Senior Staff Software Engineer (Agent Workspace)

Job Description

Zendesk is looking for a Senior Staff Software Engineer to work on highly scalable technical challenges and based in our APAC site in Pune!

About the team:

As a Senior Staff Engineer, you will be a technical leader within the organization that builds the Zendesk Agent Workspace. Agent Workspace enables Zendesk Support agents to work seamlessly across Zendesk channels, all within a single ticket interface. It is a critical piece of how customers use Zendesk Support, the most important part of the overall product user experience, and fundamentally what makes our customers successful. 

We need you to be motivated by pursuing highly impactful and visible work on powerful, enterprise-grade software with all its scale and challenges. This requires a delicate balance of passion for excellence, problem-solving, collaboration coupled with a willingness to learn and iterate. Senior Staff Engineers are expected to be hands-on technologists who could contribute to application development directly, lead the design and implementation of projects, and be involved in defining technical roadmap and strategies for the product area beyond their primary teams. You will be considered a leader of teams, responsible for growing technical leadership within multiple teams, and guiding the future direction of our software architecture.

What you get to do every day:

• Lead the design, development, and maintenance of complex, scalable, high-performance front-end applications, defining and implementing cutting-edge front-end architecture and development best practices.

• Drive key technology decisions and ensure alignment with overall business and product strategies, collaborating closely with product managers, UX/UI designers, and backend engineers to understand requirements and deliver high-quality, A11y compliant solutions.

• Mentor and guide engineers & tech leads, fostering a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence. In order to promote  a culture of accountability and transparency in project deliverables and timelines.

• Lead by example: Conduct and participate in thorough design and code reviews to maintain high development standards, ensuring the code is clean, efficient, and maintainable.

• Optimize application performance to ensure fast and responsive user experiences across a variety of platforms, troubleshooting, diagnosing, and resolving complex technical issues promptly.

• Identify and lead opportunities for innovation and improvement in our products and processes, proactively contributing to prototyping and developing new features, standards, and tools that add value to our products.

• Communicate effectively with business owners and other stakeholders to understand business needs and translate them into technical requirements, working collaboratively with cross-functional teams to ensure continuous delivery of value to our customers.

• Actively participate in strategic planning and roadmapping sessions, providing technical insights and aligning technical goals with business objectives.

• Stay updated with the latest industry trends, front-end technologies, and best practices to ensure continuous improvement and innovation.

What you bring to the role:

• 12+ years of industry experience with at least 8+ years in front-end software development in a SaaS company or a product development organization

• Proven track record of delivering large-scale, high-quality, and secure web applications.

• Experience in leading architectural decision-making processes and mentoring a team.

• Very strong proficiency in JavaScript, Typescript, HTML5, CSS3, and modern front-end frameworks (such as React, Angular, or Vue.js).

• Deep understanding of cross-browser compatibility issues, responsive design, web architecture.

• Some experience developing and integrating GraphQL services into frontend applications.

• Experience of utilizing performance optimization techniques and tools.

• A quality, balanced approach to development and testing, including TDD where appropriate.

• Exceptional problem-solving abilities and attention to detail.

• Strong communication skills, both written and verbal - you’ll be collaborating closely with people in multiple time zones.

• Ability to work independently and in a team, with a proactive approach to improving processes and outcomes.

Nice to have:

• An understanding of or experience with modern devops tooling - Docker and Kubernetes.

• Awareness and experience on Basic bash scripting.

Tech Stack

In Zendesk, you will come across code bases in JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, Ruby. Additionally, you are encouraged to be proficient in quality and deployment processes. Lastly, good operational knowledge of GraphQL systems at scale would be an advantage.

About Zendesk’s Product Development Center of Excellence in Pune

Zendesk is in the exciting early stages of establishing a Product Development Center of Excellence in Pune. This center is being developed through a BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) model, allowing us to gradually build and scale our operations with a current mix of BOT workers and full-time employees (FTEs). Our vision is to create a vibrant, innovative hub where all team members will eventually transition into FTE roles.

As an early hire, you will have a unique opportunity to be a pivotal part of this journey. You’ll play a key role in shaping the culture, processes, and success of our Pune site, contributing directly to the growth and maturity of our Product Development Center of Excellence. Your expertise and insights will help lay the foundation for a world-class development center, influencing the way we build and deliver products at Zendesk.

#LI-ESKD

Please note that Zendesk can only hire candidates who are physically located and plan to work from Karnataka or Maharashtra. Please refer to the location posted on the requisition for where this role is based.

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to peopleandplaces@zendesk.com with your specific accommodation request.