Senior Software Engineer, Infrastructure - Scaling & Performance

Aura Home, Inc.; New York (NY); On-site; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Stock option program

Comprehensive health plans

401(k) with match

Lunch and snacks

$150 monthly fitness allowance

Flexible time off

Job summary

Aura Home, Inc. is looking for a seasoned backend engineer to join their infrastructure team in New York City. This role involves designing and operating backend systems for their Rails API, ensuring they can scale reliably while managing performance and security.

The ideal candidate will have over a decade of experience, ideally in startup environments, specializing in high-scale consumer applications. The position offers a competitive salary ranging from $160,000 to $220,000 and a great benefits package including stock options and flexible time off.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of relevant experience in infrastructure engineering.
• Experience in startups with fewer than 100 employees.

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement sharding in PostgreSQL backed Rails API.
• Lead initiatives to improve system reliability.
• Reduce application and database costs.

Skills

Scaling consumer applications

Low-latency async distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure (AWS, GCP, Azure)

Coding in Ruby, Python

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.

What you’ll do

• 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

Because You Matter

We believe in creating a happy and supportive work environment, so you can both excel at your job and actually enjoy coming into work each day. Compensation for this role will be in the $160,000 - $220,000 range.

For full‑time, US‑based employees. Benefits may differ for part‑time or international roles.

• 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 - and you’re required to take at least 10 days off each year

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.