Backend Software Engineer, Nominal
$130-230k
Unified software suite to test and operate hardware
Open for applications
Unified software suite to test and operate hardware
201-500 employees
Open for applications
$130-230k
201-500 employees
Company mission
To provide the tools and infrastructure engineers need to deliver mission-critical capabilities at scale in the shortest time possible.
Role
Who you are
- 4+ years building and maintaining distributed systems with a focus on performance and reliability
- Strong with languages like Java, Go, or Rust, and comfortable writing clean, maintainable code
- Practical experience with cloud services (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and tools like Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform
- Understanding of storage solutions—Parquet, Druid, InfluxDB, ClickHouse, TimescaleDB, or similar— and experience with real-time data and telemetry systems
- Familiarity with technologies like Apache Arrow, Kafka, Spark, or Flink, plus experience with distributed databases
- Ability to explain your ideas clearly to others, whether they’re technical or non-technical
What the job involves
- Nominal is building the software infrastructure powering the world’s most advanced hardware systems — from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation industrial machines
- Our platform ingests high-rate telemetry, validates complex autonomy software in real time, and enables engineers to iterate faster without sacrificing safety or precision
- We’re a small, fast-moving team of engineers and operators who own problems end-to-end, work across disciplines, and thrive on challenges at the intersection of hardware and software
- As a dual-use platform, we serve top-tier commercial and defense customers, including the U.S. Navy, United States Air Force, Shield AI, and Anduril
- We’re backed by Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Lightspeed Ventures
- Our team draws experience from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, and other leading companies — united by a common mission: enabling hardware engineers to push the boundaries of advanced technology with speed, safety, and precision
- We're looking for a Backend Software Engineer, where you'll develop and maintain high-performance distributed systems for processing and storing telemetry data
- You will also help design scalable storage solutions, optimize system performance, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver effective data solutions
- Build and maintain distributed systems that process and store telemetry and sensor data
- Design scalable storage solutions to manage large, real-time datasets
- Improve system performance and reliability, making sure everything runs smoothly at scale
- Work with engineers from other parts of the company to support specific customer needs
- Help set the technical direction of the backend, sharing your experience to guide early career engineers
- Stay on top of new developments in data engineering and apply what’s useful to improve our platform
Our take
Whilst leading workflow platforms such as Monday and Basecamp are designed for general use, teams in more specific industries may benefit from experiences designed for their sector. Nominal has built a data analysis platform and workflow system tailored to the needs of engineering teams managing complex machines in industries such as aerospace and defense.
Nominal’s platform caters to engineering teams who develop, validate and monitor hardware, enabling them to build observability and control over mission-critical machines. It automates routine tasks and streamlines collaboration between team members, ensuring that all stages of a machine’s development have rigorous oversight.
Having only come out of stealth in 2024, Nominal’s path to market has been accelerated by several rounds of funding. This is being used to expand operations and business reach as it attempts to cut into a competitive market. With its target audience pitch well articulated, the company has become the fastest-growing software platform in hardware development with 6X customer growth across aerospace, defense, energy, robotics and manufacturing.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (last 2 of 4 rounds)
Mar 2026
$80m
SERIES B
Jun 2025
$75m
SERIES B
Total funding: $182.5m
Company benefits
- 100% covered health, dental, and vision insurance (for you and family)
- $500/year hardware sensor stipend
- 12-weeks parental leave
- In-office 5 days per week
- 401K
- Employee-friendly equity terms
- Unlimited paid vacation
- Wellness Stipend ($100/mo)
- Fertility and family planning ($15,000 lifetime)
- Learning & development stipend
- Gourmet lunch provided daily
Company HQ
Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA
Leadership
Jason Hoch
(Co-Founder)Previously a Software Engineer/Engineering Lead at Vercel, Newfront Insurance and Palantir Technologies.
Cameron McCord
(Co-Founder & CEO)Previously an Investor at Lux Capital. Was also Head of Defense at Saildrone, Advisor at Applied Intuition, and worked in Product and Growth at Anduril Industries.
Bryce Strauss
(Co-Founder)Previously an MBS and MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School, as well as Summer Associate at The Engine and a member of the Executive Leadership Development Programme at Lockheed Martin.
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