Staff Software Engineer — AI-Driven SaaS Architect Lead

AppFolio Inc; California; On-site; USD 167,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

AppFolio is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the architectural evolution of the Leasing Engineering Domain. You will own the system architecture, drive distributed, production-grade SaaS infrastructure, and translate AI capabilities into scalable solutions.

This hands-on leadership role requires 8+ years building web SaaS apps, experience with Ruby on Rails, React, AWS, and strong coaching across teams.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience developing and scaling web-based applications
• Experience leading architectural discussions and decisions
• Experience integrating AI/ML into production-grade apps

Responsibilities

• Drive the technical vision and strategy for Leasing teams
• Lead design and implementation of distributed systems powering agentic AI
• Coach engineers and foster autonomous culture with ownership
• Collaborate with Product, Design, and ML leaders to align AI with customer value
• Own full lifecycle of solutions from discovery to production

Skills

Distributed systems

Architectural leadership

AI/ML integration

SaaS

Leadership & mentoring

Education

Bachelor's, Master's, or Ph.D. in CS or related

Tools

Ruby on Rails

React

AWS

SOA/Microservices

Job description

AppFolio is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to lead the architectural evolution of the Leasing Engineering Domain. You will own the system architecture, drive distributed, production-grade SaaS infrastructure, and translate AI capabilities into scalable solutions.

This hands-on leadership role requires 8+ years building web SaaS apps, experience with Ruby on Rails, React, AWS, and strong coaching across teams.