Backend Product Software Engineer, Desktop Experience

Dropbox is a Virtual First company. For this role, we are hiring in Zones 2 and 3. Please refer to our Compensation section below to see what neighborhoods fall under each Zone.

Company Description

Dropbox isn’t just a workplace—it’s a living lab for more enlightened ways of working. We're a global community of bold visionaries and resourceful doers who are shaping the future of Dropbox—and with it the future of work. Our Virtual First model combines the autonomy of a distributed workplace with the power of human connection, making space for both meaningful work and meaningful relationships. With our start-up mindset and enterprise-level opportunities, you can be who you are and grow into who you’re meant to be. Here, you can own your impact to make work more intuitive, joyful, and human—for you as a Dropboxer and for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If you're ready to push boundaries—and yourself— Dropbox is ready for you.

Team Description

The Dropbox Engineering Team builds the technology that creates more enlightened ways of working for hundreds of millions of people. Every day, our platforms—including Dropbox Dash, Dropbox Sign, and our core sync engine—handle over a billion files for users worldwide, creating engineering challenges as great as the opportunity for impact. Our software engineering team uses a range of technologies to solve interesting problems, including Python, React, Node.js, JavaScript, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Android development. We think like a startup but build for an enterprise, exploring new possibilities that transform how people work. If you're excited about turning complex technical challenges into intuitive solutions at scale, join our Engineering team. Areas of work include Machine Learning Engineers, Infrastructure Engineer, Product SWE Frontend and Backend, Mobile Software Engineers (iOS and Android), Engineering Manager, Data Engineer, Software Development Engineer in Test, Security Engineering, Site Reliability Engineer, Technical Program Managers, Network Engineer, Datacenter Engineer, Technical Supply Chain Manager and more.

Role Description

Our strategy starts with our mission: how do we build the right set of products that can help our customers work in a more enlightened way? If the first big problem Dropbox solved was getting your files in the cloud, the new problem we’re solving is helping you organize your life.

In this role you will specialize in desktop platform development. The Desktop Developer Experience team builds core desktop technologies that enables product teams to create rich and intuitive foreground experiences that power AI features. The platform we built utilizes web technologies to render rich experience to our users on Mac, Linux, and Windows. As part of the team, you would be central to empowering our product engineers to quickly innovate on desktop.

Our Engineering Career Framework is viewable by anyone outside the company and describes what’s expected for our engineers at each of our career levels. Check out our blog post on this topic and more here.

Responsibilities

• Architect develop and maintain a platform that can be leveraged by product engineers so that they can be as productive as possible.
• Accelerate desktop development by leveraging technologies like Electron.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to understand business challenges and translate them into technical requirements and robust solutions.
• Design and build software capable of reaching millions of users in Python, Rust, React, and Typescript.
• Write modular, secure, and well-tested code.
• Ensure that our development environment is best in class by delivering improvements to internal tooling and direct partnership with our product platform teams.
• Participate in code reviews, knowledge sharing sessions, and provide mentorship to junior team members, fostering a collaborative and growth-oriented culture.
• Own relationships with other engineering teams and collaborate with other functions within Dropbox.

Many teams at Dropbox run Services with on-call rotations, which entails being available for calls during both core and non-core business hours. If a team has an on-call rotation, all engineers on the team are expected to participate in the rotation as part of their employment. Applicants are encouraged to ask for more details of the rotations to which the applicant is applying.

Requirements

• 6+ years of software engineering and/or work related industry experience
• Previous success developing and shipping application platforms with a user-empathetic mindset
• Strong coding experience in Python and Typescript
• Skilled at building user-facing software and supporting systems and libraries for desktop
• You can handle full-stack projects and are able to build a minimum working product quickly
• Familiarity with project management tools and CI/CD pipelines

Preferred Qualifications

• BS degree in Computer Science or related technical field involving coding (e.g., physics or mathematics), or equivalent technical experience
• Experience working on Electron
• Coding experience in Rust
• Previous success in building and releasing developer platforms and APIs
• Experience working with backend services
• Experience with build technologies like Bazel

Benefits

Dropbox is committed to investing in the holistic health and wellbeing of all Dropboxers and their families. Our benefits and perks programs include, but are not limited to:

• Competitive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• 401(k) plan with a generous company match and immediate vesting
• Flexible PTO/Paid Time Off, paid holidays, Volunteer Time Off, and more, allowing you time to unplug, unwind, and refresh
• Income Protection Plans: Life and disability insurance
• Business Travel Protection: Travel medical and accident insurance
• Perks Allowance to be used on what matters most to you, whether that’s wellness, learning and development, food and groceries, and much more
• Parental benefits including: Parental Leave, Child and Adult Care, Day Care FSA, Fertility Benefits, Adoption and Surrogacy Support, and Lactation Support
• Access to over 10,000 global co-working spaces through Gable.tomaking it easy to book flexible workspaces for collaboration or individual work
• Quarterly Cell phone and internet allowance
• Mental health and wellness benefits
• Disability and neurodivergence support benefits

Additional benefit details are available upon request

Dropbox is an equal opportunity employer. We are a welcoming place for everyone, and we do our best to make sure all people feel supported and connected at work. A big part of that effort is our support for members and allies of internal groups like Asians at Dropbox, BlackDropboxers, enABLE, TODOS (Latinx), Pridebox (LGBTQ), Vets at Dropbox, and Women at Dropbox.

Copyright © ReadingWaters 2025.