Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Product

Sarah Smith Fund; Palo Alto, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity in startup

Comprehensive health benefits

Monthly stipends

Company retreats

Job summary

Pika is seeking a Senior/Staff Product Engineer to architect and ship AI-powered creative features for video and multimedia tools. You will work across engineering, design, ML, and product teams to shape the product vision and deliver high-quality experiences.

You will mentor peers, drive best practices, and own significant parts of the core product in a hybrid in-office setup based in Palo Alto, CA. Strong leadership and collaboration are essential.

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in a senior engineering or product engineering role.
• Experience shipping consumer apps, SaaS, or creative tech.
• Strong fundamentals across the stack (frontend and backend).
• Proficiency with modern languages and frameworks: TS, React, Python, Go.
• Excellent communication and mentorship capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and launch intuitive features for AI-powered video and multimedia tools.
• Collaborate with designers, engineers, and researchers to translate ideas into usable features.
• Architect end-to-end product solutions from backend to frontend.
• Ensure product quality, performance, and reliability across platforms.
• Lead code reviews and promote engineering best practices.
• Iterate quickly on features and experiments in a fast-paced startup environment.
• Partner with product and UX to deliver delightful user experiences.

Skills

Senior engineer

Frontend and backend

Cross-functional collaboration

Mentorship

Product-minded

Tools

TypeScript

React

Python

Go

Job description

About Pika

At Pika, we’re building the next generation of AI creative tools to empower human creativity. Our mission is to make video creation seamless, intuitive, and accessible to everyone by leveraging the power of advanced AI. We believe that AI should amplify creative expression—enabling everyone to create, collaborate, and communicate across media. Our team includes engineers, artists, and product thinkers, all passionate about building tools that unlock new creative possibilities.

Pika has raised significant funding and is backed by leading investors, with a collaborative culture based in Palo Alto, CA. We prefer a hybrid in-office model, sharing ideas and launching products together.

About the Role

We are seeking a Senior/Staff Product Engineer to play a key role in developing, launching, and scaling the product features that define Pika’s next generation AI-powered creative tools. You will collaborate closely with engineering, design, ML, and product teams to define product vision, design and build user-facing features, and deliver seamless creative experiences powered by cutting-edge AI technology.

You will be responsible for architecting robust, scalable software systems and crafting high-quality product features from concept to launch. As a technical leader, you’ll mentor peers, drive technical best practices, and have significant ownership in shaping the evolution of our core product.

What You’ll Do

• Design, develop, and launch intuitive product features for AI-powered video and multimedia tools
• Collaborate with designers, engineers, and researchers to translate creative possibilities into real, user-facing features
• Architect and implement end-to-end product solutions, from backend infrastructure to frontend experience
• Ensure product quality, performance, and reliability across platforms
• Conduct code reviews, promote engineering best practices, and mentor team members
• Iterate rapidly on features, prototypes, and experiments in a fast-paced startup environment
• Partner closely with product and UX to deliver delightful, accessible user experiences

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years experience in a senior engineering or product engineering role, ideally with a focus on user-facing features or creative tools
• Strong proficiency in software engineering fundamentals, with experience across the stack (front-end and back-end)
• Proven ability to design and build high-quality, scalable product features end-to-end
• Experience shipping software in production, ideally in consumer applications, SaaS, or creative technology
• Solid coding skills with modern languages and frameworks (e.g., TypeScript, React, Python, Go, or similar)
• Strong architectural skills and an eye for product detail and intuitiveness
• A collaborative, ownership-driven mindset with the ability to work independently and in teams
• Excellent communication skills and a passion for mentorship and technical leadership

Nice to Have

• Experience with creative tools, multimedia, generative AI, or video/image/audio product development
• Background in building applications that leverage ML or AI-powered features
• Startup experience—taking features or products from 0 to 1
• Familiarity with designing delightful UX/UI in partnership with designers

What We Offer

• Competitive salary in the AI and creative technology industry
• Equity in a rapidly growing startup shaping the future of AI and creativity
• Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, and company retreats
• Supportive, collaborative office culture—we’re all building and launching together.