Staff Software Engineer

About the Role

We're a small, early-stage AI/ML startup — backed by Y Combinator — building sophisticated reinforcement learning environments that train AI models to perform complex, expert-level tasks. As a Staff Software Engineer, you'll play a pivotal role in shaping our technical direction, architecting the core systems that power our platform, and raising the technical bar across the engineering organization. This is a high-impact, hands-on leadership role at a fast-moving team where your decisions will have outsized influence.

This is a hybrid role based in Los Angeles, CA. Please note that visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

What You'll Do

• Lead the architecture and design of scalable, high-impact systems and services.

• Implement and ship production-quality code that balances performance, observability, and maintainability.

• Drive system reliability and performance improvements through proactive monitoring, incident response, and remediation.

• Mentor and coach engineers across the organization to improve engineering practices and accelerate technical growth.

• Collaborate with product, design, and cross-functional teams to translate product needs into robust technical solutions.

• Establish and promote best practices for testing, code review, and deployment workflows.

• Influence the technical roadmap and make thoughtful trade-offs aligned with business and operational goals.

What We're Looking For

Must-haves:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with several years in senior or lead technical roles.

• Proven track record leading architecture decisions across multiple engineering teams.

• Experience building and delivering large-scale distributed systems at production scale.

• Hands-on experience designing and delivering production-grade backend services in cloud environments, including microservices, Docker, and Kubernetes.

• Experience deploying services to cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and operating containerized applications with CI/CD pipelines.

• Proficiency in at least one backend programming language — Python, Go, Java, or Node.js — with a strong record of production-grade code.

• Strong computer science fundamentals: algorithms, data structures, and system design.

• Demonstrated ability to mentor engineers, lead technical discussions, and influence cross-functional stakeholders.

Nice to have:

• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases and data modeling.

• Familiarity with observability and monitoring tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry.

• Experience with event-driven architectures and streaming systems (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ).

Location

This is a hybrid position based in Los Angeles, CA. Candidates should be located in or willing to relocate to the Los Angeles area. Visa sponsorship is not available.