Staff Software Engineer, Product

True Talent Solutions Partners; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 202,000 - 262,000; Full time

Job summary

True Talent Solutions Partners is seeking a hands-on Technical Lead to shape product direction and build full-stack features for a government HR tech platform. You will own data modeling, API design, and frontend work while delivering AI-powered experiences and mentoring a small engineering pod.

The role emphasizes practical AI integration, scalable architecture, and collaboration across product and engineering during a growth phase in a startup setting. Hybrid working model in San Francisco, CA.

Qualifications

• Seven or more years building software products with staff-level ownership.
• Strong full-stack experience: TS, Node.js, React, Tailwind CSS, Postgres modeling, API design.
• Production AI/LLM features: agents, tool-calling, retrieval-augmented generation.
• Mentor engineers as a player-coach; startup growth experience.
• Clear, proactive communication and questions when needed.
• Experience with TanStack, Next.js, Drizzle, and related tools is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own features from data modeling and API design through frontend delivery.
• Build AI-powered experiences and LLM integrations for product surfaces.
• Lead a small engineering pod with hands-on contribution and guidance.
• Develop search, filtering, and data normalization across workforce data.
• Improve engineering practices via reviews and architecture decisions.

Skills

TypeScript

Node.js

React

Tailwind CSS

Postgres data modeling

API design

AI/LLM features

Mentoring engineers

Startup experience

Communication

TanStack

Next.js

Drizzle

Vercel AI SDK

Temporal

Education

Product domain background

Tools

TanStack

Next.js

Drizzle

Vercel AI SDK

VoltAgent

Mastra

Trigger.dev

Temporal

Job description

About the Role

Join an early-stage government HR technology startup as a hands-on technical lead shaping product direction and building full-stack features. You will help modernize how public-sector organizations manage their workforce, including through practical AI-powered experiences.

What You'll Do

• Own product features from data modeling and API design through frontend development, release, and rollout.

• Build AI-powered experiences, including chat interfaces, LLM tool-calling integrations, and useful ways to present generated insights.

• Lead a small product engineering pod, setting technical direction and mentoring while remaining primarily hands-on.

• Develop search, filtering, normalization, and other product surfaces over complex workforce data.

• Strengthen engineering practices through thoughtful reviews, architecture decisions, and pragmatic standards.

What We're Looking For

• Seven or more years building and shipping software products, with sustained staff-level technical ownership in a product domain.

• Strong full-stack experience with TypeScript, Node.js, React, Tailwind CSS, Postgres data modeling, and API design.

• Production experience building AI or LLM-powered features, such as agents, retrieval-augmented generation, tool-calling, or streaming.

• Experience mentoring engineers as a player-coach and working at startups through periods of growth.

• Relevant academic or professional background in the product domain, and experience building software before AI coding tools became widely used.

• Clear, proactive communication skills, including the ability to ask questions and push back constructively.

• Experience with TanStack, Next.js, Drizzle, background jobs or durable workflows, and tools such as Vercel AI SDK, VoltAgent, Mastra, Trigger.dev, or Temporal is valuable. Open-source contributions to widely used tools are also a plus.

Compensation & Benefits

Annual salary range: $202,000 to $262,000 USD. Visa sponsorship is available.

Location

Hybrid, with San Francisco, United States as the primary location.