Senior Backend Software Engineer, Archer
$145-180k
More information about location
5 days a week in office (San Jose, CA)
Electric air taxis
Open for applications
Electric air taxis
1001+ employees
Open for applications
$145-180k
More information about location
5 days a week in office (San Jose, CA)
1001+ employees
Company mission
To unlock the skies, freeing everyone to reimagine how they move and spend time.
Role
Who you are
- BS/MS/PhD degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
- 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a heavy focus on backend systems
- Solid understanding of microservices architecture, distributed systems, and API design
- Strong proficiency in Python and/or Rust, ideally both
- Solid experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, GCP, or Azure
- Experience with infrastructure-as-code tools such as OpenTofu/Terraform and configuration management with Ansible
- Solid experience with relational databases (eg. PostgresQL), in-memory databases (e.g., Valkey/Redis), and columnar databases built on top of Parquet or similar formats
- Familiarity with GitOps practices (eg Argo CD) and Kubernetes deployments
- Able to scale yourself with AI coding assistants while still fully understanding and taking ownership of all code you commit
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a proven ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Desirable
- Experience with AI/ML ops and tooling
- Rust experience with async runtimes (Tokio), serialization (Cap'n Proto), and message-driven architectures is highly valued
- Experience with message brokers (NATS, Kafka) and event-driven architectures
- Experience building high-throughput data pipelines
- Background in high-availability, real-time systems or event-driven architectures
- Prior experience or a deep interest in aerospace, robotics, or autonomous systems
What the job involves
- As a Senior Backend Engineer in the Archer AI team, you will architect, develop, and scale the core services and infrastructure that power our cutting-edge AI products
- You will bridge the gap between complex AI models and production-ready software, ensuring that our AI-driven insights are delivered reliably and at scale
- Design and maintain scalable backend systems, APIs, and data pipelines to support applications powered by AI
- Leverage infrastructure-as-code tooling to build and manage backend environments
- Collaborate with AI researchers, AI systems engineers, and data scientists to productionize and monitor AI/ML and optimization models
- Own the full development lifecycle—from design and development to deployment, monitoring, and maintenance
- Monitor system performance and reliability, and respond to production issues with effective debugging and root cause analysis
- Write clean, maintainable, and well-documented code
- Mentor and guide junior team members with diverse technical backgrounds, fostering a culture of engineering excellence and software development best practices
Our take
With traffic, noise, and emissions becoming major challenges for urban life, Archer is building electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, led by its flagship model, Midnight, offering a cleaner, quieter alternative to traditional short-haul travel. The idea is simple: replace long car rides with quick, sustainable flights that lift off vertically, fly over the gridlock, and help reduce urban pollution. It's a bold shift in transportation, but one that could meaningfully change how we navigate cities in the years ahead.
Midnight is designed to make these short flights practical, safe, and efficient. Its electric powertrain significantly reduces noise and emissions compared to helicopters (one of the biggest barriers to adopting urban air mobility at scale). However, eVTOLs face hurdles before becoming an everyday reality, including regulatory approvals, infrastructure build-out, and the operational testing needed to prove long-term safety and reliability. Archer is addressing these challenges with major manufacturing investment, deep engineering partnerships, and ongoing flight testing in the US and abroad.
Even with these barriers, Archer has been moving from success to success. The company is set to be the official air taxi provider for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. And its recent acquisition of Hawthorne Airport in LA will serve as both a launch site and an innovation hub for next-generation, AI-powered aviation operations. On the commercial side, Archer's partnerships with United Airlines and its growing international presence signal strong industry confidence. Combined with newly expanded funding and successful long-range flight tests, Archer sure is a promising player in eVTOl aviation.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
44% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (1 round)
Jul 2020
$55.7m
SERIES A
Total funding: $55.7m
Company HQ
Tasman and Zanker, San Jose, CA
Leadership
Adam Goldstein
(Founder & CEO)Began their career in Financial Services, before co-founding Vettery, a talent marketplace, in 2012. Founded Archer in 2018.
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