Staff Backend Software EngineerMountain View, CA

Tapestry; Mountain View (CA); Hybrid; USD 207,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Dental coverage

Vision coverage

Hybrid work model

Equity compensation

Professional development

Job summary

Tapestry, Alphabet’s electric grid AI moonshot, seeks a staff backend software engineer to design and implement secure, scalable infrastructure and services across the platform.

You will work with engineers, ML experts, power systems domain experts and PMs to enable product teams to ship faster and more autonomously while tackling energy tech challenges at scale.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Strong CS fundamentals: algorithms and data structures.
• 10+ years of experience building enterprise-grade software systems.
• Excellent problem solving and ability to navigate ambiguity.
• Proficiency in Java/Kotlin or Go.
• Experience with microservices, REST/gRPC, and cloud SQL.
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform or AWS/Azure.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement production-grade software to make complex data accessible via enterprise apps.
• Build data ingestion, storage, and services across multiple sources.
• Collaborate with engineers, scientists, domain experts and PMs to plan and integrate work.
• Lead architectural decisions and drive technical strategy across teams.
• Mentor engineers and foster a culture of technical excellence.

Skills

Java/Kotlin/Go

Microservices

REST/gRPC

System design

Cloud platforms

Logging/Monitoring

Google Cloud

Mentoring engineers

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/SE or related

Tools

Prometheus

Grafana

PostgreSQL/MySQL

REST APIs

Job description

About Tapestry

Tapestry is Alphabet’s moonshot for the electric grid, working at the frontier where energy’s complexity meets AI’s potential. We were born at X, the innovation lab responsible for breakthrough technologies like Waymo, Verily and Google Brain.

This is a global effort. Tapestry is proud to support partners in the U.S., U.K., Chile, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil as they build a cleaner, more resilient energy future. Joining Tapestry allows you to do the best work of your life as part of a multidisciplinary team of experts in AI, energy systems, software engineering and product design—collaborating to reshape energy on a global scale. If you want to tackle problems that matter and build tools with real impact, we would love to meet you. Learn more about our team and our mission here.

About The Role

As a staff backend software engineer you will work across the entire Tapestry platform, helping the team design and implement secure, reliable, and scalable infrastructure and services. You will work closely with other software engineers, machine learning experts, power systems domain experts and product managers to plan, coordinate and integrate your work. This is your dream job if you are passionate about enabling product teams to ship faster, safer and more autonomously by abstracting away infrastructure complexity. Come talk to us if you are excited about energy tech and have strong engineering chops to help push our electric grids towards the future!

How You Will Make 10X Impact

• Design and implement robust, end to end production-level software to make complex data accessible through enterprise class applications
• Drive technologies and product development for the energy domain, including data ingestion, storage and services from different sources.
• Work effectively with cross-functional teams of engineers, scientists, domain experts and PMs.
• Interface with external partners to refine technical requirements, and rapidly develop prototypes to evaluate feasibility
• Have strong software engineering/system design skills and being excited about solving complex problems at scale and navigating ambiguity

What You Should Have

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field.
• Algorithms and Data Structures: Strong grasp of foundational computer science concepts to optimize code performance and memory usage.
• 10+ years of experience building enterprise grade complex software systems and applications.
• Excellent problem solving and ability to navigate complex/ambiguous situations.
• Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams of engineers, scientists, domain experts and PMs.
• Proficiency in at least one major backend language (Java/Kotlin or Go Lang preferred).
• Experience with large-scale data processing and modeling, designing backend services and building robust enterprise class applications.
• Extensive experience with microservices architecture, including RESTful APIs, gRPC, event-driven design patterns, and Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL/MySQL).
• Knowledge of logging and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, GCP cloud monitoring) to troubleshoot production issues.
• Hands-on experience with Google Cloud Platform (preferred) or AWS/Azure.
• Demonstrated ability to drive technical strategy and lead large-scale architectural decisions across teams.
• Experience mentoring engineers and fostering a culture of technical excellence.

It’d be great if you also had one or more of these

• Working knowledge or background in power systems or electric grid technologies.
• Experience with building full-stack applications including frameworks such as Angular.
• Knowledge of enterprise security architectures, compliance standards and zero-trust security models.
• Experience working in a Startup/early stage company.

Our values

• Take charge: We take initiative and own outcomes that move the mission forward.
• Transform with purpose: We build solutions that solve real problems and create meaningful impact.
• Be a Tapestry, not a thread: We collaborate across diverse skills and perspectives to achieve more than we can individually.
• Always fine-tune: We stay curious, seek feedback, and refine our understanding as we learn.
• Stay grounded: We listen openly, value different perspectives, and stay focused on what matters most.

What We Offer

A culture that supports growth, ownership, and meaningful impact, along with:

• Competitive salary and equity
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Generous PTO and flexible hybrid work model
• 401(k) with employer contribution
• Professional development
• The ability to work on important real-world problems within an Alphabet-backed environment

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $207,000 - $300,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process. Please note that the compensation details listed in US role postings reflect the base salary only, and do not include bonus, equity, or benefits.