nice to Have
Go fluency, Hands-on experience with pub/sub, Hands-on experience with RPC, Hands-on experience with coordination systems, Exposure to real-time infrastructure, Exposure to low-latency infrastructure, Shipped observability tooling
What You'll Do.
Design observability systems
Evolve observability systems
Implement region-spanning architectures
Degrade gracefully under failure
Raise developer velocity
Diagnose critical paths
Harden critical paths
Shape platform capabilities
Manage distributed state
How You'll Work.
Team & Collaboration
Small team; Senior team
Communication Scope
Explain complex concepts
Full Job Description
LiveKit is revolutionizing the AI landscape by providing the essential network infrastructure that powers multimodal AI interfaces, enabling seamless audio and visual interactions. Founded in 2021, LiveKit has rapidly grown to support over 3 Billion calls annually, 100,000+ developers globally, and industry giants like OpenAI, Character AI, Spotify, and Meta. ABOUT THIS ROLE: We're looking for a Senior/Staff Engineer to work across some of the most technically demanding parts of LiveKit's platform — core services, telephony, and observability. At LiveKit, the infrastructure is the product — you're not building the layer underneath, you are the layer. You'll work on problems where latency, availability, and operational simplicity are critical, and where the right answer often requires careful tradeoffs and outside-the-box thinking. While distributed systems experience is valuable, we care just as much about strong programming fundamentals, sound judgment, and the ability to learn fast. The team is small. Your decisions ship directly into production. YOU'LL THRIVE AS A DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS ENGINEER IF YOU: - obsess with crafting code that is fast, reliable and practical for the problem - are known as the go-to person for tackling tough technical problems - work hard and can build and ship fast - can clearly explain complex technical concepts to others - are a fast learner, frequently picking up new languages and tools The best way to impress us is with thoughtful Issues and/or PRs on our Github repos 😊 WHAT YOU'LL DO: - Design and evolve the core control, data, and observability systems that power LiveKit Cloud - Implement resilient, region-spanning architectures that degrade gracefully under partial failure - Build libraries, protocols, and tooling that raise reliability and developer velocity across the org - Diagnose and harden critical paths using metrics, tracing, testing, and real-world traffic insights - Shape new platform capabilities across identity, scheduli
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