Staff Software Engineer, AI Research & Scalable Systems

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

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.