Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Chef Robotics • San Francisco, CA

86d • $150,000 - $240,000

About The Position

As a Senior Software Engineer, Backend specializing in database architecture and AI systems, you'll lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of the robust backend services that power our robotics platform. You'll work at the intersection of data management, API development, and AI integration to build scalable solutions that support our robotics systems across customer deployments. This role requires expertise in database optimization, API framework implementation, and a deep understanding of how to architect systems that enable real-time robotics operations. As a senior engineer, you'll mentor team members and drive technical decision-making for backend infrastructure.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 7+ years of professional experience in backend development roles with demonstrated leadership experience
• Expert knowledge of relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) including schema design, optimization, and administration
• Strong proficiency with Python and JavaScript/TypeScript with advanced software engineering skills
• Extensive experience leading projects with at least two web frameworks: Flask, FastAPI, Django, Node.js, or Next.js
• Proven experience designing and implementing RESTful and GraphQL APIs at scale
• Advanced understanding of containerization (Docker) and orchestration (Kubernetes) technologies
• Experience with cloud infrastructure and deployment (AWS, GCP, or Azure) in production environments

Nice To Haves

• Experience with time-series databases (InfluxDB, TimescaleDB) for telemetry data
• Knowledge of message queue systems (Kafka, RabbitMQ) for distributed systems
• Familiarity with WebSockets for real-time communication
• Experience with Redis for caching and pub/sub patterns
• Background in manufacturing, food production, or industrial automation
• Experience developing systems that interface with robotics hardware
• Knowledge of ROS (Robot Operating System) or similar frameworks
• Startup experience with track record of shipping working products under tight deadlines
• Experience with microservices architecture and distributed systems design

Responsibilities

• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of database schemas to support robot operations, telemetry, recipe management, and system analytics
• Develop robust data migration strategies and version control for database schema evolution
• Implement efficient query optimization and indexing strategies to support high-throughput robot operations
• Establish data integrity protocols and backup systems to ensure operational continuity across customer deployments
• Create scalable data access layers that balance security, performance, and maintainability
• Mentor team members on database design patterns and optimization techniques
• Lead the development and maintenance of scalable APIs to serve robot control systems, dashboards, and monitoring tools
• Design and implement secure authentication and authorization mechanisms across backend services
• Develop robust middleware for processing and validating data between robotics subsystems
• Create service interfaces that enable efficient communication between robotics components and cloud services
• Collaborate with frontend and robotics engineers to ensure cohesive integration of backend services
• Establish API design standards and best practices for the engineering team
• Lead implementation of backend services that support machine learning pipelines for robot vision and motion planning
• Develop sophisticated APIs for model deployment, monitoring, and version management across robotics fleets
• Create efficient data storage and retrieval systems for training datasets and inference results
• Design and implement systems to collect and process performance metrics from AI components
• Collaborate with ML engineers to optimize data flow for training and inference processes
• Drive architecture decisions for AI/ML infrastructure and scalability
• Lead implementation of comprehensive logging, monitoring, and alerting for backend systems
• Develop diagnostic tools and dashboards for operational visibility across distributed robotics deployments
• Establish performance benchmarks and optimize systems to meet latency requirements for real-time operations
• Implement fault-tolerant design patterns to ensure reliability in production environments
• Create and maintain technical documentation for backend systems and mentor team on best practices
• Drive technical initiatives for system scalability and performance optimization

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Commuter benefits
• Flexible paid time off (PTO)
• Catered lunch
• 401(k) matching

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Publishing Industries
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree
• Number of Employees: 101-250 employees