Software Engineer – Distributed Systems

At eBay, we're more than a global ecommerce leader — we’re changing the way the world shops and sells. Our platform empowers millions of buyers and sellers in more than 190 markets around the world. We’re committed to pushing boundaries and leaving our mark as we reinvent the future of ecommerce for enthusiasts.

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Join a team of passionate thinkers, innovators, and dreamers — and help us connect people and build communities to create economic opportunity for all.

About the team and role:

eBay’s Cloud Security Engineering team is building the next generation of identity and access platforms that power secure, scalable, and seamless experiences across our global marketplace.

Our distributed systems support millions of users, services, and transactions, and are foundational to eBay’s trust, safety, and reliability. As a Distributed Systems Engineer on this team, you will design and build directory services and policy engines that form the backbone of identity, access, and authorization at eBay.

You will help evolve traditional identity systems into intelligent, real-time platforms. You will use advanced insights, automation, and adaptive decision-making. This will secure both human and non-human identities worldwide. You will work closely with identity, platform, and security teams.

What you will accomplish:

• Build and deliver cloud-scale directory services that optimally manage identity, entitlement, and relationship data across eBay’s ecosystem, improving security and platform trust.

• Build and optimize high-performance policy engines and low-latency identity lookup services that enable real-time, fine-grained authorization (RBAC, ABAC, PBAC) for millions of transactions.

• Develop and evolve APIs and microservices for identity lookup, entitlement management, and access decisioning that are resilient, observable, and easy for partner teams to integrate.

• Integrate AI/ML capabilities into authorization and policy evaluation workflows to provide intelligent access decisions, detect anomalies, and continuously improve policy efficiency.

• Use AI-powered development and operations tools to increase engineering velocity, enhance code quality, and improve reliability of distributed systems in production.

• Collaborate with multi-functional identity, platform, and security partners to define next-generation access and policy frameworks, participate in design reviews, and drive continuous improvement of eBay’s global security posture.

What you will bring:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience in software engineering.

• 7+ years of backend or distributed systems engineering experience, with strong understanding of replication, consistency, partitioning, and fault tolerance in large-scale environments.

• Hands-on experience with directory services, large-scale data or identity platforms, and modern backend development (Java, Go, or similar) including building scalable APIs and microservices.

• Proficiency with datastores such as SQL, NoSQL, or graph-based systems, and familiarity with modeling identity relationships, entitlements, and access policies.

• Strong foundation in authorization concepts and systems (RBAC, ABAC, PBAC), with experience or interest in policy engines (e.g., OPA, Cedar), IAM/LDAP, or cloud-native identity platforms.

• Practical experience with AI/ML concepts or AI-powered development tools, and exposure to cloud-native architectures (e.g., Kubernetes, service meshes) to operate secure, reliable systems at global scale.

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Additional Details

The base pay range for this position is expected in the range below:

Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including location, skills, and experience. The total compensation package for this position may also include other elements, including a target bonus and restricted stock units (as applicable) in addition to a full range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits (including 401(k) eligibility and various paid time off benefits, such as PTO and parental leave). Details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment.

If hired, employees will be in an “at-will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

Remote roles are not eligible for U.S. visa sponsorship.

eBay is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and disability, or other legally protected status. If you have a need that requires accommodation, please contact us at [email protected]. We will make every effort to respond to your request for accommodation as soon as possible. View our accessibility statement to learn more about eBay's commitment to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. 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.

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