Eric Young

Senior Vice President of Engineering, Snap

Search every verified Eric Young interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Eric Young, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Snap, discussed his first four months in the role in an October 2023 company interview. He said he joined Snap because its mission to connect and entertain the world resonated with him, noting that the app's 400 million daily users represent a form of societal infrastructure. Young also cited the company's technical breadth—spanning maps, messaging, camera platform, AR, and video streaming—and the quality of colleagues he met during the interview process as reasons for joining. In the interview, Young outlined priorities for his team, including addressing technical debt and building scalable foundations, solving end-to-end user outcomes rather than isolated organizational solutions, and increasing customer empathy, particularly in advertising. He said the company is making major investments in machine learning, including graph-based learning, to improve friend recommendations, content promotion, and ad targeting. Young also emphasized the importance of considering user experiences on low-end devices in emerging markets and investing in developer productivity to reduce latency from technical debt. He mentioned that his favorite features include the "Shake to Report" tool, which he uses while traveling between Seattle and Santa Monica, and shared calling features that create shared virtual lens experiences.