Applied Methods
~The MetaEngineeringSoftware Engineer

Software Engineer

Software Engineer roles at AI companies cover generalist software engineering work that does not neatly fall into frontend, backend, fullstack, ML, or other specialized tracks—often because the job is generalist by design, or because the title has not yet been segmented into a more specific role. The day-to-day is classical software engineering: designing and building software systems, writing well-tested production code, debugging across the stack, participating in the full development lifecycle, and partnering with cross-functional counterparts on what to build. AI-specific surfaces appear in many of these jobs—integrating models, building ML-adjacent infrastructure, working in AI-aware codebases—but the canonical role is software engineering as practiced across any high-growth technology company. These engineers sit across a wide range of teams depending on the company, with the title often serving as a default for engineers whose scope spans multiple areas.

$ titles --canonical
Software EngineerSenior Software EngineerStaff Software EngineerPrincipal Software Engineer
Open Jobs192
Companies Hiring59
$02

Skills

What companies are looking for in this role.

$ skills --core

Designing and implementing scalable distributed systems and infrastructure

92%

Writing production-grade code with strong software engineering fundamentals

90%

Building and optimizing backend services and APIs

88%

Architecting solutions for system reliability, scalability, and performance

87%

Debugging complex issues across full software stacks

82%

Managing and optimizing cloud infrastructure and compute resources

78%
$ skills --emerging

Building machine learning systems and integrating ML models into production

75%

Developing AI-native applications and agentic AI systems

68%

Building data pipelines and managing telemetry and observability systems

65%

Integrating and orchestrating vector search, semantic retrieval, and hybrid search techniques

62%

Developing embedded systems and real-time software for hardware platforms

58%

Working with robotics middleware and orchestrating complex robotics systems

55%

Building voice processing pipelines including wake word detection, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech

48%
$ skills --soft

Cross-functional collaboration with product, design, and research teams

85%

Taking ownership of projects and operating with high autonomy

80%

Communicating technical concepts clearly and concisely to diverse stakeholders

78%

Mentoring and leading senior engineers and setting technical vision

72%

Evaluating technology trade-offs and making data-driven architectural decisions

70%

Incident management, root cause analysis, and postmortem processes

65%

Rapid prototyping and experimentation with emerging technologies and tools

62%
$03

Technology

The tools and technologies that define this role.

$ tech --language
Pythonvery high
C++high
SQLhigh
TypeScripthigh
Rustmoderate
Javalow
$ tech --framework
Node.jshigh
Reacthigh
FastAPImoderate
gRPCmoderate
ROSmoderate
ROS2moderate
DDSlow
MQTTlow
WebSocketslow
$ tech --platform
AWShigh
Dockerhigh
GitHubhigh
Kuberneteshigh
Linuxhigh
S3high
Azuremoderate
GCSmoderate
Google Cloud Platformmoderate
Kafkamoderate
MongoDBmoderate
NATSlow
NVIDIA Tegralow
$ tech --tool
Claudemoderate
Cursorlow
$ tech --concept
LLMhigh
Machine Learninghigh
Retrieval Augmented Generationhigh
Simulationhigh
Vector Searchhigh
Agentic AImoderate
Perception Systemsmoderate
$04

Open Jobs

192 open Software Engineer jobs across 59 companies.

Glean1d
Software Engineer
Mountain View, CA·Engineering
Glean1d
Software Engineer
Mountain View, CA·Engineering
OpenAI2d
Principal Software Engineer, Codex Cyber
San Francisco·Engineering
Sourcegraph2d
Compiler Engineer + SCIP Maintainer [IC4-5]
Remote·Engineering
Scale AI4d
Software Engineer, Gen AI
San Francisco, CA; New York, NY·Engineering
Figure AI5d
Special Projects Intern [Fall 2026]
San Jose, CA·Engineering
Ada5d
Software Engineering Intern
Remote - Canada·Engineering
Tabs5d
Senior Software Engineer
New York City, NY·Engineering
Shield AI1w
Staff Engineer, HMS Factory (R5276)
Washington, DC·Engineering
Waymo1w
Software Engineer, Planner
Mountain View, California; San Francisco, California; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania·Engineering
Waymo1w
Staff Software Engineer - Simulation Realism
Mountain View, CA, USA·Engineering
Crusoe2w
Principal Software Engineer, Crusoe Cloud
San Francisco, CA - US·Engineering
Granola2w
Product Engineer (Transcription)
London·Engineering
Tabs2w
Staff Software Engineer
New York City, NY·Engineering
Multiverse2w
Senior Software Engineer (Growth)
London·Engineering
Graphcore2w
Principal Software Architect
Cambridge, UK·Engineering
Omnea2w
Product Engineer
London·Engineering
Graphcore2w
Senior Software Engineer
Gdańsk, Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland·Engineering
Shield AI2w
Staff Engineer, Autonomy and Motion Planning (R5263)
London·Engineering
MongoDB2w
Software Engineer 3
New York City·Engineering