Software Engineer Formulate Labs · United States Mid

Rust UI; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Ownership of platform

Impactful work on core systems

AI tooling support

Career growth

Job summary

Formulate Labs is hiring a Software Engineer (Platform) to build core services that orchestrate Gen 3 manufacturing systems. You’ll connect machines to the cloud, schedule production, manage data and workflows, and deliver programmable, continuously improving platforms.

This role focuses on reliable, observable systems across distributed services, APIs, data pipelines, and internal tooling. You’ll ship features with high agency and AI-enabled development practices.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience building backend/cloud systems in production.
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems, APIs, and data modeling.
• Experience with at least one modern backend language (Rust, Go, Python, TypeScript, Java).
• Ability to own services end-to-end: design, deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Bias toward action in ambiguous, fast-moving environments, with AI-native tooling.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain backend services and APIs that orchestrate Gen 3 machines and factory workflows.
• Design data models and event flows for production runs, telemetry, quality signals, and auditability.
• Implement secure device-to-cloud connectivity, authentication, and RBAC.
• Build scalable pipelines for ingesting machine telemetry and operational data.
• Own platform reliability: monitoring, alerting, incident response, and postmortems.
• Improve developer velocity: tooling, CI/CD, tests, and deployment workflows.
• Collaborate with robotics/controls/firmware teams to define clean interfaces and protocols.
• Collaborate with Product to translate requirements into shipped features and measurable outcomes.
• Make pragmatic tradeoffs to ship quickly while keeping the system maintainable.

Skills

Distributed systems

APIs

Data modeling

Debugging

Backend/cloud experience

Job description

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Formulate Labs is a next-generation private label contract manufacturing platform that combines artificial intelligence, robotics, and automated production to create, test, and scale chemistry-based consumer products. From formulation design to robotic dispensing and mixing to quality validation, every step is driven by data and optimized by AI.

We operate as a vertically integrated manufacturing partner - developing formulas in-house, executing production through software-defined robotic systems, and scaling production without the inefficiencies of traditional contract manufacturers. Our platform turns ideas into production-ready products faster than legacy private label models, learning and improving with every batch. We're building a new standard for how chemistry-based products are designed, manufactured, and brought to market.

About the Role

As a Software Engineer (Platform), you'll build the core software services that orchestrate our Gen 3 manufacturing systems. You'll work on the platform that connects machines to the cloud, schedules and tracks production, manages data and workflows, and turns real-world manufacturing into something programmable and continuously improving.

This role is for a builder who likes shipping. You'll work across distributed systems, APIs, data pipelines, device connectivity, and internal tooling. The platform you build will be used every day by real operators running real production - so reliability, observability, and pragmatic engineering matter.

We care less about pedigree and more about high agency. You should be a first-principles thinker, a fast learner, and someone who actively uses modern AI tools to accelerate development, debugging, and iteration.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain backend services and APIs that orchestrate Gen 3 machines and factory workflows.
• Design data models and event flows for production runs, telemetry, quality signals, and auditability.
• Implement secure device-to-cloud connectivity, authentication, and role-based access control.
• Build scalable pipelines for ingesting machine telemetry and operational data.
• Own platform reliability: monitoring, alerting, incident response, and postmortems.
• Improve developer velocity: tooling, CI/CD, test infrastructure, and deployment workflows.
• Work closely with robotics/controls/firmware teams to define clean interfaces and protocols.
• Collaborate with Product to translate requirements into shipped features and measurable outcomes.
• Make pragmatic tradeoffs to ship quickly while keeping the system maintainable.

Requirements:

• 3+ years of experience building backend/cloud systems in production environments.
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems, APIs, and data modeling.
• Experience with at least one modern backend language (e.g., Rust, Go, Python, TypeScript, Java).
• Comfortable owning services end-to-end: design, implementation, deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Strong debugging skills; you can reason about failures across services, networks, and devices.
• High agency and bias toward action in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
• AI-native working style: you actively leverage AI tools to accelerate shipping and raise quality.

What We Offer

• Competitive compensation with equity.
• High ownership and autonomy on a core platform that touches every part of the company.
• Opportunity to build software that directly drives real-world manufacturing outcomes.
• Fast-moving team that values builders, perpetual learners, and people who take initiative.
• Modern tooling and support for AI-enabled development workflows.