Senior Staff Software Engineer - Cloud Platform

Lytx•San Diego, CA

About The Position

Lytx is building the future of its products on a scalable, cloud-first platform, fusing large-scale AWS infrastructure with the hardware that powers our in-vehicle gateways and smart cameras, plus the AI and fleet services layered on top. We're assembling a small, elite team of senior technical operators to own this platform end-to-end and define where Lytx goes next. We're looking for a Senior Staff Software Engineer with deep technical mastery and sharp architectural judgment to join as a core member. This is not a management role, and there's no hierarchy: every member operates with full autonomy — architecting solutions, writing production code, making high-stakes calls, and shipping at pace. You'll own problems end-to-end, from system design and backend services through infrastructure, frontend, and mobile, with direct accountability for production outcomes.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent depth of practical experience.
12+ years of software engineering experience building and operating cloud-based distributed systems at scale.
Deep expertise with Node.js, React, and MUI in production environments.
Proven mastery of distributed systems, microservices architecture, and cloud-native design patterns.
Deep knowledge of AWS services and hands-on experience writing, testing, and maintaining AWS CDK scripts.
Expertise in IP networking, including TCP/IP and related protocols.
Demonstrated ability to operate across the full stack, backend, frontend, infrastructure, and deployment at a high level of proficiency in each.
Track record of making sound architectural decisions independently and influencing technical direction beyond your immediate deliverables.
Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity, make trade-offs, and deliver under time pressure.
Effective communication skills, able to articulate architectural vision, defend technical trade-offs, and align with peers on approach.

Nice To Haves

Large-scale, production cloud platforms serving high-volume, real-time workloads.
IoT, device-integrated, or data-intensive systems.
CI/CD pipelines, automated deployments, and infrastructure automation.
Performance tuning, observability, and operational excellence in cloud environments.
Prior experience in small, high-performance engineering teams with flat structures.

Responsibilities

Architect, design, and build scalable, production-grade backend services running in AWS making critical technical decisions on system design, data modeling, and service boundaries with minimal oversight.
Define and drive the technical direction of the cloud platform, including service architecture, infrastructure patterns, and operational standards that the team adopts.
Develop and maintain services using Node.js and other backend technologies, with full ownership from design through deployment and production support.
Leverage AI tools (e.g., Claude Code) as force multipliers in the development workflow.
Design and implement infrastructure-as-code using AWS CDK, owning the full infrastructure lifecycle.
Work with PostgreSQL at depth, including schema design, query performance optimization, and data architecture decisions.
Build and maintain frontend applications using React & MUI and contribute to mobile applications built with React Native for Android and iOS.
Develop software components across multiple languages: JavaScript/Node.js, Python, Rust, and C/C++, choosing the right tool for the problem.
Set and uphold engineering standards for code quality, testing, reliability, and security, leading by example rather than by mandate.
Evaluate emerging technologies, prototype solutions, and make build-vs-buy recommendations that shape the platform’s technical roadmap.
Operate as a full peer within a flat, high-trust team, participating in architectural discussions, code reviews, and production incident response with shared accountability.