Staff Software Engineer

Curri; Ventura (CA); Hybrid; USD 190,000 - 250,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

Equity compensation

Health, dental, vision, 401K

Remote-friendly / flexible work

HQ in Ventura, CA

Job summary

Curri in Ventura, CA is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to guide architectural direction, make cross-team design decisions, and stay hands-on with production code. You will mentor engineers, manage systemic risks, and partner with leadership to translate business priorities into technical roadmaps.

The role emphasizes AI-assisted development, scalability, and a high bar for reliability as Curri grows its nationwide logistics platform. Remote-friendly with HQ in Ventura.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of production software experience with ownership of architecture and technical direction beyond a single team or project.
• Experience leading system design for scalable, reliable production infrastructure, not just building features.
• Full-stack depth in backend (TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, NATS) and/or UI (React, React Native).
• Fluency with AI-paired delivery (Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalent agents) and ability to coach others.
• Demonstrated mentorship pattern with engineers you’ve helped grow.
• Strong, direct communication to explain complex architectural tradeoffs to engineers, PMs, and leadership.
• Comfort operating with influence rather than authority to align teams around technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Architect and guide the design of scalable, long-lasting systems, partnering with multiple teams to fit work into a coherent technical strategy.
• Lead architecture reviews and design discussions across several projects, providing the senior guidance teams may lack.
• Unblock other engineers by solving gnarly technical problems and clearing paths when not formally leading.
• Stay hands-on and ship production code regularly, using AI tooling fluently and setting the standard for AI-paired delivery.
• Mentor engineers at all levels, helping them grow and scale.
• Identify systemic risks and technical debt and drive cross-team fixes.
• Partner with engineering leadership, PMs, and other Staff/Senior engineers to translate business priorities into technical roadmaps.

Skills

Mentorship experience

Strong communication

Leadership

Architectural judgment

Cross-team collaboration

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

PostgreSQL

Redis

NATS

React

React Native

AI tooling (Claude Code, Cursor)

Job description

About the role:

Curri is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to join the Technology team as a technical leader who helps set the direction for how we build at scale. You'll operate across many projects at once --- reviewing architecture, unblocking teams, and shaping the systems everyone else builds on top of. You'll still write code and ship features yourself, but a growing share of your impact comes from the technical judgment, mentorship, and architectural direction you bring to other engineers' work. Curri runs last-mile logistics for national retailers and industrial suppliers across the US, and this role is central to keeping our systems reliable and scalable as we grow, while raising the technical bar for the whole team.

What you will do:

• Architect and guide the design of scalable, long-lasting systems, partnering with multiple teams to make sure new work fits into a coherent technical strategy rather than one-off solutions.
• Lead architecture reviews and design discussions across several projects at once, providing the technical judgment call that individual teams may not have the context or seniority to make alone.
• Unblock other engineers --- jump into gnarly technical problems, debug hard issues, and clear the path when a team is stuck, even on projects you aren't formally leading.
• Stay hands-on: ship production code yourself on a regular basis, using AI tooling (Claude Code, Cursor, Claude for design and code review) as fluently as anyone on the team, and set the standard for what excellent AI-paired delivery looks like.
• Mentor engineers at every level, from those building foundational skills to senior engineers growing into technical leadership --- you're a multiplier for the people around you, not just the code you personally write.
• Identify systemic risks and technical debt before they become a crisis, and drive the cross-team investment needed to fix them.
• Partner directly with engineering leadership, PMs, and other Staff/Senior engineers to translate business priorities into technical roadmaps.

What you need to have:

• 8+ years of experience building production software, including a track record of owning architecture and technical direction beyond a single team or project.
• Demonstrated experience leading system design for scalable, reliable production infrastructure --- not just building features, but deciding how systems should be built.
• Full-stack range and enough depth in backend systems (TypeScript, Node.js, Postgres, Redis, NATS) and/or UI (React, React Native) to be credible in architecture reviews across the stack.
• Fluency with AI-paired delivery (Claude Code, Cursor, or equivalent agents) and the judgment to know where AI accelerates a team and where it needs a human check, plus the ability to coach others on using it well.
• A demonstrated pattern of mentorship: engineers you've worked with can point to specific ways you helped them grow.
• Strong, direct communication --- you can explain a complex architectural tradeoff to an engineer, a PM, and a member of leadership, each in the terms that matter to them.
• Comfort operating with influence rather than authority: you get teams to adopt your technical direction through trust and clarity, not through a reporting line.

Bonus points for:

• Experience scaling a system through a significant growth inflection point (10x traffic, a major re-architecture, a platform migration) and can speak to what you'd do differently.
• A track record of identifying an underlying systemic problem (not just a symptom) and driving the fix across multiple teams.
• Experience setting technical standards or practices around AI-paired development that other engineers went on to adopt.
• Prior experience as a tech lead, staff engineer, or architect at a fast-moving startup.

What is in it for you:

• A role built for engineers who want architectural and technical leadership impact without leaving hands-on coding behind.
• Influence over the technical direction of Curri's systems at a company where the technology bar is still actively being raised.
• A genuinely AI-forward engineering culture where Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, and Bedrock are in daily use, with the opportunity to shape what great AI-paired delivery looks like across the org.
• Competitive salary, equity compensation, and comprehensive benefits (health, dental, vision, 401K).
• Remote-friendly with flexibility, or based at HQ in Ventura, CA.
• A high-growth, mission-driven environment where your technical decisions have direct and lasting impact.

Who are we:

We are Curri, and our mission is to be the way the world delivers construction and industrial supplies. Curri provides on-demand, last-mile logistics for construction and adjacent industries with our nationwide fleet of cars, trucks, and flatbeds.

Founded in 2018 and part of the YC S19 Batch, we're solving the massive inefficiencies that exist in the construction industry. Our headquarters are in Ventura, CA. Learn more at curri.com.

Curri is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment. We don't discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.