Sr. Staff Software Engineer, Browser (New Products)

Why Mozilla?

Mozilla Corporation is the non-profit-backed technology company that has shaped the internet for the better over the last 25 years. We make pioneering brands like Firefox, the privacy-minded web browser. Now, with more than 225 million people around the world using our products each month, we’re shaping the next 25 years of technology and helping to reclaim an internet built for people, not companies. Our work focuses on diverse areas including AI, social media, security and more. And we’re doing this while never losing our focus on our core mission - to make the internet better for people. 

The Mozilla Corporation is wholly owned by the non-profit 501(c) Mozilla Foundation. This means we aren’t beholden to any shareholders - only to our mission. Along with thousands of volunteer contributors and collaborators all over the world, Mozillians design, build and distribute open-source software that enables people to enjoy the internet on their terms.

About this team and role

Mozilla is seeking experienced browser engineers to join a small team exploring new applications of browser technology. The work combines deep systems engineering, rapid experimentation, and close collaboration across technical disciplines.

We are looking for a browser engine specialist who enjoys turning difficult systems questions into working experiments. You will investigate browser behavior, implement changes deep in the engine, and establish which ideas produce meaningful improvements. This is a hands-on individual contributor role with ownership of engine-level investigations and implementation, working closely with the team’s technical lead.

The work suits someone who has built or substantially changed browser internals, understands the tradeoffs embedded in those systems, and enjoys applying that knowledge to unfamiliar problems. Your experiments will help inform technical direction.

What you'll do:

• Design and implement experiments within browser engine subsystems. Investigate how internal data structures and execution behavior affect performance, correctness, and the interfaces exposed to developer tools.
• Evaluate ways to represent and expose browser state efficiently and accurately. Identify the tradeoffs in each approach, including information loss, implementation complexity, and compatibility with dynamic web content.
• Prototype engine capabilities that support reliable programmatic interaction with web content. Investigate how document structure, layout, navigation, and event handling affect correctness and performance.
• Instrument browser behavior and evaluate changes against repeatable tasks. Measure performance and correctness, isolate the effect of each change, and document unsuccessful experiments as clearly as successful ones. Check that gains hold beyond the workloads used to develop the prototype.
• Profile the overhead introduced by new capabilities and pursue improvements where measurements justify them. Use AI tools to accelerate coding and analysis, and verify their output through debugging, tests, and measurement.

What you'll bring:

• Deep hands-on expertise in at least one browser engine subsystem, such as DOM and Web APIs, layout and rendering, accessibility, JavaScript runtimes, or networking and process architecture. You have implemented substantial changes and can trace their effects into neighboring subsystems.
• Strong proficiency in C++ or Rust, experience navigating a large systems codebase, and practical knowledge of memory ownership, concurrency, object lifetimes, and performance debugging. You can build the JavaScript and scripting tools needed to exercise and measure your work.
• A demonstrated ability to investigate unfamiliar code, form a precise hypothesis, construct a useful prototype, and interpret the results. You can separate the effects of your implementation from variability in websites, workloads, or model behavior.
• A strong understanding of web platform behavior and compatibility. You can reason about how document structure, script execution, rendering, and user interaction relate, including cases where the browser’s internal state is difficult to expose accurately to another system.
• Experience with profiling, tracing, regression tests, or conformance tests, and a habit of grounding performance claims in reproducible evidence. You can explain both the benefit of an optimization and the circumstances in which it fails.
• Curiosity about AI agents and a willingness to work directly with agent harnesses and coding tools. You can connect a low-level implementation choice to the information an agent receives and the work it must do next. 

Nice to have:

• Contributions to Gecko, Servo, Blink, WebKit, or another browser engine
• Experience maintaining an open-source project
• Technical leadership in a small team building a new product
• Experience with accessibility infrastructure, browser security, profiling, or automated evaluation of agent workflows

What you’ll get:

• Generous performance-based bonus plans to all eligible employees - we share in our success as one team
• Rich medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Generous retirement contributions with 100% immediate vesting (regardless of whether you contribute)
• Quarterly all-company wellness days where everyone takes a pause together
• Country specific holidays plus a day off for your birthday
• One-time home office stipend
• Annual professional development budget
• Quarterly well-being stipend
• Considerable paid parental leave
• Employee referral bonus program
• Other benefits (life/AD&D, disability, EAP, etc. - varies by country)

About Mozilla 

Mozilla exists to build the Internet as a public resource accessible to all because we believe that open and free is better than closed and controlled. When you work at Mozilla, you give yourself a chance to make a difference in the lives of Web users everywhere. And you give us a chance to make a difference in your life every single day. Join us to work on the Web as the platform and help create more opportunity and innovation for everyone online.

Commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging

Mozilla understands that valuing diverse creative practices and forms of knowledge are crucial to and enrich the company’s core mission.  We encourage applications from everyone, including members of all equity-seeking communities, such as (but certainly not limited to) women, racialized and Indigenous persons, persons with disabilities, persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions.

We will ensure that qualified individuals with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, as appropriate. Please contact us at [email protected] to request accommodation.

We are an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race (including hairstyle and texture), religion (including religious grooming and dress practices), gender, gender identity, gender expression, color, national origin, pregnancy, ancestry, domestic partner status, disability, sexual orientation, age, genetic predisposition, medical condition, marital status, citizenship status, military or veteran status, or any other basis covered by applicable laws.  Mozilla will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics or any other unlawful behavior, conduct, or purpose.

Group: C

Req ID: R3221

Hiring Ranges:

US Tier 1 Locations

$195,000—$260,000 USD

US Tier 2 Locations

$179,000—$239,000 USD

US Tier 3 Locations

$166,000—$221,000 USD