engineering
Posted Oct 23, 2025Staff Software Engineer (Backend)
at Artisan
San Francisco, United StatesOn-site
Requirements
- WHAT ARTISAN IS We're building AI employees. Not chatbots. Not copilots.
- Our first, Ava, is an AI BDR used by hundreds of companies.
- Right now we're building Ava 2.0, a step change in what an AI employee can do.
- THE ROLE - You’ll build the backend that makes AI employees possible.
- The backend is core to everything we do: it powers the AI, runs the platform, and determines how well Ava performs for every customer.
- WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE CONCRETELY: - High-throughput AI orchestration. - Design and build the services and pipelines that allow Ava to process massive volumes of signals and make fast, reliable decisions. - Platform infrastructure. - Artisan replaces an entire sales stack: email infrastructure, CRM, lead database, campaign engine, inbox management, and AI coordination — all in one product.
- We run a flat engineering org with minimal process and no red tape. - Our stack: TypeScript/Node, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kubernetes, Mastra, Temporal, Langfuse, ECS, EC2, deployed on AWS.
- experience building and operating data-intensive services at scale - Deep understanding of distributed systems, database performance, and API design - Comfortable with cloud-native infrastructure: containers, orchestration, CI/CD, and monitoring - Strong opinions on reliability, observability, and testing — with good judgment on when to move fast - Clear communicator who can explain systems to engineers and product leaders alike - TypeScript/Node preferred; Python, Go, or similar is fine if fundamentals
- Autonomous AI agents interacting with real people, managing real infrastructure, and making real decisions creates backend complexity that is non-trivial and growing fast. - You’ll have real ownership.
Experience
- WHO YOU ARE - 6+ years of backend experience, ideally at a high-growth startup where you owned systems end to end - A 5x engineer who knows how to leverage Claude Code effectively - Strong
Benefits
- We're a YC W24 company, have raised $35M+ from investors including Y Combinator, and are at $8M+ ARR.
- We ship weekly, iterate constantly, and expect engineers to drive outcomes. - Competitive salary and meaningful equity in a company with real revenue, real traction, and a clear path to a major outcome.
Additional details
- She researches leads, writes and sends emails in a customer's voice, runs multi-step outbound sequences, manages her own deliverability infrastructure, self-optimizes over time, and handles objections and meeting booking.
- The engineering problems are hard and the surface area is enormous.
- This is a foundational engineering role. - We process millions of signals — lead data, email engagement, deliverability metrics, behavioral patterns — to make autonomous decisions.
- You’ll own real pieces of this platform. - High ownership, end to end. - Design it, build it, deploy it, monitor it.
- We don’t separate architecture from implementation.
- Moving and iterating very fast. - You’ll ship constantly.
- The systems you build directly power what customers use — no layers between you and impact. - The pace is high and the bar is higher.
- DETAILS Location: San Francisco, New York, or Remote (US) Team: Engineering Reports to: Sam Stallings, CPTO INTERVIEW PROCESS Introductory chat with our recruiter 60-minute technical interview with an engineer Second 60-minute technical interview with an engineer 30-minute interview with Sam, our CPTO 30-minute culture and values interview with Jaspar, our CEO OUR CULTURE AND VALUES Founder mindset.
- Everyone acts like an owner: take initiative, think big, challenge ideas, and push for 10× outcomes.
- We apply the 80/20 rule, kill sunk costs quickly, and focus on what actually moves the needle.