Senior / Staff Software Engineer

Company Description

At Autoscience Institute, we automate AI research. Recently, we announced the first AI agent to autonomously create peer-reviewed literature (ICLR 2025) and the first AI system to win a Kaggle medal. We are passionate about pushing the boundaries of artificial intelligence and contributing to groundbreaking advancements in the field.

Role Description

This is a full-time on-site role for a Senior or Staff Software Engineer (Technical Lead) located in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In this role, you will lead the design and development of core systems that power autonomous research agents. You’ll be responsible for building reliable backend infrastructure and production systems that support large-scale AI experimentation and research workflows.

We are looking for engineers who have owned complex projects end-to-end, contributed to system architecture, and helped guide small teams of engineers through delivery. You should be comfortable writing high-quality code, producing clear design documents, and making thoughtful technical decisions that shape how systems evolve over time.

You will work closely with both engineers and researchers to translate experimental ideas into robust production systems.

Responsibilities

Lead the design and implementation of core backend and infrastructure systems

Own projects from architecture and design through production deployment

Write clear technical design documents and drive engineering decisions

Build and maintain 24/7 production systems supporting autonomous research agents

Partner closely with research teams to productionize experimental workflows

Guide and collaborate with engineers on system design and implementation

Improve system reliability, scalability, and observability

Help shape the technical direction of the platform

Qualifications

Experience leading complex engineering projects or technical initiatives

Experience acting as a technical lead or guiding small teams of engineers

Strong software design and architecture skills

Demonstrable experience writing clear technical design documents

Strong experience with Python

Experience building or operating backend or production infrastructure

Experience working in 24/7 production environments

Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or similar cloud infrastructure

Strong understanding of software evolution, maintainability, and system design tradeoffs

Ability to collaborate effectively with both engineers and researchers

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, or a related field

Strong candidates will typically have 5+ years of experience building and operating production software systems, including ownership of projects from design through deployment

Benefits & Perks

Our comp is competitive against major LLM frontier lab packages

Unlimited PTO and flexible working arrangements

Conference attendance and publication support

Our Culture

We're a team of passionate researchers and engineers working to automate scientific discovery. We believe in the power of AI to accelerate scientific discovery and are committed to responsible AI development.