Staff Engineer, Platform & Systems
Staff engineer owns core platform and systems architecture, leads technical initiatives, makes high-leverage decisions for speed/reliability/scale, and partners with product/leadership. Requires 9+ years experience in production systems at staff/principal level.
About the job
Key Responsibilities
- Own the design and evolution of core platform and systems architecture.
- Lead complex technical initiatives end-to-end, from concept to production.
- Make high-leverage technical decisions that balance speed, reliability, and scale.
- Raise the technical bar through design reviews, mentoring, and hands-on leadership.
- Partner closely with product to translate business needs into robust technical solutions.
- Identify and resolve performance, scalability, and reliability bottlenecks.
- Help define engineering best practices as we scale the team and platform.
Requirements
- 9+ years of experience building and operating production systems.
- Operated at Staff or Principal level (or equivalent scope).
- Strong in systems design and can reason clearly about tradeoffs.
- Move fast but care deeply about correctness, reliability, and maintainability.
- Comfortable owning ambiguous problems and defining the path forward.
- Built or scaled platforms used by real customers at meaningful volume.
- Enjoy being hands-on — writing code, reviewing designs, and unblocking teams.
Bonus: distributed systems, Voice AI, real-time systems, APIs at scale, infra/platform work, or developer-facing products.
Compensation
Cash: $225-350k Equity: Meaningful Equity Location: Redwood City, CA (100% Relocation Provided)
Other Benefits
- 100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance
- $70/day DoorDash credit
- $200/month wellness reimbursement
- $300/month commuter reimbursement
- $75/month phone bill reimbursement
- $50/month internet reimbursement
Skills
System Design, Distributed Systems, Infrastructure, APIs, Real-Time Systems, Voice Ai, Platform Engineering, Scalability, Reliability, Production Systems
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