Staff Software Engineer

Emergent; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 190,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

Health, dental, and vision insurance

Unlimited PTO

Flexible working hours

Equity

Job summary

Emergent is redefining software creation by building autonomous coding agents that generate, test, and deploy production applications directly from plain-language intent. As a Staff Engineer on Autonomous Systems in San Francisco, you will shape the technical foundation for reliable AI-driven software at global scale.

You will own architecture for critical production systems, mentor engineers, and collaborate across AI/ML, infrastructure, and product teams to deliver end-to-end solutions that

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building large-scale backend or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or Go.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency and parallelism, and system design under scale and failure.
• Proven track record of owning architecture for critical production systems.
• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Docker, AWS/GCP/Azure, event-driven systems, and data infrastructure is a bonus.

Responsibilities

• Architect autonomous systems where AI agents reliably generate production-grade software, with feedback loops for self-correction, validation, and continuous improvement.
• Build infrastructure that supports millions of applications and real-time workloads, solving for latency, concurrency, and reliability at global scale.
• Establish standards for correctness, observability, and fault tolerance across backend, infrastructure, and AI layers.
• Collaborate with AI/ML, infrastructure, and product teams to build end-to-end systems from model interaction layers to distributed execution engines.
• Debug non-deterministic systems, design for edge cases, and build systems that reason, not just execute.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical culture and direction across teams.

Skills

Python

Go

Distributed systems

Backend architecture

Leadership

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS/GCP/Azure

Event-driven systems

Job description

Emergent builds autonomous coding agents that replace traditional software development by generating, testing, and deploying production applications directly from plain-language intent. Our systems run in production at global scale and are used to build millions of real applications.

Since our public launch, we've crossed $100M in ARR and grown to over 10M users across 190+ countries. We're backed by Khosla Ventures, SoftBank, Google, Lightspeed, Prosus, Together, and Y Combinator.

We're solving the hard part of AI-driven software creation: correctness, reliability, security, and scale in real production systems. The team is built by repeat founders, Olympiad medalists, IIT & IIM alumni, and leaders from Google, Amazon, and Dropbox.

We're hiring builders who want ownership, speed, and impact at global scale.

The Role

We're not building another developer tool. We're building the system that replaces software development itself. As a Staff Engineer on Autonomous Systems, you will define the technical foundation for how AI agents reliably generate, test, and deploy production-grade software at global scale. This role exists for engineers who think in systems, care about correctness as much as speed, and want to solve problems that don't have playbooks.

What You'll Do:

• Architect autonomous systems where AI agents reliably generate production-grade software, with feedback loops for self-correction, validation, and continuous improvement.
• Build infrastructure that supports millions of applications and real-time workloads, solving for latency, concurrency, and reliability at global scale.
• Establish standards for correctness, observability, and fault tolerance across backend, infrastructure, and AI layers.
• Collaborate deeply with AI/ML, infrastructure, and product teams to build end-to-end systems from model interaction layers to distributed execution engines.
• Debug non-deterministic systems, design for edge cases you can't enumerate, and build systems that reason, not just execute.
• Mentor engineers and influence technical culture and direction across teams.

What We're Looking For:

• 8+ years of experience building large-scale backend or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency in Python and/or Go.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency and parallelism, and system design under scale and failure.
• Proven track record of owning architecture for critical production systems, not just contributing to them.
• You think in trade-offs, simplify complex systems without dumbing them down, and have influenced engineering direction across teams.
• Experience with AI/ML infrastructure or LLM-based systems is a strong plus.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Docker, AWS/GCP/Azure, event-driven systems, and data infrastructure is a bonus.

Why Join Us:

• Define how software gets built in the AI era, not optimize what already exists.
• Work on systems already under real-world stress at global scale, early in the company's journey.
• Small, high-agency team with zero bureaucracy and direct impact on product and architecture.
• Work alongside engineers from Google, Amazon, and Dropbox, Olympiad medalists, and repeat founders.
• Top-tier compensation and meaningful equity.

Benefits and Perks:

• 401(k)
• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Unlimited Paid Time Off: take the time you need to recharge and come back refreshed
• Flexible Working Hours: work arrangements that fit your life and commitments
• Let's build the future of software together.