Staff Software Engineer

SustainRecruit; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 250,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hybrid work

Job summary

SustainRecruit is partnering with a well-funded AI startup in Sydney seeking a senior software engineer to own critical production systems. The role is backend-heavy, with real customers and a chance to influence architecture at scale.

Expect 8+ years of commercial software experience, polyglot capabilities with Go, strong AWS design/operations, and a Computer Science degree. Equity is offered alongside a strong salary and hybrid work.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of commercial software engineering experience.
• Ownership of a critical, high-impact production system.
• Strong backend engineering background.
• Polyglot experience, with willingness to work in Go.
• Strong experience designing, building, and running systems on AWS.
• Computer Science degree.
• Evidence of coding beyond formal work (coding in high school, side projects, internships, genuine curiosity)

Responsibilities

• Own critical, high-impact backend production systems.
• Build and maintain live systems used by customers.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and system design.

Skills

Backend engineering

System design

Go

AWS

Polyglot

Ownership

Eight+ years

Education

Computer Science degree

Tools

Go

AWS

Job description

Join a well-funded AI startup. High ownership, real customers, AWS-heavy systems, strong engineering culture.

• Location: Sydney, hybrid

• Salary: $250K - $300K + Super + Equity
• Location: Sydney, hybrid

We’re working with a well-funded AI startup building a technically complex product used by external customers at scale.
They have recently secured $10M in fresh funding, giving them strong runway and the ability to build deliberately.

The role is heavily backend-focused, with real ownership over systems that are already live and in production.

What they’re looking for:

• 8+ years of commercial software engineering experience
• Ownership of a critical, high-impact production system
• Strong backend engineering background
• Polyglot experience, with willingness to work in Go
• Strong experience designing, building, and running systems on AWS
• Computer Science degree
• Evidence of coding beyond formal work (coding in high school, side projects, internships, genuine curiosity)

Why this role:

• Engineering-led AI startup with a high technical bar
• $10M in fresh funding and solid runway
• Real customers and real problems
• High ownership, low bureaucracy, meaningful technical influence

If you’re a senior software engineer who enjoys responsibility, depth, and building systems that are actually used, this is worth a confidential conversation.