Staff Software Engineer (Backend / Full-stack)

Job Description

Zendesk is looking for a seasoned software engineer to lead the ITAM Tasks & Approvals sub-team. You’ll design and build scalable workflows, approval systems, and APIs while mentoring engineers and collaborating across product and design teams. This role offers the chance to shape enterprise-scale ITAM solutions in a flexible, collaborative environment.

Location Requirement: This is a hybrid role. Candidates must reside within a commutable distance of one of our offices in San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; or Madison, WI

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead technical execution and system design for the ITAM Tasks & Approvals sub-team.

• Extend Zendesk’s Tasks and Approvals platform for ITAM-specific needs (e.g., asset lifecycle workflows, procurement approvals, compliance automation).

• Build scalable, performant APIs and user-facing interfaces to manage task orchestration, approval chains, and rule-based workflows.

• Define engineering best practices and contribute to architectural decisions.

• Ensure extensibility, observability, and reliability of the integrations.

• Collaborate with Product Managers and Designers to translate complex requirements into elegant, user-focused features.

• Provide mentorship and technical direction to other engineers on the team.

• Actively contribute to team ceremonies and delivery planning.

What You Bring to the Role

• 7+ years of experience as a full-stack or backend software engineer.

• Proficiency with Ruby on Rails and front-end technologies like React, TypeScript, and GraphQL.

• Deep understanding of reusable workflow and approval models.

• Experience integrating shared platform components into domain-specific product areas.

• Strong technical leadership and mentoring experience.

• Experience working in cross-functional teams and communicating effectively with stakeholders.

• Track record of delivering high-impact, enterprise-scale features.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with ITAM, ITSM, or procurement workflow software.

• Experience with secure, auditable workflow systems in compliance-heavy environments.

• Familiarity with Kubernetes, AWS, DataDog, and CI/CD pipelines.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Ruby on Rails, MySQL/Aurora

• Frontend: JavaScript, TypeScript, React, GraphQL

• DevOps & Monitoring: DataDog, Kubernetes, CI/CD

• Cloud: AWS

Why Zendesk

• Contribute to the future of IT Asset Management at scale.

• Lead and grow with a high-impact, collaborative engineering team.

• Flexible hybrid work model and strong work-life balance.

• Executive support for the ITAM initiative with strategic company investment.

#LI-JH1

The US annualized base salary range for this position is $164,000.00-$246,000.00. This position may also be eligible for bonus, benefits, or related incentives. While this range reflects the minimum and maximum value for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations, the offer for the successful candidate for this position will be based on job related capabilities, applicable experience, and other factors such as work location. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only (or OTE for commissions based roles), and do not include bonus, benefits, or related incentives.

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.

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