Member of Technical Staff - Backend/Distributed Systems

emerald-ai; San Francisco, Boston, Washington (CA, MA, District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Make an impact

World-class team

Build from 0 to 1

Competitive pay + equity

Comprehensive benefits

Flexible location

Backed by top investors

Job summary

Emerald AI in San Francisco is building the core backend platform powering real-time energy intelligence. We’re hiring a Distributed Systems / Backend Engineer to drive architectural decisions, build foundational infrastructure, and shape our stack as an early engineering hire.

You will work across ingestion, compute, storage, and orchestration, delivering reliable, scalable services and APIs, with opportunities to mentor and influence roadmap, product alignment, and long-term direction.

Qualifications

• Experience with distributed systems or data-intensive applications.
• Experience building and operating backend or infrastructure systems with a focus on reliability, performance, and scalability.
• Interest in grid systems, energy orchestration, and applying AI to real-world infrastructure.
• Experience working on real-time or near real-time systems.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and turning open-ended problems into production systems.
• Strong system design skills, including tradeoffs across latency, consistency, and scalability.
• Ability to work across the stack when needed to unblock progress.

Responsibilities

• Designing and scaling systems that interact with real-world energy infrastructure
• Building high-performance services and APIs that power core product workflows
• Tackling hard problems in reliability, data modeling, and system design
• Shipping end-to-end features—from idea to production
• Improving system observability, performance, and fault tolerance
• Partnering closely with product to turn ambiguous problems into shipped solutions

Skills

Distributed systems

Data-intensive apps

Backend development

System design

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

About Emerald AI

We’re at a pivotal moment for AI and energy. Demand for compute is skyrocketing, but power constraints are becoming a critical bottleneck. Emerald AI sits at the intersection of these two worlds, enabling AI data centers to scale without overwhelming the grid.

Our Emerald Conductor software platform makes data centers flexible and responsive, allowing them to adjust power usage dynamically. This unlocks massive AI growth without major new infrastructure, while also strengthening the grid and supporting the expansion of renewable energy.

We’re a team of experts across AI, cloud, software, and energy—on a mission to scale AI sustainably. We’re backed by leading investors and partners including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

Learn more about our vision, team, and backers at https://www.emeraldai.co/.

About the Role

We’re hiring a Distributed Systems / Backend Engineer to serve as a key contributor on the core backend platform powering Emerald AI. This is a high-impact role: you will drive architectural decisions, introduce best practices, build foundational infrastructure, and help guide the evolution of our real-time energy intelligence engine.

You’ll work across ingestion, compute, storage, and system orchestration—designing components that must be highly reliable, resilient, and capable of operating at scale. As one of the early engineering hires, you’ll have a major influence on our stack, roadmap, and long-term technical direction.

We hire across levels, from early-career to staff+, with expectations and scope aligned to your ability to drive outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing and scaling systems that interact with real-world energy infrastructure




• Building high-performance services and APIs that power core product workflows




• Tackling hard problems in reliability, data modeling, and system design




• Shipping end-to-end features—from idea to production




• Improving system observability, performance, and fault tolerance




• Partnering closely with product to turn ambiguous problems into shipped solutions

For senior candidates, you’ll have immediate opportunities to:

• Drive architecture and technical direction




• Lead ambiguous, high-impact initiatives




• Mentor and elevate other engineers

Who Thrives Here

• Engineers who want to build, not just maintain




• People who take ownership without waiting for permission




• Those who enjoy figuring things out when the path isn’t obvious




• Engineers who care about both technical excellence and real-world impact




• People who prefer high trust, high accountability environments

Preferred requirements

• Experience with distributed systems or data-intensive applications




• Experience building and operating backend or infrastructure systems with a focus on reliability, performance, and scalability




• Interest in grid systems, energy orchestration, and applying AI to real-world infrastructure




• Experience working on real-time or near real-time systems




• Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and turning open-ended problems into production systems




• Strong system design skills, including tradeoffs across latency, consistency, and scalability




• Ability to work across the stack when needed to unblock progress

What We Offer

• Make an impact. Solve the AI power bottleneck and shape how data centers scale sustainably.




• Join a world-class team of AI, cloud, software, and energy experts in a collaborative, low-ego environment.




• Build from 0 1. Influence strategy, GTM, org design, and customer/investor engagement from day one.




• Competitive pay + equity. Stock options let you share in the value you help create.




• Comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) matching.




• Flexible location. Work from D.C., Boston, or the Bay Area, with 1 WFH day/week.




• Backed by top investors, including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, and any other protected ground of discrimination under applicable human rights legislation.

Emerald AI strives to respect the dignity and independence of people with disabilities and is committed to giving them the same opportunity to succeed as all other employees.

Inclusiveness is core to our culture at Emerald AI, and we strive to ensure you get the most from your interview experience. Emerald AI makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please reach out to the Talent team.