Lead Software Engineer, Content Ingestion

Muck Rack is the leading SaaS platform for public relations and communications professionals. Our mission is to enable organizations to build trust, tell their stories, and demonstrate the unique value of earned media. Muck Rack's AI-powered, comprehensive, and integrated platform streamlines the PR workflow to help businesses generate positive media coverage, monitor mentions to manage brand reputation, and analyze PR's impact on business outcomes. By combining media database, monitoring, and reporting into one dynamic platform, we empower teams to collaborate seamlessly, pitch effectively, and analyze results faster and more efficiently.

Founder-controlled, fully distributed, and growing sustainably, Muck Rack has received several awards for its unparalleled culture and product from organizations like Inc., Quartz, G2, and BuiltIn. We value resilience, transparency, ownership, and customer devotion, and infuse these values into everything we do. 

We're looking for a collaborative, self-motivated Lead Software Engineer to join our growing Content Ingestion team.

As our Lead Software Engineer, Content Ingestion, you'll help design and evolve the systems that transform high volumes of unstructured data into valuable insights for our customers. You'll collaborate with teammates across Product and Engineering to scale our content pipeline and ensure our platform remains fast, reliable, and data-rich.

What You'll do:

• Design, build, and maintain the core systems that power Muck Rack's content ingestion pipeline
• Lead technical design and architecture discussions that improve data processing, scalability, and reliability
• Collaborate with Product, Data Science, and Platform teams to deliver high-quality, structured data that supports customer workflows
• Mentor engineers on the team through code reviews, technical guidance, and knowledge sharing
• Drive continuous improvement in code quality, testing, security, and performance
• Take ownership of project delivery, ensuring initiatives are completed with a balance of speed and stability

To be set up for success in this role, you'll need to have:

• 8+ years of professional experience as a software engineer
• Hands-on experience designing, building, and operating streaming or distributed systems to support large-scale data workflows,
• Expertise with Python or a similar programming language
• Experience with Django or a comparable web framework (FastAPI, Flask, etc.)
• Experience building and maintaining microservices that are reliable, observable, and scalable
• Experience with Kafka or related streaming technologies (Kinesis, etc)
• Experience gRPC, protobuf
• Experience operating with large-scale data systems (multi-terabyte) or high-traffic SaaS applications
• Expertise with relational or search databases such as MySQL, Postgres, or Elasticsearch/OpenSearch

If any of the below also describe you, this could be an exciting opportunity:

• Experience designing or optimizing content pipelines or distributed data workflows (converting unstructured to structured and enriching)
• Experience with background job processing frameworks
• Experience scaling systems that handle significant data throughput
• Interest in journalism, media, or the technology that supports those industries

In addition, we're always looking for candidates who:

• Have excellent communication skills and can explain complex ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Take ownership of their work, proactively identifying and solving issues without waiting for direction
• Foster a collaborative and supportive engineering culture by providing thoughtful, constructive feedback
• Take pride in writing clean, readable, and testable code that remains maintainable over time
• Balance pragmatism with long-term thinking, managing complexity and technical debt thoughtfully
• Embrace curiosity and continual growth

Interview Overview

Here's what you can expect from our process. We'll keep you informed at every step and let you know if anything changes along the way.

• Intro call with a member of our Talent Team
• A video interview with the Hiring Manager
• Peer interviews, including a 1 hour peer code interview
• Final conversation(s) with member(s) of our executive team

Salary

In the US, the base salary for this role is between $170,000 and $190,000, depending on skills and experience. Total compensation for this role consists of base salary, a quarterly bonus plan, and equity. 

We take a geo-neutral approach to compensation within the US, meaning that we pay based on job function and level, not location. For all other countries, we have competitive pay bands based on market standards.

Individual compensation decisions are based on a number of factors, including experience level, skillset, and balancing internal equity relative to peers at the company. We expect the majority of the candidates who are offered roles at our company to fall healthily throughout the range based on these factors. We recognize that the person we hire may be less experienced (or more senior) than this job description as posted. If that ends up being the case, the updated salary range will be communicated with you as a candidate. Why Muck Rack?

Remote Work, Forever 

• Fully distributed team with a permanent remote setup
• Home office stipend, phone and internet reimbursement, coworking membership
• Virtual and in-person team bonding (lunches, events, competitions)

Transparent & Fair Compensation 

• Competitive geo-neutral pay in the U.S.
• Annual reviews to ensure equity and market alignment
• Standardized bonus or commission structure
• 401(k) with employer contributions
• Equity opportunities

Health & Wellness

• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance for employees and dependents
• 100% premium coverage for individuals on high-deductible plans
• 24/7 Virtual Care and Employee Assistance Program
• Employer-funded HSA contributions and other pre-tax benefits
• Quarterly wellness stipend and free Headspace subscription

Time Off & Family Benefits

•  4+ weeks of PTO, plus paid sick and mental health days
• 13 paid holidays with the option to swap for personal days
• Up to 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave

Learning and Development

• Transparent pathways for internal mobility and promotion
• Bi-annual performance reviews, team workshops, and leadership training
• Unlimited access to Coursera and O'Reilly
• 2 additional PTO days annually for learning and development

Inclusive, Customer-First Culture

• Commitment to equity and valuing diverse perspectives
• Agile, founder-led company focused on collaboration and innovation
• Trusted by 3,000+ companies worldwide

Note: Benefits and compensation reflect offerings for U.S.-based employees. Support is provided for employees in other locations, in compliance with local laws and regulations.

While we are a fully distributed team, we do have limitations on where we can hire and maintain a list of acceptable working locations based on job function. If we are unable to hire in your current location for the role for which you applied, you will be notified via email. While we enjoy many benefits as a permanently distributed and remote company, we cannot always support relocation or extended travel and have guidelines in place to ensure compliant work away from your designated permanent residence.

#LI-Remote
Please note: For detailed information regarding our GDPR and/or CCPA compliance policies, including how we handle personal data and privacy rights, kindly refer to the email correspondence accompanying this application.
Muck Rack does not accept unsolicited resumes from search firms or any other third parties. Any unsolicited resume sent to Muck Rack will be considered Muck Rack property, and Muck Rack will not pay a fee should it hire the subject of any unsolicited resume.
Muck Rack considers applicants for all positions on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs, and without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, alienage or citizenship status, ancestry, marital status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, veteran status, familial status, status as a victim of domestic violence, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law.
Note to applicants/job seekers: We have recently been made aware of scams impersonating Muck Rack's HR team. Please be cautious of these attempts to elicit banking or other financial or sensitive information. Muck Rack will never request financial information during the interview process, and follow ups for interviews or next steps will always come from an '' email address. If you are contacted by anyone from a different domain who claims to be from Muck Rack, please forward the communication to 

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