# Staff Software Engineer

**Company:** [Astera](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/astera)
**Location:** Emeryville, CA
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $200k – $500k/yr
**Skills:** Python, Distributed Systems, Reinforcement Learning, System Architecture, High-Performance Computing, Kubernetes, PyTorch, JAX, Neuroscience Modeling, Production Systems, Kernel Optimization
**Posted:** 2026-01-29

> Staff Software Engineer architects high-performance infrastructure for large-scale Neuro-AI models and simulations, optimizes RL environments informed by neuroscience, and scales research prototypes to production while resolving technical bottlenecks.

## Job Description

## 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 standard for clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts research velocity.
- Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
- Tackle systemic 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 long-term trade-offs and design infrastructure that survives research chaos.
- **Extreme Adaptability**: Track record of diving into complex domains (e.g., distributed systems to neuroscience), mastering them quickly, and guiding others.
- **Mastery of Hard Problems**: Leading resolution of difficult engineering challenges, such as massive scale distributed systems or kernel-level optimization.

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