Sr. Software Engineer

Our Company

Changing the world through digital experiences is what Adobe's all about. We give everyone-from emerging artists to global brands-everything they need to design and deliver exceptional digital experiences! We're passionate about empowering people to create beautiful and powerful images, videos, and apps, and transform how companies interact with customers across every screen.

We're on a mission to hire the very best and are committed to creating exceptional employee experiences where everyone is respected and has access to equal opportunity. We realize that new ideas can come from everywhere in the organization, and we know the next big idea could be yours!

Job Description

The Opportunity

We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer to play a key technical leadership role on one of our core product areas. This role is ideal for an experienced engineer who thrives on owning complex systems, making sound technical decisions, and partnering closely with product and engineering teams to deliver secure, reliable, customer-facing software.

You'll take responsibility for the technical health and security of major components and services, helping shape architecture, guiding implementation, and ensuring solutions balance security, performance, and usability. While this is an individual contributor role, it carries significant influence through design leadership, mentorship, and decision-making across teams.

Job Responsibilities

• Own and drive the design and evolution of complex, customer-facing software systems, from architecture through production.
• Act as a technical lead for your product or domain, providing clear guidance on design, implementation, and trade-offs.
• Partner with engineering, product, and security teams to align technical solutions with business goals and customer needs.
• Identify, assess, and manage security and technical risk, making defensible decisions with minimal guidance.
• Lead design and code reviews, setting a high bar for quality, maintainability, and secure engineering practices.
• Identify gaps in existing capabilities and drive improvements through code, automation, or architectural changes.
• Mentor and support other engineers, helping raise technical standards and grow expertise across the team.
• Contribute to cross-team initiatives and technical discussions, influencing solutions beyond your immediate team.

What You'll Need to Succeed

• Significant experience building customer-facing systems at scale.
• Strong experience with our core stack, including Java (backend services) and modern JavaScript with React (frontend). Familiarity with microfrontend architectures and deploying, operating, and supporting services in cloud environments such as AWS, GCP, or Azure.
• Hands-on experience applying AI or machine learning in real products, including prompt design, model integration, or working with AI APIs. Familiarity with practical limitations such as hallucinations, latency, and data privacy.
• Experience helping teams adopt AI capabilities responsibly, including making architectural decisions, setting guardrails, and balancing experimentation with reliability and maintainability.
• Proven ability to design, implement, and evolve complex systems with an eye toward reliability, performance, and security.
• Strong understanding of secure software design and development practices, and how they reduce risk in real-world systems.
• Experience working in distributed, cloud-based environments and managing production systems.
• Ability to evaluate trade-offs across architecture, security, usability, and delivery timelines.
• Comfort influencing technical decisions across teams without formal authority.
• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical risk and solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• A track record of mentoring other engineers and contributing to a strong engineering culture.

Experience and Education

• Typically 10+ years of relevant software engineering experience, though impact and scope of responsibility matter more than years.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Demonstrated ownership of complex systems or product areas in a production environment.

Why This Role Matters

In this role, you won't just deliver features. You'll help shape how systems are built, how risk is managed, and how teams make technical decisions. Your work will have a direct impact on product quality, customer trust, and the long-term health of our engineering platform.

At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunityemployer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other applicable characteristics protected by law. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make Adobe.com accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.comor call (408) 536-3015.