Staff Software Engineer

Astera Institute

12d • Onsite

About The Position

We are looking for an ambitious Staff Software Engineer to help us reverse-engineer the human brain.
This role spans a broad spectrum of activities:
Architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.
Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
Write clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts our research velocity.
Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
Tackle any technical bottleneck, from low-level optimization to high-level system design, to unblock the research team.

Requirements

• High-Velocity Craftsmanship: You produce clean, maintainable, and well-tested code at a startup pace. You know how to balance engineering rigor with the need to iterate quickly on research prototypes.
• System Architecture Intuition: You have deep experience architecting complex systems from scratch. You understand the trade-offs, and you can design infrastructure that survives the chaos of research.
• Extreme Adaptability: You might be an expert in distributed systems today, but you are ready to become a novice in neuroscience tomorrow. You have a track record of diving into complex domains and mastering them quickly.
• Mastery of Hard Problems: You have a track record of tackling difficult engineering challenges, whether it is massive scale distributed systems, high-frequency trading, or kernel development. You do not shy away from what your peers consider hardcore.

Responsibilities

• Architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.
• Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
• Write clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts our research velocity.
• Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
• Tackle any technical bottleneck, from low-level optimization to high-level system design, to unblock the research team.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees