# Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Product)

**Company:** [Otter](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/otter)
**Location:** Mountain View, CA
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $185k – $230k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Python, LLMs, RAG, Prompt Engineering, Evaluation Frameworks, Retrieval Systems, System Design
**Posted:** 2026-07-07

> Senior backend engineer owning end-to-end AI product features at Otter.ai. Design and implement systems orchestrating LLMs, retrieval, and structured data; drive from concept to production with focus on quality, latency, cost; mentor team in fast-paced environment. Requires 5+ years scaling product systems, Python/web stack, AI/LLM experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Own end-to-end delivery of AI product features, leading design and implementation from concept to production.
- Drive system design for AI-backed experiences, orchestrating LLMs, retrieval, and structured data with tradeoffs on flexibility, reliability, and performance.
- Elevate product quality through iteration, evaluation frameworks, user signals, and experimentation to improve AI output quality.
- Lead technical direction within a product area by breaking down ambiguous problems and guiding execution across engineers.
- Mentor engineers on code quality, system design, and product thinking; help raise the engineering bar in an AI-driven environment.
- Accelerate team velocity by modeling effective use of modern AI tools for iteration, code quality, and productivity.

## Requirements
- 5+ years of experience building and scaling product-facing systems, with a track record of owning complex features or product areas end-to-end.
- Writes clean, maintainable code (Python preferred) and makes strong architecture and design decisions across a modern web stack.
- High bar for product quality, consistently evaluating if what's built serves users well.
- Experience working with AI/LLM-powered systems, or ability to ramp quickly and contribute meaningfully in production.
- Drives projects from idea to production with strong ownership; helps others through mentorship and technical leadership.
- Thrives in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and can set technical direction.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Experience building or experimenting with LLM-powered features (prompting, evaluation, RAG, etc.).
- Experience designing systems that balance latency, cost, and quality.
- Exposure to user feedback loops, experimentation, or evaluation frameworks.

## Compensation
- Salary Range: $185,000 to $230,000 USD per year.
- This is base salary; actual offer depends on several factors. Part of a comprehensive total rewards package.

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