Senior Software Engineer, Parallel
$150-212k
Powering autonomous rail
Open for applications
Powering autonomous rail
21-100 employees
Open for applications
$150-212k
21-100 employees
Company mission
To provide a safer, more efficient, and sustainable alternative to short-haul trucking, seamlessly integrating with existing rail operations and powering the future of freight.
Role
Who you are
- This role requires deep expertise in systems programming and the ability to build robust, efficient software solutions
- 5+ years of experience in backend or systems-level software development
- Professional experience in C, C++, Rust, or other systems programming languages
- Strong understanding of operating systems, networking, and concurrency models
- Experience building highly available, high-performance systems
- Proficiency with Linux environments, low-level system interactions, and memory management
- Strong debugging and performance optimization skills for complex distributed systems
Desirable
- Experience with Rust in production or a strong desire to work with Rust
- Experience in safety critical application spaces such as autonomous vehicles, industrial control equipment, or aerospace
- Experience in or knowledge of rail control systems is greatly preferred
- Familiarity with cloud-based architectures and containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes)
What the job involves
- Parallel Systems is seeking a Senior Software Engineer to design, build, and optimize critical system applications
- You will work on high-performance backend systems that empower our rail vehicles to navigate the rail network safely and securely, as well as interface with customer’s train control systems
- Design and implement high-performance, low-latency backend systems for critical train control applications
- Develop and maintain system-level software written primarily in Rust
- Optimize existing codebases for scalability, performance, and reliability
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to architect fault-tolerant and distributed systems
- Ensure software meets security, compliance, and performance standards
- Conduct performance profiling, debugging, and system diagnostics for complex issues
- Contribute to code reviews, technical discussions, and best practices within the team
- What Success Looks Like:
- After 30 Days: You’ve ramped up quickly, developed a deep understanding of our backend systems, and are actively contributing to high-impact feature development that improves the performance and reliability of our train systems
- After 60 Days: You’ve taken initiative in designing a scalable architecture for integrating with customer enterprise systems. You’ve outlined a clear and realistic implementation plan, including milestones for development, testing, and deployment
- After 90 Days: You have implemented and tested major features in simulation and on real hardware at the test site and have taken the lead on the future path of our back-office systems
Our take
The huge freight networks of the U.S. currently face the significant challenge of optimizing their supply chain logistics whilst meeting regulations for the mitigation of global warming. Whilst electric trucking startups provide a small-scale solution, the $700B industry is enormous, and replacing trucks would be unaffordable to most companies.
Parallel designs autonomous, zero-emissions freight transportation systems for railways, providing a sustainable alternative to freight trucking. The automated rail vehicles use existing railway networks to increase infrastructure utilization and open railroads to new markets, whilst providing an alternative to logistics companies that is safer, faster, zero-emission, and lower cost.
While the company faces competition in fellow autonomous railcar company Intramotev, Parallel shows promise to disrupt the market by being based on pre-existing infrastructure that is faster, safer, and cheaper than road-based logistics. Through this approach, the company can help logistics companies become carbon-neutral whilst increasing their access to railway freight, thus saving them money and boosting opportunities for revenue growth.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
66% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Apr 2025
$38m
SERIES B
Jan 2022
$49.6m
SERIES A
Total funding: $91.2m
Company HQ
Arts District, Los Angeles, CA
Leadership
Matt Soule
(Founder & CEO)Prior to Founding Parallel in 2020, Matt spent 13 years at SpaceX, joining in 2006 as an Avionics Engineer. They then held various roles at the company before becoming a Principal Avionics Engineer. Before this, they were an Electrical/Controls Engineer at Northrop Grumman and an Electrical Engineer at Lockheed Martin.
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