Principal Bot Intelligence Engineer

  • Full-time

Company Description

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

Job Description

All of Block's product services are organized into departments with their own product and engineering teams. Underneath, there's a connected platform team that supports the network. We are that platform. As a Principal Bot Intelligence Engineer, you will set technology direction for a new function to use multiple sources of data to identify which traffic hitting our public endpoints is coming from bots and which is coming from our own experiences.  This includes using data from industry standard solutions like CloudFlare WAF/CDN, fingerprinting services like Kasada, as well as internally developed mobile identification and risk models.  This also includes building and internal services that the rest of the platform can query to determine if a particular session is valid or not, as well as advising teams how to harden their external services so they are less vulnerable  to bot traffic.  You will partner with the global Information Security team, product managers and our business teams to define and execute our end-to-end bot identification and deflect  strategy with innovative and globally scalable solutions that power our business. This impactful and visible role requires a leader who can build a long-term vision for the space, inspire the team, drive execution, and establish credibility and influence across Block's ecosystem of products. Sound like you? Read on.

You Will:

  • Guide long-term thinking and new ideas in an ambiguous space, and promote your organization to support our business.
  • Work with the Information Security team and Partners to manage the balance of tech debt vs. strategic investment to achieve our goals over a multi-year roadmap.
  • Bring deep understanding of and experience in identifying bot traffic and proven expertise & success in helping organization reduce the impact of bot traffic on their external services
  • Drive best practices across the organization on building bot resiliency into new and existing external services
  • Proven technology leadership in building data analytics models that identify valid vs bot traffic
  • Champion technical and operational excellence while influencing other technical leaders within the company.
  • Cultivate an inclusive team culture focused on ownership, integrity, and customer focus.
  • Report to the Head of Platform & Infrastructure Engineering.

Qualifications

You Have:

  • 15+ years relevant software development and systems design experience.
  • 5+ years of experience with bot detection and deflection technologies at the CDN or WAF layer, experience with Kasada or traffic fingerprinting technologies is a must 
  • Experience building software and bot detection services that can scale to current and future business volumes
  • Excellent communication skills and can concisely articulate a strategy to ensure Partners feel included and aligned on expectations.

Additional Information

Block takes a market-based approach to pay, and pay may vary depending on your location. U.S. locations are categorized into one of four zones based on a cost of labor index for that geographic area. The successful candidate’s starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, work location, and market conditions. These ranges may be modified in the future.

Zone A: USD $245,100 - USD $299,500
Zone B: USD $245,100 - USD $299,500
Zone C: USD $245,100 - USD $299,500
Zone D: USD $245,100 - USD $299,500

To find a location’s zone designation, please refer to this resource. If a location of interest is not listed, please speak with a recruiter for additional information. 

Benefits include the following:

  • Healthcare coverage
  • Retirement Plans including company match 
  • Employee Stock Purchase Program
  • Wellness programs, including access to mental health, 1:1 financial planners, and a monthly wellness allowance 
  • Paid parental and caregiving leave
  • Paid time off
  • Learning and Development resources
  • Paid Life insurance, AD&D. and disability benefits 
  • Perks such as WFH reimbursements and free access to caregiving, legal, and discounted resources 

This role is also eligible to participate in Block's equity plan subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies, and may be eligible for a sign-on bonus. Sales roles may be eligible to participate in a commission plan subject to the terms of the applicable plans and policies. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.

We’re working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is a proud equal opportunity employer. We work hard to evaluate all employees and job applicants consistently, without regard to race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability, pregnancy, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class. 

We believe in being fair, and are committed to an inclusive interview experience, including providing reasonable accommodations to disabled applicants throughout the recruitment process. We encourage applicants to share any needed accommodations with their recruiter, who will treat these requests as confidentially as possible. Want to learn more about what we’re doing to build a workplace that is fair and square? Check out our I+D page

Additionally, we consider qualified applicants with criminal histories for employment on our team, and always assess candidates on an individualized basis.

Block, Inc. (NYSE: SQ) is a global technology company with a focus on financial services. Made up of Square, Cash App, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD, we build tools to help more people access the economy. Square helps sellers run and grow their businesses with its integrated ecosystem of commerce solutions, business software, and banking services. With Cash App, anyone can easily send, spend, or invest their money in stocks or Bitcoin. Spiral (formerly Square Crypto) builds and funds free, open-source Bitcoin projects. Artists use TIDAL to help them succeed as entrepreneurs and connect more deeply with fans. TBD is building an open developer platform to make it easier to access Bitcoin and other blockchain technologies without having to go through an institution.

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