Software Engineer, Backend

About this role

Build scalable backend infrastructure for an AI-powered research platform serving academic labs and R&D teams. You'll design systems handling millions of files and users while optimizing RAG pipelines, LLM deployments, and AI agent quality in a fast-moving startup environment.

What you'll do

• Design and build scalable infrastructure for AI-powered research tools processing millions of files
• Collaborate on RAG pipeline improvements focusing on response quality, latency, and robustness
• Establish best practices for prompt engineering and deployment of new models and workflows
• Monitor and optimize system performance and costs to maintain efficiency
• Own design and automation of evaluation pipelines to measure and improve AI agent quality
• Ship features from concept to production in days alongside a small engineering team

What they're looking for

• Backend engineering and scalable system design
• Large language models (LLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• AI agent architectures and behavior optimization
• Performance monitoring and cost optimization
• Prompt engineering and model deployment
• Rapid product development and shipping
• High-growth startup experience
• Full-stack system architecture

Benefits

• Competitive salary: $150K-$200K with 0.50%-1.00% equity
• Remote-first with optional San Francisco office space
• Visa sponsorship available for international candidates
• Premium healthcare (medical, dental, etc.)
• Flexible working hours
• Founding member opportunity at venture-backed AI research platform