Founding Staff Software Engineer • Python/FastAPI
$100k - $200k USD
About Neuroscale
Neuroscale is building the AI recruiting operating system, one unified platform for your entire talent organization, from first touch to hired. Arbi eliminates fragmented workflows, integrates directly with your ATS, and orchestrates AI agents for sourcing, outreach, screening, and candidate intelligence end-to-end. By combining reasoning-optimized models with deep workflow automation, Arbi helps talent teams win more top candidates with dramatically less friction.
We’re backed by top operators and investors, and we’re growing fast. Our momentum is further fueled by blue-chip partners and programs, including the NVIDIA Inception Program, the HPE Unleash AI Program, and our active DoD SBIR Phase II award and contract.
We’re now hiring a Founding Staff Software Engineer to help accelerate features on Arbi to help us dominate one of the largest and fastest-expanding categories in modern software.
This is not a maintenance role. This is a hands-on, high-ownership opportunity for someone who has operated at a staff engineer, architect, or founding/lead engineer level and knows how to build production-grade systems that scale. You will work on the backbone of our platform: APIs, orchestration systems, data workflows, search infrastructure, background jobs, cloud deployment, and backend systems that power AI-enabled products for real customers.
The Role
We’re hiring a Founding Staff Software Engineer to help us scale and evolve our core systems. You'll work closely with AI engineers, frontend devs, and product leads to build the APIs, services, and infrastructure powering our agentic workflows.
This is a hands-on role for someone who knows how to build enterprise-grade backends using modern Python/FastAPI stacks. You’ll lead major technical efforts, make architecture decisions that scale, and help us stay fast, reliable, and resilient as our user base grows.
What You'll Do & Own
Design, build, and maintain robust backend systems that power Neuroscale AI’s core platform
Develop and scale REST APIs using Python and FastAPI
Build production-ready systems using PostgreSQL, Redis, OpenSearch, Celery, and Temporal
Architect and optimize systems that handle large-scale datasets and high-throughput backend workflows
Build, deploy, and maintain backend services on AWS
Own containerized deployments, CI/CD pipelines, and backend infrastructure reliability
Support integrations, data pipelines, workflow automation, and asynchronous processing systems
Help define backend architecture, engineering standards, observability, and performance practices
Work closely with product, AI, and frontend teams to deliver features that power B2B and B2C SaaS experiences
Mentor engineers and raise the bar on engineering quality, speed, and execution
Operate like an owner in a startup environment, balancing speed with sound engineering judgment
Contribute to AI-enabled engineering workflows and modern developer tooling, including tools such as Cursor and/or Claude Code
Who You Are
Strong backend engineering experience with Python
Deep hands-on experience with FastAPI
Strong production experience with PostgreSQL and Redis
Experience using OpenSearch
Hands-on experience with Celery and Temporal
Proven experience building robust REST APIs
Experience working with large-scale datasets
Experience deploying and managing backend systems on AWS
Hands-on experience with AWS services, containers, and deployment pipelines
Experience building, deploying, and maintaining production systems for B2B and/or B2C SaaS
Experience supporting integrations, data pipelines, and/or workflow automation
Prior experience operating as a Staff Engineer, Lead Engineer, Founding Engineer, or Architect
Experience working in startup-style environments with high ownership and mentoring responsibility
Strong systems thinking, sound backend architecture judgment, and the ability to move from idea to production
Ability and willingness to relocate to Northern VA/DC
Bonus Points
Have built backend platforms that became the foundation for a growing product
Know how to balance speed, scale, reliability, and developer experience
Have strong instincts around designing for maintainability, observability, and performanceEnjoy owning ambiguous problems and turning them into simple, durable systems
Can mentor others while still being deeply hands-on
Are excited by AI-enabled software development and modern engineering workflows
Want to help shape both the codebase and the culture of an early-stage company
Experience building AI-enabled products or backend systems that support AI workflows
Experience with search-heavy, data-intensive, or workflow-centric products
Experience in recruiting tech, HR tech, SaaS platforms, or decision-support systems
Experience designing backend systems for multi-tenant SaaS environments
Experience improving developer productivity using Cursor, Claude Code, or similar AI coding tools
Experience with event-driven systems, job orchestration, and resilient distributed workflows
Experience helping scale an early-stage engineering team
Experience working directly with product and leadership in a founding-stage company
What’s in It for You
Join a tight-knit engineering team shipping fast and building with ambition
Work on products used by real-world recruiters, analysts, and decision-makers
Be part of a mission-driven company redefining how humans and AI collaborate
Competitive salary, meaningful early-stage equity, and flexible work arrangements
Zero bureaucracy, high trust, and a strong culture of ownership and technical excellence
The opportunity to join as a founding backend engineering leader and help define the technical core of Neuroscale AI
Significant ownership over architecture, tooling, and backend platform decisions
Direct exposure to company leadership and the ability to influence product direction
A chance to build systems that matter from day one rather than inheriting legacy architecture
The pace, autonomy, and impact of a startup, with meaningful room for growth
The ability to help shape how AI-native products are built and delivered in production
A seat at the table as we scale our product, team, and engineering culture
Base Salary: $100K–$200K
Performance bonus: Quarterly bonuses tied to clear feature shipping targets
Equity: Meaningful early-stage equity (~0.1-0.75%) with a clear range shared during the process
Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, 14-days of PTO accrued annually
Learning: At least $2,000 per year for courses, events, books, and growth communities
Tools and setup: New macbook pro, monitor, and a monthly tools budget to run the stack you want
Flexibility: Flexible hours, in-person.
Growth path: Clear, fast-track path to an Engineering Lead as we scale the team
This role is ideally suited for candidates who are open to working closely with the team and are willing to relocate to Northern Virginia / Washington DC region.
Equal Opportunity
Neuroscale is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, identities, and walks of life — including but not limited to race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, and disability status.