Staff Backend Software Engineer (AI)

Location: New York, United States

Salary: $190,000–$261,250 USD per year

Company

Databricks builds a unified data and AI platform used by organizations worldwide to develop and scale data, analytics, and AI applications.

What you will do

• Build the Unity AI Gateway routing layer that selects models based on quality, cost, latency, availability, and remaining budget.
• Develop the control plane for partner and self-hosted models, agents, coding assistants, and MCP servers.
• Improve the reliability, latency, and efficiency of distributed AI workloads.
• Collaborate with research, platform, infrastructure, and AI/ML teams on end-to-end experiences.
• Shape how developers and data scientists build and interact with AI on Databricks.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in backend or infrastructure engineering.
• Strong programming skills in Scala or Go.
• Experience with distributed systems, high-throughput APIs, or cloud-native infrastructure.
• Familiarity with service-oriented architecture, deployment pipelines, and system observability.
• Strong product mindset and ownership of technical solutions.

Nice to have

• Experience with real-time serving, AI infrastructure, or GPU orchestration.
• Exposure to Bedrock, Vertex AI, or Azure ML.
• Experience building developer platforms or internal tools for AI workflows.

Culture & Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits and perks are offered, with details varying by region.
• Commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace.
• Annual performance bonus and equity may be included in the total compensation package.