Staff Software Engineer, Anaconda
Kilo Code
$150-260k
+ Annual bonus potential, equity participation. Salary dependent on location
Open-source data science platform
Be an early applicant
Open-source data science platform
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$150-260k
+ Annual bonus potential, equity participation. Salary dependent on location
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To empower people with data literacy, so they can ask better questions and make better sense of the world.
Role
Who you are
- 10+ years of professional software development experience with demonstrated technical leadership on production systems serving large user bases
- Proven track record of setting technical direction for complex projects, making architectural decisions under uncertainty, and delivering results through both hands-on contribution and technical leadership
- Deep experience building developer tools, IDE extensions, or similar productivity software with 100K+ users, including performance optimization and scale considerations
- Expertise in TypeScript and modern JavaScript including asynchronous patterns, event-driven architectures, and Node.js runtime optimization
- Track record of performance optimization work at scale including profiling, instrumentation, and measurable improvements in startup time, memory usage, or throughput
- Experience working with AI-assisted coding tools, chat interfaces, or agent-based development workflows, including context window management and LLM integration patterns
- Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions across teams, mentor other engineers, and elevate engineering practices through code review, documentation, or tooling
- Strong product sense and ability to partner with non-engineering stakeholders to translate business needs into technical solutions and tradeoffs
- Based in and willing to work Eastern TimeZone hours
- You care deeply about fostering an environment where people of all backgrounds and experiences can flourish
Desirable
- You've set technical direction for developer tools at companies building IDE extensions, AI coding assistants, or productivity platforms, with measurable impact on product quality or team velocity
- You have deep expertise in performance optimization for high-scale systems, with specific experience profiling and optimizing VS Code extensions, Electron apps, or similar runtime environments
- You've led cross-functional initiatives in fast-paced startup environments where you balanced technical leadership with hands-on contribution and shipped with minimal process overhead
- You've mentored engineers through architectural decisions, code review, or technical design, with clear examples of engineers leveling up through your guidance
- You've contributed to open-source projects as a core maintainer or technical lead, navigating community dynamics while maintaining code quality and project direction
- You have experience working at AI or data science-focused companies building tools for technical audiences, with deep understanding of developer workflows and pain points
- You embody our values: 'Curious by Default', 'Build Together', 'Own It', and 'Lead with Guts and Heart', and our behaviors: Clarity, Care and Candor
What the job involves
- We're looking for a Staff Software Engineer to lead the evolution of Kilo Code, our flagship VS Code extension with over 5 million downloads processing more than 10 trillion tokens per month
- You'll join a 15-person engineering team (average 10+ years of experience) working on one of the most-used AI-assisted coding tools in the world
- You'll ship your first PR on day one and have hands-on ownership of high-impact features at the velocity we expect from everyone on this team
- You'll set the technical direction that lets the team move faster on everything after, including performance optimization at scale, defining architectural patterns for advanced AI-assisted workflows, and elevating the team's engineering practices while maintaining the velocity and quality our users expect
- Set technical direction for performance optimization initiatives across startup time, memory footprint, and CLI communication, establishing patterns and instrumentation that the team can leverage
- Design, build, and ship advanced features including granular auto-approval rules, context optimization, and Smart Apply workflows, then extract the patterns so the team can reuse them
- Drive cross-team initiatives that span the extension, backend services, and AI infrastructure, translating business priorities into technical roadmaps and breaking down complex problems into shippable increments
- Mentor engineers on the team through code review, architectural discussions, and pairing sessions, raising the bar for code quality, testing practices, and performance rigor
- Own end-to-end delivery of high-impact features from technical design through production deployment, including rollout strategy, telemetry design, and post-launch iteration based on user feedback
- Establish engineering standards for AI coding workflows including context window optimization, token compression strategies, and chat interface patterns that serve 6T+ tokens per month
- Identify and prioritize technical debt and performance bottlenecks proactively, balancing feature velocity with long-term system health on a mature codebase serving millions
- Partner with Product and Design to shape roadmap priorities, advocating for technical feasibility and incremental delivery while representing engineering constraints and opportunities
- Your Impact Will Be Measured Through:
- Feature impact: user engagement and performance metrics for high-complexity features you own, including adoption rates, performance benchmarks, and production stability
- Delivery cadence: your first PR on day one, then a sustained pace of high-complexity features shipped to production, setting the tempo for the team
- Technical leverage: measurable improvements in team velocity, code quality, or system performance that compound over time through patterns, tooling, or mentorship you introduce
- Architectural decisions: adoption and success of technical approaches you champion, measured through feature reliability, performance gains, and team consensus
- Cross-functional influence: successful delivery of initiatives requiring coordination across Product, AI Services, and other engineering teams with clear outcomes and minimal friction
- You'll thrive in a high-performance environment where results are recognized and rewarded
- Your work directly contributes to shaping the future of data science, machine learning, and AI in the enterprise
- You'll work alongside a collaborative team that values diverse, thoughtful discussion, clarity and candor
- You'll be supported by a culture that puts employees first - with flexible hours, a fully remote setup, and a genuine commitment to your wellbeing and growth
Application process
- The application deadline for this role is 11/2/2026; applicants will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until the role is filled
Our take
Anaconda is a titan providing leading problem-solving tech for data science and machine learning applications. Anaconda began back in 2009, marshalling tools for Python use in data science, and has no doubt helped consolidate Python’s position as the language of preference in this field. This tight relationship means Anaconda is primed to continue a strong and dominant trajectory.
More companies than ever are increasing their data science investments, as large pools of digital data become increasingly available and vital across most areas of business. Machine learning is seeing a similar uptick in demand and is providing fertile and future-focused opportunities for a similarly broad sweep of industries. This suggests that Anaconda’s large customer base, with approximately 30 million users across over 235 countries and regions, and partnerships with the likes of Intel and IBM, is likely to see robust consolidation and growth over the coming years.
The increasing importance of these highly dynamic and changing sectors means there is real appetite for tools that help organizations develop data literacy - and Anaconda is the market’s go-to platform to get there. The company is looking to maintain its strong momentum through new acquisitions, such as PythonAnywhere, thereby strengthening the breadth of its Python offerings.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
29% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 9 rounds)
Aug 2025
$150m
SERIES C
Apr 2021
$38.5m
SERIES B
Total funding: $246m
Company benefits
- When it comes to pay increases, there isn’t red tape like your average corporate organization. We don’t have a max cap, and we pay our salary increases based on the industry benchmarks of the specific role in the job market
- We ensure salary transparency for each employee. We show you the benchmarks in the industry for your title, where you live, and how your salary stacks comparative to other jobs with the same title
- Spot bonuses based on great outcomes
- Medical, dental, vision, HSA, life insurance, and 401(K)* (based on country)
- Competitive stock options
- Open vacation policy
- Paid parental leave for both moms and dads
- Anaconda Snake Days; In addition to government holidays, a once-a-month company-designated day off to relax and recharge
- 100% flexible working policy. While we have core business hours, we focus on results, not when you’re at your desk
- Quarterly fitness membership or home office reimbursement
- Low-meeting Fridays
- Monthly anonymous “Ask Me Anything” sessions with senior leadership
- Employee recognition known as the annual Ana-CAN-DO awards
- An open-door policy and senior leadership office hours - transparency comes first, and all ideas matter
- Annual Anaconda Olympics
- Homecoming (bringing everyone together (safely))!
- Weekly team happy hours
- Lunch & learn trainings
- Virtual and in-person team offsites
Company HQ
Financial District, Austin, TX
Leadership
Peter Wang
(Co-Founder, Chief AI & Innovation Officer)After graduating with a degree in Physics from Cornell, they were a Software Developer for Immersive Technologies and a Systems Administrator at ECornell, Cornell's online learning venture. They then were the Director of Technical Architecture at Enthough, Inc, before founding Streamitive, LLC, Continuum Analytics, Inc and then Anaconda, Inc.
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