Senior Staff Software Engineer - Firefox Desktop Integrations

Why Mozilla?

Mozilla Corporation is the non-profit-backed technology company that has shaped the internet for the better over the last 25 years. We make pioneering brands like Firefox, the privacy-minded web browser, and Pocket, a service for keeping up with the best content online. Now, with more than 225 million people around the world using our products each month, we’re shaping the next 25 years of technology and helping to reclaim an internet built for people, not companies. Our work focuses on diverse areas including AI, social media, security and more. And we’re doing this while never losing our focus on our core mission – to make the internet better for people. 

The Mozilla Corporation is wholly owned by the non-profit 501(c) Mozilla Foundation. This means we aren’t beholden to any shareholders — only to our mission. Along with thousands of volunteer contributors and collaborators all over the world, Mozillians design, build and distribute open-source software that enables people to enjoy the internet on their terms. 

About this team and role:

The Firefox team is a community of engineers who care deeply about delivering the fastest, friendliest, most usable browser possible. We are responsible for making the things you see in the browser work securely, quickly, and well! The Desktop integrations team focuses on updates, installs, supervising and integrating Firefox with different operating systems. The team uses desktop Operating System and alternative surface APIs to improve Firefox's integration and usage. In this role, you will be developing and implementing strategies that use these APIs to boost Firefox's compatibility across various operating systems, driving the browser's usage and contributing to the growth and stability of its user base.

Our team is geographically-distributed, and working in the open is the norm. We contribute to the code driving the Firefox browser on a number of desktop platforms - Windows, Linux, and macOS.

What is a Senior Staff Software Engineer at Mozilla?

A Senior Staff Software Engineer is the next level from a Staff Software Engineer. At Mozilla this role can vary, but typically a senior staff engineer leads projects requiring efforts across multiple teams, providing technical leadership, building cross-team relationships, and helping the teams deliver on their objectives. The senior staff engineer is an expert in their domain. They provide feedback on our strategy and goals affecting multiple teams and turn our strategy into coordinated action for those teams. They mentor others by stewarding responsibilities to more junior engineers so they can take on new ones, while collaborating with management on building team consensus and providing direction. Typically, a Senior Staff is a technical lead for multiple teams.

What you’ll do: 

• Design, develop, and ship the next experience of Firefox features through installs, updates, and OS integrations.

• Lead design reviews with peers and stakeholders to influence strategic technical decisions for Firefox desktop

• Analyze data and metrics to invent new patterns to increase the user engagement during Firefox installation, update, and integration with the host OS

• Investigate low-level operating systems programming issues and contribute to design and implement solutions with other teams 

• Assess what work supports the team and product roadmap and make insightful recommendations in regards to priorities

• Support management, peers, and others on team consensus and direction

• Analyze data and metrics to innovate on behalf of our users 

• Improve the quality of Firefox on Windows and/or macOS by hunting down and fixing software defects, improving the experience of hundreds of millions of users

• Mentor others by stewarding some of your responsibilities to more junior engineers.

What you’ll bring: 

• 10+ years experience as a Software Engineer 

• You have experience with low-level systems programming on at least one major platform (Windows, macOS, Linux, any mobile platform).

• You possess a solid understanding of C/C++.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and have participated effectively on a distributed team.

• Ability to influence roadmaps and execution in the teams you and your team partner with

• You’re pragmatic about how to move things forward in specific timeframes including trade-offs and safeguards when implementing new functionality.

• You already have development experience on Windows and/or macOS, particularly with low-level Win32/Cocoa API coding.

• Experience working collaboratively with product managers, project managers, and/or other non-engineering teams.

• Commitment to our values:

  • Welcoming differences

  • Being relationship-minded

  • Practicing responsible participation

  • Having grit

Bonus Points for: 

• You have programming experience in Rust.

• Additional Linux and/or macOS experience is a bonus, particularly with low level systems programming or operating system internals.

• You have previously successfully contributed to an open source project.

• Expertise in compilers pipeline design and optimization

• Knowledgeable about improving overall compiler performance

• Experience in developing installers for operating systems

We value a variety of voices within our team and at Mozilla. You don't need to check every box on this list to apply.

What you’ll get:

• Generous performance-based bonus plans to all eligible employees - we share in our success as one team

• Rich medical, dental, and vision coverage

• Generous retirement contributions with 100% immediate vesting (regardless of whether you contribute)

• Quarterly all-company wellness days where everyone takes a pause together

• Country specific holidays plus a day off for your birthday

• One-time home office stipend

• Annual professional development budget

• Quarterly well-being stipend

• Considerable paid parental leave

• Employee referral bonus program

• Other benefits (life/AD&D, disability, EAP, etc. - varies by country)

About Mozilla 

Mozilla exists to build the Internet as a public resource accessible to all because we believe that open and free is better than closed and controlled. When you work at Mozilla, you give yourself a chance to make a difference in the lives of Web users everywhere. And you give us a chance to make a difference in your life every single day. Join us to work on the Web as the platform and help create more opportunity and innovation for everyone online.

Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

Mozilla understands that valuing diverse creative practices and forms of knowledge are crucial to and enrich the company’s core mission.  We encourage applications from everyone, including members of all equity-seeking communities, such as (but certainly not limited to) women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions.

We will ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, as appropriate. Please contact us at hiringaccommodation@mozilla.com to request accommodation.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race (including hairstyle and texture), religion (including religious grooming and dress practices), gender, gender identity, gender expression, color, national origin, pregnancy, ancestry, domestic partner status, disability, sexual orientation, age, genetic predisposition, medical condition, marital status, citizenship status, military or veteran status, or any other basis covered by applicable laws.  Mozilla will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics or any other unlawful behavior, conduct, or purpose.

Group: C

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Req ID: R2533