Sr. Staff, Instrument Software Engineer

Mammoth DS, Inc; South San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Atlas in California is seeking a Senior Staff Instrument Software Engineer to help architect, design, and implement software for our electrochemical CMOS-based DNA synthesis instrumentation. You'll integrate with back-end services and bioinformatics pipelines to enable data storage hardware.

You will work with hardware, electrical, and chemistry teams, and contribute to high-performance, low-latency code across C/C++, Rust, and TypeScript, leveraging RTOS knowledge to meet strict timing.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional software development experience, with staff-level or senior leadership
• Expertise in C, C++, Rust, TypeScript or Python
• Deep memory management understanding across languages
• Write high-performance, low-latency code for very large data payloads
• Experience with firmware design and high-speed buses (SPI, Ethernet, USB)
• Knowledge of RTOS and its architectural implications
• BS in CS or related field
• Proficiency in C# and/or C++
• OO design and clean software architecture
• Hardware integration and system bring-up

Responsibilities

• Develop high-performance systems handling large data payloads with data integrity
• Help develop software for custom DNA data storage platform
• Collaborate with hardware, electrical, chemistry teams to define specs
• Architect and implement in C, C++, Rust
• Apply RTOS expertise to meet timing and reliability for hardware control

Skills

C/C++

Rust

TypeScript

Python

RTOS

Low-latency coding

Hardware integration

Git

OO design

C#

Education

BS in Computer Science or related field

Master's or PhD in CS or related field (preferred)

Tools

Git

Version control systems

Job description

About this position

Atlas is charting the future of data and computing by pioneering Molecular Computing technology. We're a recently funded, high-growth startup at the intersection of Information Technology and Bio Technology, tackling some of the most complex IT challenges in the world.

We're looking for an exceptional Senior Staff Instrument Software Engineer to join our core engineering team. This is a unique opportunity to apply your expertise and programming knowledge to build the systems that will make biological data storage a commercial reality.

About the Role

As a Senior Staff Instrument Software Engineer, you will be an essential member of our engineering team. You'll help architect, design, and implement high-performance software to operate the electrochemical CMOS-based DNA synthesis instrumentation we are developing. You will also help support the development of a new generation of electronic gene sequencing hardware. All the hardware tightly integrates with back-end web services and the bioinformatics pipeline.

Responsibilities

• Develop high-performance systems capable of handling very large data payloads while ensuring end-to-end data integrity.
• Help develop software running on our highly custom DNA data storage platform.
• Work closely with hardware, electrical, and chemistry teams to define requirements and specifications.
• Architect and implement using languages such as C, C++ or Rust.
• Apply expertise in Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) to inform architectural decisions that meet strict timing and reliability requirements for hardware control.

Required Skills

• 10+ years of professional software development experience, with significant experience in a Staff-level or equivalent senior technical leadership role.
• Expertise in a broad set of languages such as C, C++, Rust, TypeScript or Python.
• Deep, demonstrable understanding of memory management and allocation strategies across multiple languages and runtimes.
• Proven ability to write performant, low‑latency, and highly optimized code, especially when dealing with very large data payloads (multi‑gigabyte to terabyte scale).
• Experience designing and implementing firmware and working with high-speed buses (SPI, 1G/10G Ethernet, USB, etc.).
• Knowledge of Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) and their implications on system architecture and design.
• BS in Computer Science or related technical field.
• Proficiency in C# and/or C++.
• 6+ years industry experience.
• Mastery of object‑oriented programming concepts and clean software architecture design.
• Familiarity with hardware integration, system bring‑up and validation.
• Ability to take a hands‑on approach to software and hardware development.
• Experience with Git or similar version control systems.

Desired Skills

• Prior experience working directly with hardware development, bring‑up, and troubleshooting.
• Front‑end development (TypeScript, React or similar frameworks).
• Understanding of FPGA and ASIC integration.
• Familiarity with data storage technologies.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) for data storage and deployment infrastructure.
• Bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Image processing experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s or PhD in Computer Science or related technical field.
• Electrical and mechanical engineering experience is a big plus.
• Experience with the latest .NET is a plus.
• WPF experience is a big plus, and an eye for clean UI design is greatly appreciated.
• Interest and ability to learn other programming languages as needed.

The pay range for this role is: 175,000 – 210,000 USD per year (HQ).