Staff Research Engineer, GitHub Next

Job Description

About GitHub

As the global home for all developers, GitHub is the complete AI-powered developer platform to build, scale, and deliver secure software. Over 100 million people, including developers from 90 of the Fortune 100 companies, use GitHub to build amazing things together across 330+ million repositories. With all the collaborative features of GitHub, it has never been easier for individuals and teams to write faster, better code.

Locations

In this role you can work from Remote, United States

Overview

GitHub has changed the way software is built, and we have a unique opportunity to look further ahead to identify how software development can be faster, safer, easier, and more accessible. We’re looking for talented, experienced polymaths to join us in this mission! This is the rare role that affords both startup-level agency and a larger company’s resources.

GitHub Next has incubated genre-defining products like Copilot, Copilot Workspace, and more. You’ll work closely with a small group of experienced and talented researchers to explore the future of software development. Our team’s prototypes inform GitHub’s leadership and roadmap. Each exploration represents a risky bet that GitHub might want to make, and we have to support those bets with working prototypes.

Please note that this is not an academic research role. Our job is to dream big about the future of software development — and then build it. Our team feels like a permanent startup: every time we succeed, we hand off our prototypes and return to the drawing board to do it all over again.

You can see many of our projects at githubnext.com.

Responsibilities

Research Engineers build prototypes. Sometimes, we have an interesting technological idea but need to figure out how to turn it into a reliable product. Other times, we dream of an experience, but we’re not sure how to make that experience a reality. With few constraints on our solution space, our hardest task is figuring out how to scope our bets and deliver value. We will have more ideas than we can possibly pursue; choosing wisely is part of the job.

The exploration domains are varied and will require an ability to understand, investigate, and implement prototypes across a wide range of technologies. Our team has a lot of different skills under one roof, and we work together in squads to identify and debate ideas, then execute everything needed for a working prototype.

For this role, we are seeking an individual with exceptional frontend and design skills. Next’s prototypes grapple with difficult UX challenges in domains with little prior art to guide us.

You may be a good fit if:
• You are a generalist with some areas of deeper knowledge. Hybrids will feel at home on this team. We will also consider candidates who have specialized in a relevant field.
• You are an effective and inclusive communicator, comfortable with remote communication practices. Next’s currency is ideas; the health of our team, our execution, and our results rests on our ability to communicate well.
• You are comfortable collaborating with teammates to figure out what work needs doing, then splitting up that work and doing it. Ideating alone is natural and common, but projects staffed by one individual don’t tend to survive. Your teammates are the first ones you must persuade with your ideas.
• You are comfortable reading source code. You are comfortable picking up new technology stacks in the normal course of work. This is a senior engineering role!
• While we do have some technologies that we generally like to use, we are not indexing on a specific stack. Experience is more than your ability to write code in language X or framework Y.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:
• 9+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Associate’s Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 7+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python
• OR Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python.
• OR Doctorate in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Electronics Engineering, Math, Physics, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years experience in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience maintaining and delivering production software coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, Rust, or Python.
• OR equivalent experience.
• Experience creating rapid prototypes that demonstrate a concept to stakeholders and enable decision making
• Experience identifying and justifying research goals in situations of ambiguity and executing towards those goals without explicit direction
Preferred Qualifications:

These are more specific abilities we’re looking for, but it is the rare human who possesses them all. Think of this as a descriptive sketch, not a checklist of requirements. Be comfortable applying even if you don’t have all of them.
• A deep understanding of GitHub’s industry and business context and the ability to articulate topics related to our product and audience
• Has held roles that deal with topics at the boundary of human knowledge regarding software development and developers
• Have significant experience with one or more frontend technologies. We currently default to Typescript and React for the web, but we also have some efforts underway with Svelte and SvelteKit. “Whatever enables us to ship” is the top concern
• Have significant experience with machine learning, LLMs, and the rapidly-evolving landscape of techniques and tools used to build intelligence into products
• Have significant experience with one or more backend technologies: server-side environments, compute, datastores, networking, infrastructure, devops, security, and programming languages
• Have significant experience with open-source software, communities, and the systems these communities use to self-organize and ship software for others
• Have significant experience operating production systems at a nontrivial scale and are familiar with the common patterns and pitfalls of that work
• Have significant experience in another area of computing that is relevant to our mission. Human-computer interaction, distributed systems, $YOURTHING

Compensation Range

The base salary range for this job is USD $118,100.00 – USD $313,300.00 /Yr.

These pay ranges are intended to cover roles based across the United States. An individual’s base pay depends on various factors including geographical location and review of experience, knowledge, skills, abilities of the applicant. At GitHub certain roles are eligible for benefits and additional rewards, including annual bonus and stock. These rewards are allocated based on individual impact in role. In addition, certain roles also have the opportunity to earn sales incentives based on revenue or utilization, depending on the terms of the plan and the employee’s role.

GitHub values
• Customer-obsessed
• Ship to learn
• Growth mindset
• Own the outcome
• Better together
• Diverse and inclusive

Manager fundamentals
• Model
• Coach
• Care

Leadership principles
• Create clarity
• Generate energy
• Deliver success

Who We Are

GitHub is the world’s leading AI-powered developer platform with 100 million developers and counting. We’re also home to the biggest open-source community on earth (and 99% of the world’s software has open-source code in its DNA). Many of the apps and programs you use every day are built on GitHub.

Our teams are dreamers, doers, and pioneers, leading the way in AI, driving humanitarian efforts around the globe, and even sending open source to Mars (and beyond!).
At GitHub, our goal is to create the space you need to do your best work. We’re remote-first and offer competitive pay, generous learning and growth opportunities, and excellent benefits to support you, wherever you are—because we know that people flourish when they can work on their own terms.

Join us, and let’s change the world, together.

EEO Statement

GitHub is made up of people from a wide variety of backgrounds and lifestyles. We embrace diversity and invite applications from people of all walks of life. We don’t discriminate against employees or applicants based on gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, race, religion, age, national origin, citizenship, disability, pregnancy status, veteran status, or any other differences. Also, if you have a disability, please let us know if there’s any way we can make the interview process better for you; we’re happy to accommodate!