{"id":28650,"url":"https://alion.io/job/asterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science","title":"Software Engineer, The Stacks","company":{"id":7738,"name":"Astera Institute","domain":"asterainstitute.org","url":"https://alion.io/company/asterainstitute","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":70,"open_postings":12,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":63,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"junior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Emeryville, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":100000,"max":200000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":200000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":2,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"CI/CD","optional":false},{"name":"Express","optional":false},{"name":"Node JS","optional":false},{"name":"Prisma","optional":false},{"name":"React.js","optional":false},{"name":"SQL","optional":false},{"name":"TypeScript","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-06-26T17:12:01Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-06-26","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T09:05:36Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":112,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":112},"description":"About Astera\nAstera is a private foundation on a mission to steer science and technology toward a better future. We believe the coming years will bring an era of unprecedented scientific and technological advancement as exponential progress in AI converges with central advances in other fields to accelerate innovation. This inflection point provides an unparalleled opportunity to fundamentally rethink the institutions, systems, and tools that drive progress. We have committed a $3.5B endowment to that work and fit the form of our support to the function it serves: grants, investments, and in-house research programs. We accept meaningful risk in the research we back and expect some of it to fail because transformative ideas are rarely the ones already proven. Our projects, and the foundation itself, operate like high-velocity startups, with a high performance bar and competitive compensation to match. We are searching for leaders who are compelled by the challenge of driving high-impact change in the way science is funded, conducted, and communicated. You can read more about our mission, vision, and programming at astera.org/vision.\nPosition Summary\nThe Astera Institute is seeking a full-time software engineer to help build and scale The Stacks (https://thestacks.org), a new content platform designed to meaningfully improve how scientific, technical, and intellectual work is shared, discovered, and built upon. The ideal candidate is a highly capable, hands-on generalist who has built and maintained complex content platforms or large-scale web applications, and who is comfortable redesigning core systems as the product’s identity evolves. Beyond technical skill, you should have strong architectural judgment, a user-centered mindset, and enthusiasm for building tools that accelerate knowledge-sharing.\nThis is a unique opportunity to shape a core piece of public digital infrastructure at the earliest stages. Successful candidates will be comfortable working in fast-moving environments, collaborating across multiple teams, and making thoughtful architectural decisions that support long-term growth. Open-source experience and enthusiasm are a major plus.\nKey Responsibilities\nContribute to the development and maintenance of The Stacks-including backend services, frontend interfaces, data models, and integrations.\n\nImplement high-quality user-facing interfaces and experiences using modern web technologies.\n\nAssist in building APIs and services for content-management\n\nWork closely with team members to develop features and iterate rapidly based on feedback.\n\nHelp manage cloud infrastructure, ensuring high availability, observability, and smooth development workflows.\n\nMaintain high-quality engineering practices including version control, testing, documentation, and CI/CD workflows.\n\nProvide ongoing support and improvements post-launch, including bug fixes, feature development, and performance optimization.\n\nContribute to open-source components of The Stacks when appropriate.\n\nCollaborate with related internal teams across Astera’s connected programs and external partners as needed.\n\nQualifications and Experience\nBA/BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.\n\n2-3+ years experience building and maintaining software systems.\n\nInterest in working with content-heavy or knowledge-based platforms, and tackling problems related to:\npublishing systems\n\nlarge documentation or archival sites\n\nuser-generated content\n\nStrong engineering fundamentals and problem-solving skills\n\nExperience with some modern backend and frontend technologies (e.g., TypeScript, React, Node.js, Express.js/Hono, SQL databases, Prisma/Drizzle, etc.)-specific technologies matter less than your ability to learn and adapt.\n\nAbility to move quickly in environments with evolving requirements, ambiguity, and rapid iteration cycles.\n\nHighly adaptable and comfortable working across disciplines.\n\nLocation\nOn site at our office in Emeryville, CA. Some travel may be required from time-to-time for in-person collaboration and work.\nCompensation\nThe posted salary range is based on location in the Bay Area. The successful candidate will receive a competitive compensation package, commensurate with their experience and location.\nBenefits summary","description_format":"text","description_chars":4290,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":2,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["AI Research Labs","Nonprofits & Foundations","Research Institutes"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-06-26T17:12:01Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":10,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.267,"p_room":0.36,"age_days":112,"expected_fill_days":63,"reasons":["conf:3","stale_co","win:tail","crowd:junior"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":200000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/asterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/asterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T09:54:36Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":13036,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-18T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":7738},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=7738"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fasterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fasterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fasterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/asterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fasterainstitute-software-engineer-the-stacks-radial-science"}]}