Staff Software Engineer - AI-Driven Platform

Shipwell; Austin (TX); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Shipwell in Austin, TX is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to shape core systems at a high-growth logistics startup. You will lead hands-on engineering, build critical services, and apply AI-driven approaches to accelerate development while maintaining quality and reliability.

You will mentor engineers across teams, participate in incident analysis, and drive architectural decisions that scale the platform. Strong collaboration with product and architecture is essential.

Qualifications

• BS/MS/Ph.D. in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 8+ years of professional software development, including 2+ years at a senior or staff level leading technical projects.
• A track record of designing, building, and running distributed systems at scale in production.
• Deep expertise in Python / Django.
• Strong knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB).
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), containers, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience with API design, event-driven architectures, and integrating with third-party systems.
• Familiarity with agile development and DevOps practices, including owning what you ship with GitHub Actions or similar.
• Excellent communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Own the design, build, and ongoing health of critical systems and services on the Shipwell platform.
• Write high-quality, well-tested, production code, and spend most of your time building.
• Use AI agents and multi-agent workflows to speed up code generation, reviews, and QA testing.
• Build and share custom agents and AI workflows to boost productivity.
• Set best practices for AI use, guardrails, and measuring impact on speed and quality.
• Break large problems into clear technical plans for delivery.
• Lead multi-team technical efforts and review project code patterns.
• Collaborate with architecture and product leadership to turn platform strategy into designs.
• Raise the bar for code quality, observability, and operations via reviews and example.
• Identify and fix performance bottlenecks, reliability risks, and tech debt.
• Mentor senior and mid-level engineers on working with AI tools.
• Participate in incident response and root-cause analysis to drive lasting fixes.

Skills

Distributed systems design

Python / Django

Databases (PostgreSQL/MySQL, MongoDB)

Cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure)

API design / event-driven

CI/CD / GitHub Actions

Agile / DevOps

Communication skills

Education

CS degree or equiv.

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Shipwell in Austin, TX is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to shape core systems at a high-growth logistics startup. You will lead hands-on engineering, build critical services, and apply AI-driven approaches to accelerate development while maintaining quality and reliability.

You will mentor engineers across teams, participate in incident analysis, and drive architectural decisions that scale the platform. Strong collaboration with product and architecture is essential.