Backend Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Backend Engineer (AI): Building and operating the inference and orchestration layer for a proactive AI chat application with an accent on latency, correctness, and system reliability. Focus on designing production-grade inference pipelines, managing service boundaries for models, and optimizing throughput for high-scale real-world task completion.

Location: Must be based in Palo Alto, California

Company

A high-talent density startup building a proactive AI assistant focused on persistent context and reliable real-world task completion.

What you will do

• Build and operate scalable backend systems that serve AI-powered features in production.
• Design inference pipelines, orchestration layers, and service boundaries around LLM integrations.
• Own production concerns including monitoring, logging, alerting, and incident response.
• Optimize latency and throughput across inference, caching, and streaming workflows.
• Maintain stable, clear APIs that support seamless integration with frontend and ML systems.

Requirements

• Must be located in or able to work from Palo Alto, California
• Strong backend engineering fundamentals in production environments.
• Experience running high-throughput, low-latency services.
• Familiarity with AI inference patterns including LLMs, embeddings, and multimodal models.
• Proven ability to debug distributed systems under load.
• Bias toward shipping and learning from production behavior.

Culture & Benefits

• Collaborative, high-talent density team environment.
• Hands-on approach with rapid decision-making cycles.
• Direct impact on a product aimed at billions of global users.
• Focus on high-quality engineering and practical AI applications.

Hiring process

• 3 to 4 interviews conducted via virtual meetings or onsite.
• Applications evaluated directly by technical team members.
• Transparent and prompt feedback process.