Software Engineer, AI & Data Systems

Clera; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 200,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Early-stage equity

Job summary

Clera is seeking a Software Engineer, AI & Data Systems to join our fast-growing data infrastructure team in San Francisco. This high-ownership role requires you to tackle ambiguous problems, choose architectures, ship products, and own them end-to-end in production.

You will use modern AI tools while maintaining engineering judgment and accountability. You will build and ship customer-facing products and core platform capabilities across backend, data pipelines, and frontend surfaces; design

Qualifications

• End-to-end ownership of a production system—from concept through deployment and ongoing operations.
• Strong backend skills: APIs, data models, and distributed systems.
• Based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco for a full-time, in-office role.
• Experience at a talent-dense early-stage startup shipping across product and infrastructure.
• Hands-on experience building and operating high-volume data pipelines.
• CS degree from a top-tier university.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship customer-facing products and core platform capabilities across backend, data, infrastructure, and frontend surfaces.
• Design and operate high-volume data pipelines and services at massive scale with strong reliability, security, and observability.
• Build AI agents, agent harnesses, and developer tools—then operate them reliably at very large scale.
• Make architecture decisions, articulate tradeoffs clearly, and iterate designs as assumptions evolve.
• Work directly with founders and customers to translate vague requirements into clear product decisions and working software.

Skills

End-to-end ownership

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

APIs

Data pipelines

Python

Education

CS degree

Tools

APIs

Cloud infrastructure

LLMs

Job description

About the Role

We're a fast-growing, early-stage data infrastructure company building one of the world's largest living identity graphs — spanning billions of individuals — powered by autonomous AI agents operating across the open web. Our 8-person engineering team is looking for a Software Engineer, AI & Data Systems with 1–6 years of experience to build core platform capabilities and customer-facing products.

This is a high-ownership role. You'll take ambiguous customer problems, choose sensible architectures, ship products, and own them end-to-end in production. You're expected to use modern AI tools aggressively while maintaining strong engineering judgment and accountability.

What You'll Do

• Build and ship customer-facing products and core platform capabilities across backend, data, infrastructure, and frontend surfaces

• Design and operate high-volume data pipelines and services at massive scale with strong reliability, security, and observability

• Build AI agents, agent harnesses, and developer tools — then operate them reliably at very large scale

• Make architecture decisions, articulate tradeoffs clearly, and iterate designs as assumptions evolve

• Work directly with founders and customers to translate vague requirements into clear product decisions and working software

What We're Looking For

Must-haves:

• End-to-end ownership of a production system — from concept through deployment and ongoing operations

• Strong backend engineering skills: APIs, data models, and distributed systems

• Based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco for a full-time, in-office role

• Experience at a talent-dense early-stage startup (seed through Series A/B) shipping across both product and infrastructure

• Hands-on experience building and operating high-volume data pipelines

• CS degree from a top-tier university

Nice to have:

• Experience building AI agents, data pipelines, or identity/entity matching systems at scale

• Familiarity with AI-native development: LLMs, agent frameworks, and related tooling

• Available to start by mid-September 2026 for our residency program

Tech stack includes: Python, distributed systems, data pipelines, LLMs, AI agent frameworks, REST APIs, cloud infrastructure.

Note: Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.

Compensation & Benefits

• Salary: $200,000 – $280,000 USD annually, depending on experience

• Early-stage equity

Location

This is a full-time, on-site role based in San Francisco, CA. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco.