Job Description

R_344651 Senior Staff Engineer – Advanced Capability Expectations

1. Systems & Architecture Leadership

   1. Designs platform-level, cloud-native architectures that scale across multiple teams

   2. Anticipates scaling challenges, failure modes, and long-term evolution

   3. Defines and drives technical strategy, not just implementation

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems adopted by multiple teams or used at organizational scale

      2. Architecture diagrams with clear design rationale

2. Architectural Decision-Making

   1. Demonstrates structured decision-making across:

      1. Performance vs cost vs reliability vs complexity

      2. Build vs buy vs open source

      3. Synchronous vs asynchronous design

   2. Clearly articulates tradeoffs and alternatives

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Documented design decisions

      2. Ability to explain why a solution was chosen over others

3. Execution Speed & Delivery

   1. Able to:

      1. Set up environment quickly

      2. Understand existing systems rapidly

      3. Deliver working proof-of-concepts within 1 day

   2. Maintains high code quality under time constraints

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Examples of rapid POC delivery

      2. Demonstrated ability to contribute within first few days of onboarding

4. Platform Engineering & Developer Experience

   1. Builds reusable platforms, frameworks, and developer tools

   2. Improves:

      1. Developer productivity

      2. Deployment pipelines

      3. Onboarding experience

   3. Designs systems with self-service capabilities

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Internal tools, SDKs, or frameworks built

      2. Measurable improvements (e.g., reduced build time, faster deployments)

5. Security & Reliability by Design

   1. Applies secure-by-design principles:

      1. Authentication/authorization

      2. Secrets management

      3. Least privilege access

   2. Incorporates:

      1. Observability (logs, metrics, tracing)

      2. Resilience (retries, fault tolerance)

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems designed with security controls

      2. Experience with AWS IAM, KMS, VPC, or equivalent

6. Advanced Cloud & Distributed Systems Expertise

   1. Strong experience with:

      1. Event-driven architectures

      2. Distributed systems patterns

      3. High-scale systems

   2. Deep AWS knowledge including:

      1. Lambda, ECS/EKS, API Gateway

      2. SQS, SNS, EventBridge

      3. DynamoDB, RDS

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems handling high throughput or large-scale workloads

      2. Clear understanding of consistency, retries, and failure handling

7. Analytical & Structured Problem Solving

   1. Applies structured reasoning to system design and debugging

   2. Uses:

      1. Data-driven decision making

      2. Testing beyond basics (integration, property-based, etc.)

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Examples of debugging complex systems

      2. Thoughtful validation and testing strategies

8. Modern Engineering Practices

   1. Leverages modern tooling and approaches to:

      1. Accelerate development

      2. Improve code quality

   2. Experience with:

      1. AI-assisted development workflows (preferred)

      2. Automation and intelligent tooling

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Use of advanced tooling to improve productivity or quality

9. Ownership & Cross-Team Leadership

   1. Operates as a strong individual contributor with leadership impact

   2. Drives alignment across engineering, product, and infrastructure teams

   3. Translates business requirements into scalable technical solutions

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Leading initiatives without direct authority

      2. Influencing architecture across teams

10. Demonstrated Impact

    1. Track record of delivering measurable outcomes, such as:

       1. Performance improvements

       2. Reliability gains

       3. Cost reductions

       4. Developer productivity improvements

    2. Expected Evidence:

       1. Quantified results (percentages, metrics, business impact)

R_344651 Senior Staff Engineer – Advanced Capability Expectations

1. Systems & Architecture Leadership

   1. Designs platform-level, cloud-native architectures that scale across multiple teams

   2. Anticipates scaling challenges, failure modes, and long-term evolution

   3. Defines and drives technical strategy, not just implementation

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems adopted by multiple teams or used at organizational scale

      2. Architecture diagrams with clear design rationale

2. Architectural Decision-Making

   1. Demonstrates structured decision-making across:

      1. Performance vs cost vs reliability vs complexity

      2. Build vs buy vs open source

      3. Synchronous vs asynchronous design

   2. Clearly articulates tradeoffs and alternatives

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Documented design decisions

      2. Ability to explain why a solution was chosen over others

3. Execution Speed & Delivery

   1. Able to:

      1. Set up environment quickly

      2. Understand existing systems rapidly

      3. Deliver working proof-of-concepts within 1 day

   2. Maintains high code quality under time constraints

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Examples of rapid POC delivery

      2. Demonstrated ability to contribute within first few days of onboarding

4. Platform Engineering & Developer Experience

   1. Builds reusable platforms, frameworks, and developer tools

   2. Improves:

      1. Developer productivity

      2. Deployment pipelines

      3. Onboarding experience

   3. Designs systems with self-service capabilities

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Internal tools, SDKs, or frameworks built

      2. Measurable improvements (e.g., reduced build time, faster deployments)

5. Security & Reliability by Design

   1. Applies secure-by-design principles:

      1. Authentication/authorization

      2. Secrets management

      3. Least privilege access

   2. Incorporates:

      1. Observability (logs, metrics, tracing)

      2. Resilience (retries, fault tolerance)

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems designed with security controls

      2. Experience with AWS IAM, KMS, VPC, or equivalent

6. Advanced Cloud & Distributed Systems Expertise

   1. Strong experience with:

      1. Event-driven architectures

      2. Distributed systems patterns

      3. High-scale systems

   2. Deep AWS knowledge including:

      1. Lambda, ECS/EKS, API Gateway

      2. SQS, SNS, EventBridge

      3. DynamoDB, RDS

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Systems handling high throughput or large-scale workloads

      2. Clear understanding of consistency, retries, and failure handling

7. Analytical & Structured Problem Solving

   1. Applies structured reasoning to system design and debugging

   2. Uses:

      1. Data-driven decision making

      2. Testing beyond basics (integration, property-based, etc.)

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Examples of debugging complex systems

      2. Thoughtful validation and testing strategies

8. Modern Engineering Practices

   1. Leverages modern tooling and approaches to:

      1. Accelerate development

      2. Improve code quality

   2. Experience with:

      1. AI-assisted development workflows (preferred)

      2. Automation and intelligent tooling

   3. Expected Evidence:

      1. Use of advanced tooling to improve productivity or quality

9. Ownership & Cross-Team Leadership

   1. Operates as a strong individual contributor with leadership impact

   2. Drives alignment across engineering, product, and infrastructure teams

   3. Translates business requirements into scalable technical solutions

   4. Expected Evidence:

      1. Leading initiatives without direct authority

      2. Influencing architecture across teams

10. Demonstrated Impact

    1. Track record of delivering measurable outcomes, such as:

       1. Performance improvements

       2. Reliability gains

       3. Cost reductions

       4. Developer productivity improvements

    2. Expected Evidence:

       1. Quantified results (percentages, metrics, business impact)

At Zensar, we’re “experience-led everything” We are committed to conceptualizing, designing, engineering, marketing, and managing digital solutions and experiences for over 130 leading enterprises. We are a company driven by a bold purpose: Together, we shape experiences for better futures Whether for our clients, our people, or the world around us, this belief powers everything we do. At the heart of our culture is ONE with Client - a set of four core values that reflect who we are and how we work: One Zensar, Nurturing, Empowering, and Client Focus

Part of the $4.8 billion RPG Group, we’re a community of 10,000+ innovators across 30+ global locations, including Milpitas, Seattle, Princeton, Cape Town, London, Zurich, Singapore, and Mexico City. Explore Life at Zensar and join us to Grow. Own. Achieve. Learn. to be the best version of yourself.

We believe the best work happens when individuality is celebrated, growth is encouraged, and well-being is prioritized. We are an equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action employer, committed to creating an inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, family medical leave status, or protected veteran status.