Software Engineer (New Graduate)

Chalk; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Full medical, dental, vision insurance

401(k) retirement savings

Daily lunch and dinner on us

Flexible Spending Account (FSA) / HSA

Generous PTO

Job summary

Chalk is hiring Software Engineers in New York to join an early team building a high-growth start-up. You will tackle challenging engineering problems with autonomy and ownership, focusing on systems engineering for an analytics platform.

The role requires in-person collaboration 5 days a week with direct interaction with Chalk’s co-founders. You will write in C++, Python, and Rust, and contribute to the design, implementation, and maintenance of the query planning and execution engine while

Qualifications

• Graduation date Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, EECS, or related field.
• Strong working knowledge of computer science fundamentals.
• Comfort with leading development of new components and taking ownership of existing software.
• Experience implementing data infrastructure and distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, ship, and maintain significant components of Chalk’s query planning and execution engine.
• Iterate rapidly to improve Chalk’s platform in response to customer needs.
• Write and work with C++, Python, and Rust.
• Collaborate with co-founders and engineering team to tackle hard problems in DBMS, compilers, and analytical data processing systems.

Skills

Systems engineering

Autonomy

Ownership

Distributed systems

Compilers

Query planners

Rust

Python

C++

Communication

Learning quickly

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or EECS

Tools

Rust

C++

Python

Job description

• This position is scheduled to start in Spring 2027


• We are hiring Software Engineers to join our team


• This is an opportunity to join us in-person as an early employee and make a large impact at a high growth start-up


• You will tackle challenging engineering problems with a high degree of autonomy and ownership


• We are looking for a software engineer with a strong background in systems engineering


• At Chalk we are solving problems drawn from the fields of DBMS query planning & optimization, compilers, and distributed analytical data processing systems


• Chalk uses dynamic and static analysis of Python programs in order to optimize arbitrary user Python code, infers and orchestrates infrastructure implied by the structure of that code, and tracks metadata about flow of data through these systems


• We’re in the office 5 days a week


• When unavoidable conflicts come up, we’re flexible


• This is not a hybrid role


• Work directly with Chalk’s co-founders


• Write C++, Python and Rust


• Design, implement, ship, and maintain significant components of our query planning and execution engine


• Iterate rapidly to improve Chalk’s platform in response to customer needs

Benefits

• Full medical, dental, and vision insurance


• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA)


• Expert healthcare guidance and live one-on-one support


• 401(k) retirement savings


• Generous holiday schedule


• Generous PTO annually


• Daily lunch and dinner on us


• Flex commuter benefits


• Grab a ride home on us

Track record of learning new concepts quicklyGraduation date in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 with a Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant field (Computer Science, EECS)Strong working knowledge of computer science fundamentals. We’re not looking for experience from drilling leet code – we need folks who are comfortable building and maintaining real systemsStrong communication skillsComfort with leading development of new components of existing systems, and with taking ownership of existing softwareAbility to work autonomously & to make pragmatic tradeoffs with an eye towards business outcomesExperience implementing data infrastructureExperience with distributed systems/compilers/query plannersExperience with RustExperience with developing PaaS-like software