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AsteraAsteraEmeryville, CA

Principal Software Engineer

Architects high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale neuroscience-informed AI models and RL environments. Optimizes code, resolves critical bottlenecks, and scales research prototypes to production systems.

300k – 600k
On-siteBackend Engineering

About the role

Responsibilities

  • Define and architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.
  • Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
  • Set the organizational standard for clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts research velocity.
  • Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
  • Identify and resolve the most critical and ambiguous technical bottlenecks, from low-level optimization to high-level strategy, to unblock the research team.

Qualifications

  • High-Velocity Craftsmanship: Set the bar for clean, maintainable, and well-tested code at a startup pace. Balance engineering rigor with quick iteration on research prototypes.
  • System Architecture Intuition: Proven success architecting complex systems from scratch. Understand multi-year trade-offs and design infrastructure that survives research chaos.
  • Extreme Adaptability: Expert in distributed systems today, ready to master neuroscience tomorrow. Track record of diving into complex domains and guiding others.
  • Mastery of Hard Problems: Track record leading resolution of difficult engineering challenges, such as massive scale distributed systems or kernel-level optimization.

Skills

PythonDistributed SystemsReinforcement LearningSystem ArchitectureHigh-Performance ComputingLarge-Scale ModelsRl EnvironmentsProduction SystemsLow-Level OptimizationScalable Infrastructure
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