Staff Software Architect - AI-Driven SaaS Platforms

AppFolio, Inc.; Santa Barbara (CA); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio, Inc. seeks a Staff Software Engineer to drive architectural evolution for our Leasing Engineering Domain and lead next-generation agentic AI products in a hands-on, full-stack leadership role.

You will own system architecture across distributed components, translating AI capabilities into production-grade SaaS infrastructure while partnering with ML, product, and UX teams. Expect high-ambiguity challenges and substantial impact on customer operations.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience developing and scaling web-based applications.
• Experience leading architectural discussions, defining system design, and guiding technical decision-making.
• Experience integrating AI/ML technologies into production-grade applications.
• Adopt a pragmatic approach to technology and drive clean architecture and refactoring.
• Focus on long-term maintainability and high-quality software.

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical vision and strategy across the Leasing teams, influencing the product roadmap and making key architectural decisions.
• Lead the design and implementation of complex, distributed systems powering agentic AI while maintaining reliability and security.
• Raise the bar for engineering quality through hands-on leadership in design and code, establishing standards for the team.
• Act as a force multiplier by coaching engineers and fostering a high-trust, autonomous culture with ownership.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, and ML leaders to translate AI capabilities into scalable, production-grade SaaS infrastructure.
• Own the full lifecycle of solutions from discovery to development to production in an autonomous team.
• Proactively research and apply new technologies to improve system quality and delivery.

Skills

Leadership

Architectural design

Distributed systems

AI/ML integration

Full-stack development

SaaS experience

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s/Ph.D. in Computer Science

Tools

Ruby on Rails

React

AWS

SOA

Job description

AppFolio, Inc. seeks a Staff Software Engineer to drive architectural evolution for our Leasing Engineering Domain and lead next-generation agentic AI products in a hands-on, full-stack leadership role.

You will own system architecture across distributed components, translating AI capabilities into production-grade SaaS infrastructure while partnering with ML, product, and UX teams. Expect high-ambiguity challenges and substantial impact on customer operations.