Distinguished Software Engineer, Systems Infrastructure - Core Infra

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, built to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Our products help people make powerful connections, discover exciting opportunities, build necessary skills, and gain valuable insights every day. We’re also committed to providing transformational opportunities for our own employees by investing in their growth. We aspire to create a culture that’s built on trust, care, inclusion, and fun – where everyone can succeed. Join us to transform the way the world works. At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team. This role will be based in Mountain View, CA OR Bellevue, WA. We are seeking a Distinguished Engineer to help shape the future of LinkedIn’s Core Infrastructure platform, which provides shared system services within a large-scale, private, on-premise distributed environment. This role will focus on building technical strategy and raising the bar across multiple infrastructure domains, with particular emphasis on edge/traffic systems and storage, while contributing to adjacent areas such as streaming/messaging (e.g., Kafka), fleet management, and control planes. Responsibilities You will partner directly with senior engineering leaders to define long-term technical strategy across LinkedIn’s core infrastructure, including networking (edge & traffic), storage, and messaging systems Lead cross-team and cross-functional initiatives spanning distributed systems, traffic engineering, storage platforms, and event-driven architectures You will head cross team/cross functional discussions and drive alignment on technology strategy. You will contribute directly to initiatives through a combination of design and implementation activities. You will actively improve the level of craftsmanship at LinkedIn by developing best practices and defining best strategies. You will define the bar for quality and efficiency of software systems while balancing business impact, operational impact and cost benefits of design and architectural choices. Influence and mentor engineers across the organization, raising the bar for systems thinking and technical depth Drive alignment across organizations on multi-domain infrastructure architecture, balancing scalability, reliability, and cost Help evolve LinkedIn’s private cloud and fleet infrastructure strategy, enabling efficient operation at massive scale Foster a culture that values diverse perspectives while navigating complex, ambiguous technical decisions Basic Qualifications Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience 10+ years of relevant work experience in infrastructure engineering Experience leading technical projects with multiple stakeholders Preferred Qualifications PhD in a relevant field or related discipline (machine learning, statistics, computer science etc.), or equivalent research experience 15+ years experience in building infrastructure at scale, with at least 5 of those years in a technical  leadership position Experience building large scale infrastructure and distributed systems Deep expertise in at least one of the following domains, with working knowledge across others: Networking / Traffic Engineering (edge infrastructure, proxies, load balancing, CDNs) Distributed Storage Systems (object storage, block storage, large-scale data systems) Experience with messaging and streaming systems (e.g., Kafka, pub/sub architectures, event-driven systems) Proven ability to operate across infrastructure domains, contributing to areas such as fleet management, control planes, and private cloud systems Experience designing and evolving high-scale, on-premise or hybrid cloud infrastructure Strong systems-level thinking, with the ability to move between domains (e.g., networking - storage - distributed systems) Proven track record of leading cross-company, high-impact infrastructure initiatives from concept through production at scale Experience mentoring senior engineers and influencing technical direction across large organizations Experience leading high-impact, cross-company initiatives Suggested Skills Infrastructure Distributed Systems Networking / Traffic Engineering Storage Systems Technical Leadership You will Benefit from our Culture We strongly believe in the well-being of our employees and their families. That is why we offer generous health and wellness programs and time away for employees of all levels.  LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range for this role is $248,000 to $406,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor. The total compensation package for this position may also include annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit https://careers.linkedin.com/benefits   Equal Opportunity Statement  We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. LinkedIn is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals