Job Details

At Recode HR, we are collaborating with a cutting-edge, YC-backed voice AI startup to find a Founding Senior Platform Engineer (Backend). This role is perfect for engineers who have a robust background in infrastructure or DevOps and are passionate about building scalable distributed systems. As an early and foundational team member, you will play a key role in constructing and expanding the company's real-time voice AI infrastructure.

About the Company:

This innovative startup is building the "Retool for Voice AI," enabling developers to embed voice technology across various industries. As major platforms integrate human-like voice assistants for billions of users, this startup's platform bridges the gap between raw AI models and ready-to-use voice applications. With a focus on sectors like SaaS, logistics, and telehealth, they are preparing businesses for a voice-driven future. Since launching in March, they have rapidly scaled revenue and secured Series A funding from top-tier investors. Joining now as one of the first 10 team members means you will directly impact the product and infrastructure's trajectory.

Role Overview and Responsibilities:

As the Founding Senior Platform Engineer, you will take ownership of real-time conversational infrastructure, ensuring it can handle millions of concurrent calls with 99.9% reliability and sub-second response times. You will lead infrastructure scalability projects and design resilient systems that are built to last.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Lead end-to-end projects focused on scaling infrastructure to support millions of users while ensuring high availability.
2. Build and deploy comprehensive monitoring systems for real-time performance and reliability insights (e.g., Prometheus).
3. Develop and implement anti-fragility measures for resilient infrastructure that can adapt and recover from unexpected events (e.g., multi-cluster rollovers).
4. Collaborate closely with the founding team to refine and enhance infrastructure for improved reliability and scalability.

Core Requirements:

1. 5+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on infrastructure or DevOps.
2. 2+ years of experience working with distributed systems and scaling infrastructure.
3. At least 1 year of experience at a startup with fewer than 100 employees, ideally in fast-scaling and high-ownership roles.
4. Proficiency with Kubernetes and Pulumi for managing infrastructure; experience with Terraform is a plus.
5. Demonstrated success in building scalable systems from the ground up and leading projects to ensure high availability.
6. Hands-on coding experience with infrastructure and container management systems.
7. Strong understanding of networking concepts, multi-cluster environments, and observability.
8. Ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup setting, driving features from concept to deployment and continuously iterating for improvements.

Nice to Haves:

1. Prior experience as a founder or early-stage team member in infrastructure/DevOps.
2. Work history with top infrastructure companies (e.g., Mux, Render, Supabase, Datadog, Snowflake).
3. Familiarity with Rust or Go and a passion for using modern tech tools.
4. A problem-solving, innovative mindset aimed at enhancing infrastructure efficiency and reliability.
5. Proven ability to simplify and refactor legacy systems for better performance and maintainability.
6. Expertise in network security, certificates, and multi-cluster configurations.
7. A strong engineering portfolio with contributions to open-source projects or an active GitHub profile.

What We Offer:

1. Equity: 0.10% - 0.60%.
2. A full-time, in-office position in San Francisco.
3. The chance to work closely with the founding team and have a significant impact on shaping the company's infrastructure and growth.
4. A high-impact role with opportunities to lead major infrastructure decisions and development.

Key Milestones:

1. First 7 days: Complete a pre-scoped project, such as setting up high-availability Redis.
2. First 14 days: Deliver on set monitoring goals, such as implementing Prometheus rules.
3. First 30 days: Independently complete a project (e.g., developing a Custom Resource Definition (CRD) for managing worker pools) and enhance real-time alerting for latency spikes.
4. Implement proactive infrastructure enhancements to bolster system resilience (e.g., automated multi-cluster rollovers).

Candidate Process:

1. 20-minute Zoom interview with the Chief of Staff for an initial chat and a brief technical discussion.
2. 30-minute Technical Interview with the CTO focusing on architecture and system design.
3. In-office lunch with the Founders to discuss company vision and culture.
4. A paid 3- to 7-day work trial to collaborate with the team and assess mutual fit.

If you are a platform engineer ready for a high-impact role at a rapidly growing startup, this opportunity offers the chance to influence the future of real-time voice AI infrastructure. Apply now to join a team dedicated to advancing the next generation of developer tools.