Staff Software Engineer

Astera Institute; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A pioneering research foundation is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to help reverse-engineer the human brain. The role requires defining and architecting infrastructure for training large-scale models and optimizing custom reinforcement learning environments. Candidates should have a proven track record of engineering excellence, including system architecture, adaptability to complex domains, and mastery of challenging engineering problems. The position is in-person in Emeryville, CA, with potential visa sponsorship available.

Qualifications

• Proven success architecting complex systems from scratch.
• Ability to balance engineering rigor with rapid iteration.
• Track record of mastering complex domains quickly.

Responsibilities

• Define and architect high-performance infrastructure.
• Design and optimize custom reinforcement learning environments.
• Set the standard for clean, fast, production-grade code.
• Transform research prototypes into scalable production systems.
• Resolve technical bottlenecks to support the research team.

Skills

High-Velocity Craftsmanship

System Architecture Intuition

Extreme Adaptability

Mastery of Hard Problems

Job description

About Astera:

Astera is a private foundation with a $2.5B endowment on a mission to steer science and technology toward an abundant future for all. Unlike traditional foundations, we operate like a high-velocity startup with unprecedented access to computational resources and complete freedom from funding pressures or profit motives. This allows us to focus on ambitious goals and attract incredibly creative scientists and engineers from leading academic institutions and from frontier AI labs.

Obelisk is our large-scale AI research program, pursuing a neuroscience-informed approach to engineering AGI. This is not yet-another-lab scaling LLMs in a hope of achieving general intelligence. We are integrating neuroscience, AI, and bioengineering to understand and digitally model the architecture of the human brain.

Position Summary:

We are looking for an ambitious Staff Software Engineer to help us reverse-engineer the human brain.

This role spans a broad spectrum of activities:

• Define and architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.
• Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
• Set the standard for clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts our research velocity.
• Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
• Tackle systemic technical bottlenecks, from low-level optimization to high-level strategy, to unblock the research team.

Qualifications:

• High-Velocity Craftsmanship: You set the bar for clean, maintainable, and well-tested code at a startup pace. You know how to balance engineering rigor with the need to iterate quickly on research prototypes.
• System Architecture Intuition: You have proven success architecting complex systems from scratch. You understand the long-term trade-offs, and you can design infrastructure that survives the chaos of research.
• Extreme Adaptability: You might be an expert in distributed systems today, but you are ready to become a novice in neuroscience tomorrow. You have a track record of diving into complex domains, mastering them quickly, and guiding others through them.
• Mastery of Hard Problems: You have a track record of leading the resolution of difficult engineering challenges, whether it is massive scale distributed systems or kernel-level optimization. You do not shy away from what your peers consider hardcore.

Location & Visa:

• This role is in-person in Emeryville, CA.
• Visa sponsorship may be available for qualified candidates.