# Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Distributed Systems

**Company:** [Atomicmachines](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/atomicmachines)
**Location:** Emeryville, CA, Santa Clara, CA
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $180k – $230k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Python, C++, Rust, Go, Distributed Systems, CI/CD, automated testing, Observability, API Development, Real-Time Systems, edge computing, Robotics, firmware, cloud deployment, Machine Learning
**Posted:** 2026-08-12

> Build and evolve distributed software that coordinates manufacturing hardware, process workflows, and machine data. The role requires 5+ years of systems experience, strong Python and systems-language skills, architectural judgment, and a focus on reliability and engineering rigor.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities

- Design and build distributed software systems coordinating state, timing, and behavior across manufacturing hardware.
- Write, test, and debug sensors, actuators, and process controllers under real-time and reliability constraints.
- Design workflows bridging manual and automated process steps, including handoffs between production and process development.
- Evolve the existing system, including APIs governing machine behavior across the fleet, as the architecture converges.
- Instrument systems so machine and process data is structured for downstream AI/ML consumption.
- Investigate and resolve issues spanning software, firmware, and physical systems.
- Establish and model software engineering practices including testing, code review, CI/CD, and documentation.
- Improve system reliability through observability, fault handling, and graceful degradation.
- Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, and process engineers to translate physical constraints into resilient software behavior.
- Help engineering leadership converge competing architectural visions into a well-reasoned direction.

## Requirements

- 5+ years building or debugging systems with real external dependencies, such as hardware, embedded devices, or networked services.
- Experience making and defending architecture decisions involving build-versus-buy, deployment topology, and service boundaries.
- Strong Python skills for production systems.
- Proficiency in at least one systems or strongly typed language: C++, Rust, or Go.
- Strong grounding in distributed-systems fundamentals, including state coordination, consistency, failure modes, and concurrency.
- Experience introducing or maintaining CI/CD, automated testing, or observability tooling in an existing codebase.
- Comfort operating against an incomplete or contested specification and driving clarity.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Robotics, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

## Nice-to-Haves

- Experience with real-time or resource-constrained environments, IoT, edge computing, industrial systems, robotics, warehouses, manufacturing lines, fabrication, or automation facilities.
- Experience designing observability and instrumenting systems for ML/AI pipelines.
- Experience introducing testing or CI discipline to a team that lacked it.
- Experience evaluating cloud versus on-premises or edge deployment tradeoffs for latency- or safety-sensitive systems.
- Experience debugging issues across application logic, transport, firmware, and hardware.
- Experience translating physical constraints such as latency, noise, mechanical tolerance, and safety margins into software behavior.

## Compensation and Benefits

- Salary range: **$180,000–$230,000 USD**.
- Compensation also includes equity and benefits.

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