Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure - Scaling & Performance

Aura; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 245,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous stock option program

Comprehensive health plans

401(k) with match

Lunch and snacks in SF & NY

$150 monthly fitness allowance

Flexible time off

Job summary

Aura is seeking an experienced Infrastructure Engineer to join their NYC and SF teams. This role focuses on designing and operating backend systems for a Rails API, ensuring scalability and high performance. Candidates should have extensive experience scaling applications and infrastructure, ideally in startup environments.

Benefits include a generous stock option program and comprehensive health plans. Compensation ranges from $180,000 to $245,000 annually.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant experience in infrastructure engineering.
• Strong coding skills in relevant programming languages.
• Hands-on experience with reliability engineering practices.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement scaling strategies in PostgreSQL backed Rails API.
• Lead initiatives for system reliability improvements.
• Manage application and database costs.

Skills

Scaling consumer applications and infrastructure

Low-latency async distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure knowledge (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Coding skills in Ruby, Python, or similar

Reliability engineering practices

Job description

About Aura

Build a world where people feel closer to their loved ones every day. Aura turned the digital frame into a private social network for more authentic, real‑world connection between our closest loved ones. Instantly share photos and videos from anywhere in the world to your loved ones' homes through our easy‑to‑use apps, beautifully displayed on premium Wi‑Fi frames.

Aura is the most recommended digital frame by independent reviewers, and the only digital frame recommended by The New York Times Wirecutter. With frames and apps used by millions from around the world, Aura continues to innovate with new products, software features, and new market expansion, fueling profitable growth.

We have a network of millions of digital picture frames across the world delivering photos to users. Aura is often given as a gift, so our infrastructure must support rapid scalability on holidays. We apply computer vision and machine learning technology to hundreds of millions of photos to help filter, layout, suggest, and display users' photos. We're constantly building new software and hardware products while improving our existing ones.

Role

You’ll join our small infrastructure engineering team in our NYC and SF offices, where you’ll design, build, and operate flexible backend systems for a Rails API. These systems scale reliably while supporting rapidly evolving products and maintaining high standards for performance, security, and cost efficiency.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement sharding in our PostgreSQL backed Rails API
• Lead initiatives to improve system reliability, including monitoring, alerting, and incident response
• Reduce application and database costs

Qualifications

• Deep experience scaling consumer applications and infrastructure to tens of millions of users
• Experience in low‑latency async distributed systems
• Strong knowledge of cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including compute, storage, networking, and database services
• Experience at a startup with fewer than 100 employees
• 10+ years of relevant experience
• Strong coding skills in Ruby, Python, or similar languages
• Hands‑on experience with reliability engineering practices: SLIs, SLOs, monitoring, alerting, and incident management

Benefits

• Generous stock option program – begins vesting after 1 year
• Comprehensive health plans – Aura pays 100% of the premium for employees and 50% for families.
• 401(k) with match – Aura fully matches the first 4% of your salary contributed
• Lunch and snacks – In SF & NY Offices
• $150 monthly fitness allowance – gym, coaching, etc
• Flexible time off – you’re required to take at least 10 days off each year

Compensation for this role will be in the $180,000 – $245,000 range. For full‑time, US‑based employees. Benefits may differ for part‑time or international roles.

Equal Opportunity Employment

Aura Home Inc. All rights reserved, Aura is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We encourage people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives to apply.

We will ensure that individuals with disabilities are provided a reasonable accommodation to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and to receive other benefits and privileges of employment. Please contact us to request an accommodation.

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