Staff Backend Engineer – AI Research Infra Lead

MaC VC; San Mateo (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited PTO

Conference attendance and publication

Competitive compensation

Job summary

Autoscience Institute in the San Francisco Bay Area seeks a Senior or Staff Software Engineer (Technical Lead) to guide the design of core backend and infrastructure powering autonomous research agents. You will own architecture, write clear design docs, and drive production deployments in a fast-paced, research-focused environment.

You will collaborate with researchers and engineers to translate experimental ideas into robust production systems, ensuring reliability, scalability, and

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex engineering projects or initiatives.
• Experience as a technical lead or guiding small teams of engineers.
• Strong software design and architecture skills.
• Demonstrated ability to write clear technical design documents.
• Strong experience with Python.
• Experience building or operating backend or production infrastructure.
• Experience working in 24/7 production environments.
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or similar cloud infrastructure.
• Understanding of software evolution, maintainability, and design tradeoffs.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with both engineers and researchers.
• Bachelor’s degree in CS, Mathematics, or related field.
• 5+ years of experience building and operating production software systems, including ownership from design to deployment.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of core backend and infrastructure systems.
• Own projects from architecture and design through production deployment.
• Write clear technical design documents and drive engineering decisions.
• Build and maintain 24/7 production systems supporting autonomous research agents.
• Partner with research teams to productionize experimental workflows.
• Guide and collaborate with engineers on system design and implementation.
• Improve system reliability, scalability, and observability.
• Help shape the technical direction of the platform.

Skills

Leadership

System design

Software architecture

Python

Technical docs

Production systems

24/7 operations

Cloud infrastructure

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Math or related field

Tools

Google Cloud Platform

Job description

Company Description

At Autoscience Institute, we automate AI research. Recently, we announced the first AI agent to autonomously create peer-reviewed literature (ICLR 2025) and the first AI system to win a Kaggle medal. We are passionate about pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and contributing to groundbreaking advancements in the field.

Role Description

This is a full-time on-site role for a Senior or Staff Software Engineer (Technical Lead) located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In this role, you will lead the design and development of core systems that power autonomous research agents. You’ll be responsible for building reliable backend infrastructure and production systems that support large-scale AI experimentation and research workflows.

We are looking for engineers who have owned complex projects end-to-end, contributed to system architecture, and helped guide small teams of engineers through delivery. You should be comfortable writing high-quality code, producing clear design documents, and making thoughtful technical decisions that shape how systems evolve over time.

You will work closely with both engineers and researchers to translate experimental ideas into robust production systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of core backend and infrastructure systems

• Own projects from architecture and design through production deployment

• Write clear technical design documents and drive engineering decisions

• Build and maintain 24/7 production systems supporting autonomous research agents

• Partner closely with research teams to productionize experimental workflows

• Guide and collaborate with engineers on system design and implementation

• Improve system reliability, scalability, and observability

• Help shape the technical direction of the platform

Qualifications

• Experience leading complex engineering projects or technical initiatives

• Experience acting as a technical lead or guiding small teams of engineers

• Strong software design and architecture skills

• Demonstrable experience writing clear technical design documents

• Strong experience with Python

• Experience building or operating backend or production infrastructure

• Experience working in 24/7 production environments

• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or similar cloud infrastructure

• Strong understanding of software evolution, maintainability, and system design tradeoffs

• Ability to collaborate effectively with both engineers and researchers

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field

• Strong candidates will typically have 5+ years of experience building and operating production software systems, including ownership of projects from design through deployment

Benefits & Perks

• Our comp is competitive against major LLM frontier lab packages

• Unlimited PTO and flexible working arrangements

• Conference attendance and publication support

Our Culture

We're a team of passionate researchers and engineers working to automate scientific discovery. We believe in the power of AI to accelerate scientific discovery and are committed to responsible AI development.