Principal Software Engineer

Astera Institute; Emeryville (CA); On-site; USD 210,000 - 270,000; Full time

Job summary

A private research foundation located in Emeryville, CA is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help reverse-engineer the human brain. The role involves defining high-performance infrastructure for training models and optimizing environments while maintaining high standards for code quality. Candidates should have a proven ability to architect complex systems and demonstrate adaptability in learning about interdisciplinary fields such as neuroscience. Visa sponsorship may be available for qualified applicants.

Qualifications

• Experience in architecting complex systems from scratch.
• Proven record of clean, maintainable, and well-tested code.
• Ability to quickly master complex domains and guide others.
• Mastery of Hard Problems: you lead the resolution of difficult engineering challenges, including kernel‑level optimization.

Responsibilities

• Define and architect infrastructure for training large-scale models.
• Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
• Set standards for clean, production-grade code.
• Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
• Identify and resolve the most critical and ambiguous technical bottlenecks, from low-level optimization to high-level strategy, to unblock the research team.

Job description

About Astera:

Astera is a private foundation with a $2.5B endowment on a mission to steer science and technology toward an abundant future for all. Unlike traditional foundations, we operate like a high-velocity startup with unprecedented access to computational resources and complete freedom from funding pressures or profit motives. This allows us to focus on ambitious goals and attract incredibly creative scientists and engineers from leading academic institutions and from frontier AI labs.

Obelisk is our large-scale AI research program, pursuing a neuroscience-informed approach to engineering AGI. This is not yet‑another‑lab scaling LLMs in a hope of achieving general intelligence. We are integrating neuroscience, AI, and bioengineering to understand and digitally model the architecture of the human brain.

Position Summary:

We are looking for an ambitious Staff Software Engineer to help us reverse‑engineer the human brain.

This role spans a broad spectrum of activities:

• Define and architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.

• Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.

• Set the organizational standard for clean, fast, production‑grade code that boosts our research velocity.

• Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.

• Identify and resolve the most critical and ambiguous technical bottlenecks, from low-level optimization to high-level strategy, to unblock the research team.

Qualifications:

• High‑Velocity Craftsmanship: You set the bar for clean, maintainable, and well‑tested code at a startup pace. You know how to balance engineering rigor with the need to iterate quickly on research prototypes.

• System Architecture Intuition: You have proven success architecting complex systems from scratch. You understand multi‑year trade‑offs, and you can design infrastructure that survives the chaos of research.

• Extreme Adaptability: You might be an expert in distributed systems today, but you are ready to become a novice in neuroscience tomorrow. You have a track record of diving into complex domains, mastering them quickly, and guiding others through them.

• Mastery of Hard Problems: You have a track record of leading the resolution of difficult engineering challenges, whether it is massive scale distributed systems or kernel‑level optimization. You do not shy away from what your peers consider hardcore.

Location & Visa:

• This role is in‑person in Emeryville, CA.

• Visa sponsorship may be available for qualified candidates.