Staff Software Engineer

Antramo; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 250,000 - 400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flights

Temporary housing near office

Relocation expenses up to $10k

Job summary

Antramo is seeking a Founding Senior/Staff Engineer in San Francisco to tackle foundational, ambiguous problems across the stack. You will move freely between product, infrastructure, and developer tooling, defining the best approach and delivering impactful solutions without waiting for permission.

You should bring 4+ years total experience with AI-enabled problem solving, top-tier CS fundamentals, and exceptional communication to explain complex ideas clearly.

Qualifications

• Startup experience is a must, preferably at a venture-backed company.
• 4+ years total experience with 1+ year hands-on using AI to solve complex unstructured problems.
• Level-3 autonomy: ability to own an ambiguous problem from approach to completion.
• Strong CS fundamentals and ability to move between architecture and production debugging.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to explain complex tech simply.
• Demonstrated edge—do something exceptionally well that makes you unusually effective.

Responsibilities

• Own high-leverage, cross-stack engineering work with broad autonomy.
• Develop scalable instrumentation, tooling, and systems across product, infra, and developer tooling.
• Tackle hard, novel problems with direct impact on the company and product architecture.

Skills

Autonomy

Strong communication

AI tooling

Systems fundamentals

Education

Top engineering college

Job description

FoundingSenior/StaffEngineer

Buildthecompany.Shapethetechnology.Solveproblemsthatdon'thaveplaybooks.

Ourclient'searlystagestartupisbuildingsomethingambitious-Observabilityusingasingleprompt-forwhichtheyarelookingforexceptionalengineerswhowanttobefoundationaltothecompany—notjustanotherengineerontheteam.

AsaFoundingEngineer,youwon'tbeboxedintobackend,frontend,infra,orsupport.You'llgowhereverthehardestandmostinterestingproblemsare.

Asthecompanygrows,you'llhavethefreedom—andresponsibility—tomoveacrossthestack,tackleproblemsyou'reuniquelygoodat,andhelpdefinehowwebuildthecompany.Therearenoartificialroadblocks.Nowaitingthreequartersforpermissiontofixsomething.Ifyouseeabetterway,you'llhavetheopportunitytobuildit.

What you'll work on

• Compressinstrumentationonboardingfromdaysofhands-onworktominutes.
• Scalethetelemetryengineintothepetabytes.
• Collapselatencyfromminutestoseconds.
• Buildsystemsthatoperateatmassivescaleandreliability.
• UseAItosolvecomplex,ambiguousengineeringproblems.
• Developtoolingthatfundamentallychangeshowdevelopersunderstandandoperatetheirsystems.
• Moveseamlesslybetweenproduct,infrastructure,developertooling,andwhateverproblemmattersmostthatweek.

Youwon'tbehandedanarrowlydefinedjobdescription.Ourclientwillfigureoutwhereyourhighest-leverageskills,curiosity,andenergycancreatethemostimpact—andkeepyouthere.

Who you are

OurclientislookingforengineersoperatingataSenior/Stafflevelwhoarecomfortablewithsignificantautonomyandambiguity.Youlikelyhave:

• Start-upexperienceisamust(Currentlyataventure-backedpre-IPOAIcompanythathasraisedSeriesAorlater).Previouslyworkedatatop,well-knowntechnologycompany(Palantir,Affirm,OpenAI,Google,Meta,Nvidia,Apple,Microsoft,Amazon,Stripe,Databricks,ScaleAI,Uber,Airbnb,orsimilar)
• 4+yearsoftotalexperiencewith1+yearsofhands-onexperienceusingAItosolvecomplex,unstructuredproblems.ExperienceapplyingAItodevelopertoolingisamajorplus.
• Level3autonomy—youcantakeanambiguousproblem,definetheapproach,anddriveittocompletionwithoutneedingconstantdirection.
• Preferredcomputerscience/engineeringbackgroundfromtopengineeringcollege
• Strongsystemsandsoftwareengineeringfundamentals.
• Theabilitytomovebetweenlevelsofabstraction—fromarchitecturetoimplementationtoproductiondebugging.
• Exceptionalcommunicationskills.Youcantakeanincrediblycomplextechnicalproblemandexplainitsimplyenoughthattheentireteamcanmakeagooddecision.
• Ademonstratededge—somethingyoudoexceptionallywellthatmakesyouunusuallyeffective.

Mostimportantly,you'resomeonewhogetsenergizedbyproblemsthathaven'tbeensolvedbefore.

Why join now?

You'llhaveanopportunitythatbecomesincreasinglyrareascompaniesgrow:

• Ourclienthasraised$10MfrominvestorsincludingKhoslaVentures,MaxLevchin,TheHouseFund,andSouthParkCommons,alongwithotherleadingangels,tobringthistechnologytotheworld.
• TheproductisalreadybeingusedbyteamsatGPTZero,Perplexity,Orb,andTogetherAI,whohaveexperiencedthedifferencefirsthand.
• Youcanhelpdefinetheproduct,architecture,engineeringculture,andcompanyitself.
• You'llworkdirectlywiththefoundingteam,haveenormousownership,andseetheresultsofyourworkimmediately.

We'reearly—butwe'renotstartingfromzero.

Compensation

• Salary:$250,000–$400,000
• Equity:0.25%–2%

Webelievefoundingengineersshouldparticipatemeaningfullyintheupsidetheyhelpcreate.

Relocation

Needtorelocate?We'llhelpmakeithappen.

• Flights
• 2weeksoftemporaryhousingneartheoffice
• Upto$10kformiscellaneousrelocationexpenses,suchaslease-breakcosts

Our Interview Process

Werespectyourtimeandmovequickly.

1. 30-minuteconversationtogettoknowyouandtellyoumoreaboutthecompany.
2. 45-minuteTechnicalinterview-1
3. 45-minuteTechnicalinterview-2
4. On-site—9:00AM–3:00PM.TypicallyTuesdayorThursday.Flightsandhotelpaidforcandidatesifneeded.
5. Offer.Forstrongcandidates,offerstypicallygooutthesamedayastheon-site,within24hours.

Comehelpusbuildthecompany—andsolveproblemsthatnobodyhassolved