Strategic Overview
Senior Software Engineer, Capacity & Efficiency at Robinhood is a dev opportunity centered on the specialist responsibilities and outcomes described in the employer's listing.
The published role emphasizes work such as Build forecast-driven capacity planning for the storage and database fleet, turning traffic history, load tests, and known events (market open, earnings, IPOs, promotions) into plans that scale up ahead and back down after, with an expiry on every temporary….
The role is listed for Bellevue, WA with the working arrangement published with the role, giving candidates the practical context needed to assess fit before applying.
Key information at a glance
About This Role
We are building an elite team, applying frontier technologies to the world's biggest financial problems. We're looking for bold thinkers. Sharp problem-solvers. Builders who are wired to make an impact. Robinhood isn't a place for complacency, it's where ambitious people do the best work of their careers. We're a high-performing, fast-moving team with ethics at the center of everything we do. Expectations are high,…
The Capacity & Efficiency Engineering team builds the software that manages, governs, and reduces Robinhood's AWS cloud spend across compute, databases, and storage, operating at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, data engineering, and FinOps. We own the full lifecycle of cloud cost, from attribution and forecasting to automation that rightsizes infrastructure at fleet scale and keeps a bursty,…
As a Senior Software Engineer on the team, you will own capacity and efficiency for Robinhood's storage and database fleet, from Aurora clusters to S3 and the caches and volumes in between. You will build the systems that size this fleet to demand: Aurora reader counts and writer sizes set from market hours, declared events, and live load instead of fixed schedules; databases, caches, and volumes rightsized to what…
Key Responsibilities & Objectives
- Build forecast-driven capacity planning for the storage and database fleet, turning traffic history, load tests, and known events (market open, earnings, IPOs, promotions) into plans that scale up ahead and back down after, with an expiry on every temporary capacity hold
- Design and build a capacity planner for Aurora that sets reader counts and writer instance sizes from demand and load signals (IOPS, CPU, connections, replica lag), replacing fixed scaling schedules
- Rightsize databases, caches, and block storage (RDS, ElastiCache, DynamoDB, EBS) on instance size, provisioned IOPS and throughput, and idle capacity, and keep them right-sized as load changes
- Own S3 efficiency at scale: storage class and Intelligent-Tiering strategy, lifecycle and retention policies, noncurrent versions and incomplete uploads, and request costs, using Storage Lens and inventory data
Required Qualifications & Candidate Blueprint
- Deep hands-on experience operating AWS storage and databases at scale, especially Aurora or RDS (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and S3, including replication, read scaling, storage classes, and lifecycle management
- A track record of rightsizing infrastructure from utilization data (CPU, memory, IOPS, throughput, bytes stored) without hurting latency or availability
- Familiarity with AWS storage and database pricing (S3 storage classes and requests, Aurora I/O-Optimized vs. Standard, Reserved Instances) is a strong plus
Salary & Benefits
Published compensation: Zone 1 (Menlo Park, CA; New York, NY; Bellevue, WA; Washington, DC): $196,000 – $230,000 USD · Zone 2 (Denver, CO; Westlake, TX; Chicago, IL): $172,000 – $202,000 USD · Zone 3 (Lake Mary, FL; Clearwater, FL; Gainesville, FL): $153,000 – $179,000 USD
- Performance-driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, equity ownership, and 401(k) matching.
- Best-in-class benefits to fuel your work, including 100% paid health insurance for employees with 90% coverage for dependents.
- Lifestyle wallet — a highly flexible benefits spending account for wellness, learning, and more.
- Employer-paid life & disability insurance, fertility benefits, and mental health benefits.
- Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, parental leave, and more!
Salary Benchmark
This role’s published compensation is compared with current employer-disclosed salary ranges for the same role at the Senior level in the same currency.
Benchmark uses active employer job postings in our database and excludes this listing. It is not a third-party salary estimate, and currencies are not converted.
Full Job Description
The following is the complete job description supplied by the source. We sanitize unsafe markup and remove external links, but do not shorten or rewrite the employer's source content.
Join us in building the future of finance.
Our mission is to democratize finance for all. An estimated $124 trillion of assets will be inherited by younger generations in the next two decades. The largest transfer of wealth in human history. If you’re ready to be at the epicenter of this historic cultural and financial shift, keep reading.
About the team + role
We are building an elite team, applying frontier technologies to the world's biggest financial problems. We're looking for bold thinkers. Sharp problem-solvers. Builders who are wired to make an impact. Robinhood isn't a place for complacency, it's where ambitious people do the best work of their careers. We're a high-performing, fast-moving team with ethics at the center of everything we do. Expectations are high, and so are the rewards.
The Capacity & Efficiency Engineering team builds the software that manages, governs, and reduces Robinhood's AWS cloud spend across compute, databases, and storage, operating at the intersection of cloud infrastructure, data engineering, and FinOps. We own the full lifecycle of cloud cost, from attribution and forecasting to automation that rightsizes infrastructure at fleet scale and keeps a bursty, latency-sensitive trading platform both reliable and cost-effective. Our work carries CEO-level visibility, has already driven millions of dollars in annualized savings, and is delivered in close partnership with Infrastructure, Finance, and product engineering teams across Robinhood.
As a Senior Software Engineer on the team, you will own capacity and efficiency for Robinhood's storage and database fleet, from Aurora clusters to S3 and the caches and volumes in between. You will build the systems that size this fleet to demand: Aurora reader counts and writer sizes set from market hours, declared events, and live load instead of fixed schedules; databases, caches, and volumes rightsized to what they actually use; and S3 data kept in the right storage class, with lifecycle rules that keep growth in check. You will take each from recommendations the Storage team validates to automation that safely applies its own changes in production. This is a 0-to-1 build with measurable impact on reliability at market peaks and on the AWS bill.
This role is based in our Bellevue, WA office, with in-person attendance expected at least 3 days per week.
At Robinhood, we believe in the power of in-person work to accelerate progress, spark innovation, and strengthen community. Our office experience is intentional, energizing, and designed to fully support high-performing teams.
What you’ll do
- Build forecast-driven capacity planning for the storage and database fleet, turning traffic history, load tests, and known events (market open, earnings, IPOs, promotions) into plans that scale up ahead and back down after, with an expiry on every temporary capacity hold
- Design and build a capacity planner for Aurora that sets reader counts and writer instance sizes from demand and load signals (IOPS, CPU, connections, replica lag), replacing fixed scaling schedules
- Rightsize databases, caches, and block storage (RDS, ElastiCache, DynamoDB, EBS) on instance size, provisioned IOPS and throughput, and idle capacity, and keep them right-sized as load changes
- Own S3 efficiency at scale: storage class and Intelligent-Tiering strategy, lifecycle and retention policies, noncurrent versions and incomplete uploads, and request costs, using Storage Lens and inventory data
- Take every recommendation to closed-loop automation with guardrails, progressive rollout, and rollback, in partnership with the Storage infrastructure team, handling constraints such as AWS capacity shortages, fallback instance types, and connection pooling
- Measure outcomes in cost and reliability (savings against baseline, forecast error, utilization, capacity left behind after events) and share our forecasts with the pod rightsizing system so compute and storage scale together
What you bring
- Deep hands-on experience operating AWS storage and databases at scale, especially Aurora or RDS (MySQL or PostgreSQL) and S3, including replication, read scaling, storage classes, and lifecycle management
- Capacity planning and forecasting experience: modeling time-series demand, load testing, and translating traffic into instance counts, sizes, and storage growth
- A track record of rightsizing infrastructure from utilization data (CPU, memory, IOPS, throughput, bytes stored) without hurting latency or availability
- Strong Python or Go engineering, with experience building automation that safely modifies production infrastructure (guardrails, progressive rollout, and rollback built in), not just systems that observe and report
- Familiarity with AWS storage and database pricing (S3 storage classes and requests, Aurora I/O-Optimized vs. Standard, Reserved Instances) is a strong plus
- Experience with bursty, event-driven workloads (trading, payments, ticketing) or with Spark, Airflow, or Kubernetes is a plus
What we offer
- Challenging, high-impact work to grow your career.
- Performance-driven compensation with multipliers for outsized impact, bonus programs, equity ownership, and 401(k) matching.
- Best-in-class benefits to fuel your work, including 100% paid health insurance for employees with 90% coverage for dependents.
- Lifestyle wallet — a highly flexible benefits spending account for wellness, learning, and more.
- Employer-paid life & disability insurance, fertility benefits, and mental health benefits.
- Time off to recharge including company holidays, paid time off, sick time, parental leave, and more!
- Exceptional office experience with catered meals, events, and comfortable workspaces.
In addition to the base pay range listed below, this role is also eligible for bonus opportunities + equity + benefits.
Base pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. The expected base pay range for this role is based on the location where the work will be performed and is aligned to one of 3 compensation zones. For other locations not listed, compensation can be discussed with your recruiter during the interview process.
Base Pay Range:
In addition to the base pay range listed below, this role is also eligible for bonus opportunities + equity + benefits.
Base pay for the successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include education, training, experience, location, business needs, or market demands. The expected base pay range for this role is based on the location where the work will be performed. For other locations not listed, compensation can be discussed with your recruiter during the interview process.
Base Pay Range:
Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards, which vary by region and entity.
If our mission energizes you and you’re ready to build the future of finance, we look forward to seeing your application.
AI Usage Disclosure: Robinhood uses artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of our recruiting process. These tools enhance the efficiency and consistency of our hiring process; however, all hiring decisions are made by our hiring teams.
Robinhood provides equal opportunity for all applicants, offers reasonable accommodations upon request, and complies with applicable equal employment and privacy laws. Inclusion is built into how we hire and work—welcoming different backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences so everyone can do their best. Please review the Privacy Policy for your country of application.
Editor’s Market Perspective (Our Custom Analysis)
Why This Position Matters
This dev opening is a useful opportunity for candidates whose experience matches the role-specific capabilities named in the listing. Its strongest career signal is the scope of the work itself — particularly Build forecast-driven capacity planning for the storage and database fleet, turning traffic history, load tests, and known events (market open, earnings, IPOs, promotions) into plans that scale up ahead and back down… — rather than a generic title alone.
Resume & Application Strategy
For the application, mirror the employer's language where it truthfully matches your background: foreground the role-specific capabilities named in the listing, quantify outcomes from comparable work, and place the most relevant experience near the top of the resume. If the listing specifies tools, platforms, leadership scope, or domain experience, use those exact terms in context instead of presenting an unrelated keyword list.
We organize source-provided information into this independent job-seeker overview. Compensation is shown only when the source provides it; the official listing remains the authority for current requirements and application instructions.