Staff Software Engineer - Kilo Code

Anaconda, Inc.

5d•$150,000 - $260,000•Remote

About The Position

We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead the evolution of Kilo Code, our flagship VS Code extension with over 5 million downloads processing more than 10 trillion tokens per month. You'll join a 15-person engineering team (average 10+ years of experience) working on one of the most-used AI-assisted coding tools in the world. You'll ship your first PR on day one and have hands-on ownership of high-impact features at the velocity we expect from everyone on this team. You'll set the technical direction that lets the team move faster on everything after, including performance optimization at scale, defining architectural patterns for advanced AI-assisted workflows, and elevating the team's engineering practices while maintaining the velocity and quality our users expect.

Requirements

10+ years of professional software development experience with demonstrated technical leadership on production systems serving large user bases
Proven track record of setting technical direction for complex projects, making architectural decisions under uncertainty, and delivering results through both hands-on contribution and technical leadership
Deep experience building developer tools, IDE extensions, or similar productivity software with 100K+ users, including performance optimization and scale considerations
Expertise in TypeScript and modern JavaScript including asynchronous patterns, event-driven architectures, and Node.js runtime optimization
Track record of performance optimization work at scale including profiling, instrumentation, and measurable improvements in startup time, memory usage, or throughput
Experience working with AI-assisted coding tools, chat interfaces, or agent-based development workflows, including context window management and LLM integration patterns
Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions across teams, mentor other engineers, and elevate engineering practices through code review, documentation, or tooling
Strong product sense and ability to partner with non-engineering stakeholders to translate business needs into technical solutions and tradeoffs
Based in and willing to work Eastern TimeZone hours

Nice To Haves

You've set technical direction for developer tools at companies building IDE extensions, AI coding assistants, or productivity platforms, with measurable impact on product quality or team velocity
You have deep expertise in performance optimization for high-scale systems, with specific experience profiling and optimizing VS Code extensions, Electron apps, or similar runtime environments
You've led cross-functional initiatives in fast-paced startup environments where you balanced technical leadership with hands-on contribution and shipped with minimal process overhead
You've mentored engineers through architectural decisions, code review, or technical design, with clear examples of engineers leveling up through your guidance
You've contributed to open-source projects as a core maintainer or technical lead, navigating community dynamics while maintaining code quality and project direction
You have experience working at AI or data science-focused companies building tools for technical audiences, with deep understanding of developer workflows and pain points
You embody our values: 'Curious by Default', 'Build Together', 'Own It', and 'Lead with Guts and Heart', and our behaviors: Clarity, Care and Candor
You care deeply about fostering an environment where people of all backgrounds and experiences can flourish

Responsibilities

Set technical direction for performance optimization initiatives across startup time, memory footprint, and CLI communication, establishing patterns and instrumentation that the team can leverage
Design, build, and ship advanced features including granular auto-approval rules, context optimization, and Smart Apply workflows, then extract the patterns so the team can reuse them
Drive cross-team initiatives that span the extension, backend services, and AI infrastructure, translating business priorities into technical roadmaps and breaking down complex problems into shippable increments
Mentor engineers on the team through code review, architectural discussions, and pairing sessions, raising the bar for code quality, testing practices, and performance rigor
Own end-to-end delivery of high-impact features from technical design through production deployment, including rollout strategy, telemetry design, and post-launch iteration based on user feedback
Establish engineering standards for AI coding workflows including context window optimization, token compression strategies, and chat interface patterns that serve 6T+ tokens per month
Identify and prioritize technical debt and performance bottlenecks proactively, balancing feature velocity with long-term system health on a mature codebase serving millions
Partner with Product and Design to shape roadmap priorities, advocating for technical feasibility and incremental delivery while representing engineering constraints and opportunities