Staff Software Engineer - AI & Distributed Systems

Appfolio; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 167,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio seeks a Staff Software Engineer in California to lead the architectural evolution of our Leasing Engineering Domain. This is a hands-on, full-stack leadership role owning system architecture and guiding AI-enabled workflows in production-grade SaaS infrastructure.

You will bridge ML, product, and UX to turn strategy into scalable reality, coach engineers, and drive high-stakes architectural decisions. Hybrid work with competitive compensation awaits.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience developing and scaling web-based applications, preferably in a SaaS environment.
• Experience leading architectural discussions, defining system design, and guiding technical decision-making.
• Experience integrating AI/ML technologies into production-grade applications, making non-deterministic systems reliable.

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical vision and strategy across Leasing teams, influencing roadmaps and key architectural decisions.
• Lead the design and implementation of complex distributed systems powering agentic AI, balancing innovation with reliability and security.
• Raise the bar for engineering quality through hands-on leadership in design and code, establishing standards for the team to ship confidently.
• 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 align AI capabilities with customer value.
• Own the full lifecycle of solutions from discovery to production, in a highly autonomous team.
• Proactively research and apply new technologies to improve system quality and delivery speed.

Skills

Distributed systems

Architectural leadership

AI/ML integration

Full-stack leadership

SaaS experience

Clean architecture

Code mentorship

Ambiguity handling

Education

Bachelor’s in CS

Tools

Ruby on Rails

React

AWS

Service-oriented architectures

Job description

AppFolio seeks a Staff Software Engineer in California to lead the architectural evolution of our Leasing Engineering Domain. This is a hands-on, full-stack leadership role owning system architecture and guiding AI-enabled workflows in production-grade SaaS infrastructure.

You will bridge ML, product, and UX to turn strategy into scalable reality, coach engineers, and drive high-stakes architectural decisions. Hybrid work with competitive compensation awaits.