Staff Software Engineer, Search Platform

Staff Software Engineer, Search Platform

Join to apply for the Staff Software Engineer, Search Platform role at eBay

At eBay, we\’re more than a global e‑commerce leader — we’re changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world. We’re committed to pushing boundaries and leaving our mark as we reinvent the future of e‑commerce for enthusiasts. Our customers are our compass, authenticity thrives, bold ideas are welcome, and everyone can bring their unique selves to work — every day. We’re in this together, sustaining the future of our customers, our company, and our planet. Join a team of passionate thinkers, innovators, and dreamers — and help us connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.

Cassini is eBay’s AI search platform that powers most of eBay’s applications, from the search results page, recommendations on view item pages, to Ads serving and AI chatbot. Those applications are configured by different teams inside eBay as Cassini query workflows that use the different state‑of‑the‑art capabilities of our system: efficient sparse and dense retrieval, machine‑learned ranking, real‑time inference, configurable federation, and workflow execution with automatic dependency fetching. We serve several billion requests per day and host multiple billion documents in our production system. The mission of the search platform team is to help the different eBay product teams to create relevant, scalable, and magical experiences that are powered by AI.

We Do This By

• Adding new functionality to the platform
• Optimizing cost‑to‑serve and latency on a platform level or optimizing via consultation on the application level
• Improving self‑serve and monitoring capabilities

General platform optimizations are usually achieved by developing or using advanced data structures and algorithms, while application‑level optimizations are mostly rooted in a deep understanding of designing information retrieval systems. The core components of Cassini are written in modern C++, and we use parallel and distributed computation to power query serving. If you have a background in those areas and like to contribute to achieving our mission, please come join us!

What You Will Accomplish

• Understand, estimate, design, and develop sophisticated software applications in C++
• Deliver highly performing, low latency, robust code with high test coverage, continuous integration, and production monitoring
• Participate in code and design reviews
• Optimize development cycles through CI/CD enhancements and AI‑driven tools
• Triage and debug production issues
• Share your knowledge with team members via documentation and mentoring

What You Will Bring

• Bachelor\’s or Master\’s Degree in Computer Science or a closely related field, accompanied by 5 years of proven experience, or equivalent experience in place of the degree
• Solid foundational knowledge and practical application experience in the field of Information Retrieval
• Deep, demonstrable expertise using modern C++ standards (C++17/20 or later) for high‑performance computing
• Expertise in building scalable, distributed systems
• Strong intellectual curiosity and a tenacious drive to own and successfully solve ambiguous, difficult technical challenges
• Experience designing, instrumenting, and maintaining systems in a production environment (observability, alerting, monitoring, etc.)

Please see the Talent Privacy Notice for information regarding how eBay handles your personal data collected when you use the eBay Careers website or apply for a job with eBay.

eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at talent@ebay.com. We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay’s commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities.

Seniority level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment type

Full‑time

Job function

Engineering and Information Technology

Industries

Technology, Information and Internet

Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at eBay by 2x