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Staff Software Engineer

Astera Institute· Foundation
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Hybrid (Emeryville HQ)$200k - $500kFull-timePosted 8mo ago

About the role

Staff Software Engineer to help reverse-engineer the human brain. Role includes architecting high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models, designing neuroscience-informed RL environments, turning research prototypes into scalable production systems, and addressing systemic bottlenecks to accelerate research velocity.

Responsibilities

  • Define and architect high-performance infrastructure for training large-scale models and running complex simulations.
  • Design and optimize custom RL environments informed by neuroscience.
  • Set the standard for clean, fast, production-grade code that boosts our research velocity.
  • Turn research prototypes into scalable production systems.
  • Tackle systemic technical bottlenecks, from low-level optimization to high-level strategy, to unblock the research team.

Qualifications

  • High-Velocity Craftsmanship: You set the bar for 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 proven success architecting complex systems from scratch. You understand the long-term 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, mastering them quickly, and guiding others through them.
  • Mastery of Hard Problems: You have a track record of leading the resolution of difficult engineering challenges, whether it is massive scale distributed systems or kernel-level optimization. You do not shy away from what your peers consider hardcore.

Skills

Required:Clean, maintainable, and well-tested codeSystem architecture and large-scale infrastructure designDistributed systemsAdaptability across domains (e.g., neuroscience)
Last updated Sep 23, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

About Astera Institute

The future, faster.

We empower visionary, high-leverage science and technology projects with the capacity to create transformative progress for human civilization.

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