Job Description
Join Notion to help build their new Mail product, rethinking how email integrates with work. This Senior Software Engineer role is key to shaping the backend infrastructure, AI features, and security foundation of a fast-growing, early-stage product.
Key Information
- Location Model: Hybrid
- Location Details: San Francisco or New York City. Requires 2 anchor days (Mon & Thurs) in the office, aiming for majority of the week in office (including a 3rd day).
- Salary Range: $176,000 - $250,000 USD per year (for SF/NYC based roles)
- Years Experience Min: N/A (Focus on skills and impact)
- Employment Type: Permanent
- Company Industry: SaaS (Productivity Software)
- Visa Sponsorship: N/A (Not explicitly mentioned)
- Relocation Assistance: N/A (Not explicitly mentioned)
- Working Hours: N/A (Assumed standard business hours with in-office requirement)
Technical Stack
- Core (Must-Have):
- Backend system design and implementation
- Architecting scalable services
- Building secure systems (auth/auth, data management)
- Designing and implementing routing and queueing systems
- Nice-to-Have:
- Knowledge of identity and authentication (OAuth, SAML)
- Experience with email and domains infrastructure (servers, IP reputation)
Role & Responsibilities
- Key Responsibilities:
- Design and build the Notion Mail backend services.
- Architect the core email service infrastructure.
- Implement AI features for email (labeling, drafting, Q&A).
- Develop and ensure a secure foundation for all Mail features.
- Establish monitoring, testing, and alerting systems.
- Must-Have Qualifications:
- User-centric mindset in design and building.
- Pragmatic and business-oriented approach to prioritization.
- Technology-agnostic with ability to learn new tech.
- Empathetic and clear communication skills.
- Strong team collaboration skills.
- Nice-to-Have Qualifications:
- Experience with identity and authentication protocols (OAuth, SAML).
- Familiarity with email server and domain infrastructure.
Company & Culture
- Benefits Highlights:
- Highly competitive cash compensation and equity
- Comprehensive benefits package (details not specified beyond "highly competitive")
- Potential Red Flags / Things to Note:
- Required in-office presence (Hybrid with 2 mandatory days + aiming for 3rd).
- Role is for a new, early-stage product which may involve ambiguity and rapid change.
- Company Culture Snippets:
- Focus on focus, design, and craft in building software.
- Passionate about building a diverse and creative company.
- Emphasis on collaboration across functions.
About Us: We're on a mission to make it possible for every person, team, and company to be able to tailor their software to solve any problem and take on any challenge. Computers may be our most powerful tools, but most of us can't build or modify the software we use on them every day. At Notion, we want to change this with focus, design, and craft. We've been working on this together since 2016, and have customers like OpenAI, Toyota, Figma, Ramp, and thousands more on this journey with us. Today, we're growing fast and excited for new teammates to join us who are the best at what they do. We're passionate about building a company as diverse and creative as the millions of people Notion reaches worldwide. Notion is an in person company, and currently requires its employees to come to the office for two Anchor Days (Mondays & Thursdays) and requests that employees spend the majority of their week in the office (including a third day). About the Role: Email isn’t going anywhere — but it can be a lot better. We're building Notion Mail to rethink how communication fits into the bigger picture of your work and life. As a Software Engineer on our team, you’ll help create an email experience that's fast, delightful, and seamlessly woven into everything people already love about Notion. You'll collaborate across engineering, product, and design to bring new ideas to life — and you’ll have tons of room to shape the foundations of a product still in its early days. If you get excited about big challenges, moving fast, and making everyday tools a little more magical, we’d love to work with you. What You’ll Achieve: Design and build the Notion Mail backend, which includes multiple services for API routing, request processing, asynchronous workflows, and AI features Architect the foundation for a Notion email service, including email servers, email/spam reputation, and custom domain Implement Notion Mail AI features, such as labeling/classification, drafting, and Q&A Build a secure foundation for all Mail features, including authorization and authentication, OAuth signup flows across multiple email providers, and secure token and user data management Design and implement email delivery and routing systems, including message queueing and processing Develop spam detection and filtering mechanisms Establish monitoring, testing, & alerting observability systems Skills You'll Need to Bring: Put users first: You think critically about the implications of what you're building, and how it shapes real people's lives. You understand that reach comes with responsibility for our impact—good and bad. Pragmatic and business-oriented: You care about business impact and prioritize projects accordingly. You're not just going after cool stuff—you understand the balance between craft, speed, and the bottom line. Not ideological about technology: To you, technologies and programming languages are about tradeoffs. You may be opinionated, but you're not ideological and can learn new technologies as you go. Empathetic communication: You communicate nuanced ideas clearly, whether you're explaining technical decisions in writing or brainstorming in real time. In disagreements, you engage thoughtfully with other perspectives and compromise when needed. Team player: For you, work isn't a solo endeavor. You enjoy collaborating cross-functionally to accomplish shared goals, and you care about learning, growing, and helping others to do the same. Nice to Haves: Knowledge of identity and authentication - Oauth, SAML. Experience with email & domains infrastructure, such as email servers, IP reputation, and more. We hire talented and passionate people from a variety of backgrounds because we want our global employee base to represent the wide diversity of our customers. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every bullet point listed in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. If you’re a builder at heart, share our company values, and enthusiastic about making software toolmaking ubiquitous, we want to hear from you. Notion is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate in hiring or any employment decision based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), marital status, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. Notion considers qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law. Notion is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and disabled veterans in our job application procedures. If you need assistance or an accommodation made due to a disability, please let your recruiter know.Notion is committed to providing highly competitive cash compensation, equity, and benefits. The compensation offered for this role will be based on multiple factors such as location, the role’s scope and complexity, and the candidate’s experience and expertise, and may vary from the range provided below. For roles based in San Francisco or New York City, the estimated base salary range for this role is $176,000 - $250,000 per year. By clicking “Submit Application”, I understand and agree that Notion and its affiliates and subsidiaries will collect and process my information in accordance with Notion’s Global Recruiting Privacy Policy . #LI-Onsite
Job Details
Salary
213000.00
Location
Remote / San Francisco, United States
Key Skills
Backend DevelopmentApi DevelopmentTechnical WritingAuthenticationTeam CollaborationAi FeaturesEmail SystemsEmpathetic CommunicationPragmatic ThinkingUser First Design