Hybrid Principal Software Engineer

at CEF.AI

• Job title: Principal Software Engineer
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: $120,000 - $200,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Distributed Systems, Kotlin, React, Rust, TypeScript, Go
• Location requirements: Hybrid, San Francisco, United States

About the role

• Principal Software Engineer designing and building foundational backend systems for AI inference platform. Collaborating with a close-knit team and leading architectural decisions in a hybrid work environment.

Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and scale foundational backend systems and APIs that power real-time, multi-agent AI workflows.
• Own the end-to-end developer journey by building SDKs, CLIs, and interfaces that make it easy to interact with our platform.
• Rapidly prototype and productize features using tools like Cursor, React, and TypeScript—without sacrificing quality or scale.
• Guide architectural decisions, lead design reviews, and mentor engineers in best practices for distributed, high-performance systems.
• Partner with product, design, and leadership to align technical execution with company vision and user needs.
• Drive key projects from 0→1 with autonomy, accountability, and a strong bias for action.

Requirements

• 4+ years in high-performance software environments, with a proven track record of shipping complex systems end-to-end.
• Mastery of one or more systems languages (Go, Rust, Kotlin, etc.) and strong backend engineering fundamentals.
• Experience designing and scaling distributed systems with performance, reliability, and observability in mind.
• Strong discipline around testing, CI/CD, and long-term maintainability (TDD preferred).
• Ability to turn ambiguity into architecture, and architecture into reliable, extensible code.
• Clear, concise communicator who can explain tradeoffs, write technical specs, and mentor junior engineers.
• Bonus: Experience with edge computing, real-time inference, or AI/ML-powered systems.

Benefits

• Real Equity & Fair Pay: We believe in true partnership.
• Ownership, Not Just Tasks: You won't be lost in a big machine here.
• Direct Access to Leadership: You are part of the core conversation.
• Inventing the Future: We are building the infrastructure for autonomous AI agents that doesn't exist yet.
• Builders Decide: We hate red tape as much as you do.
• Remote with Connection: We are remote first but value real face time.
• Our Hiring Process: We move fast, stay transparent, and focus on real collaboration.