Senior Staff Software Architect & Platform Leader

Heron Power; Scotts Valley (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Heron Power, a California startup, seeks a Senior Staff Software Engineer who will set technical direction and own end-to-end software systems—from the Build platform powering the factory floor to internal tools and data infrastructure. You will write production code, architect scalable systems, and mentor others while collaborating with hardware, manufacturing, and operations.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, strong judgment, and the ability to balance build vs.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in computer science, engineering, or a related field; equivalent experience considered.
• 10+ years of professional software engineering with staff/principal IC level ownership.
• Deep expertise in backend services, distributed systems, data modeling, APIs, and system design.
• Proficiency in Go, Python, or TypeScript/JavaScript; comfortable across the stack.
• Hands-on cloud experience (AWS), containers, and Kubernetes.
• Experience designing and owning CI/CD pipelines and developer tooling (e.g., GitHub Actions).
• Solid observability, security, and operational best practices across systems.
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to drive decisions without authority.
• Track record leading ambiguous, cross-functional projects end-to-end and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

• Architecture & Systems Design: set technical direction for major platform systems and APIs.
• Hands-On Software Development: write production code across backend services and data pipelines.
• Cloud & Infrastructure: own provisioning on AWS; define IaC with Terraform or Pulumi.
• CI/CD & Developer Experience: build and harden pipelines for fast, safe shipping (GitHub Actions).
• Kubernetes & Deployment: design containerization and production orchestration.
• Observability & Reliability: define monitoring, alerting, and reliability practices.
• Security & Data Integrity: embed security and least privilege across systems.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: raise engineering standards and mentor teammates.

Skills

Go

Python

TypeScript/JavaScript

AWS

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

Observability & Security

Communication & Leadership

Mentorship

Distributed systems design

Data modeling

Education

Master’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or related field

Tools

Terraform

Pulumi

Grafana

Prometheus

Linux

Job description

Heron Power, a California startup, seeks a Senior Staff Software Engineer who will set technical direction and own end-to-end software systems—from the Build platform powering the factory floor to internal tools and data infrastructure. You will write production code, architect scalable systems, and mentor others while collaborating with hardware, manufacturing, and operations.

The role emphasizes hands-on leadership, strong judgment, and the ability to balance build vs.