{"id":57584,"url":"https://alion.io/job/chalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity","title":"Software Engineer, Developer Productivity","company":{"id":178332,"name":"Chalk","domain":"chalk.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/chalk-2","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"C","score":63,"open_postings":15,"ghost_share":0.533,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":64,"computed_at":"2026-10-12T06:55:09Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"senior","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"hybrid","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":170000,"max":280000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":280000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":5,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Bazel","optional":false},{"name":"Buildkite","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"GitHub Actions","optional":false},{"name":"Machine Learning","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Rust","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-13T21:30:21Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-08-13","last_verified_at":"2026-10-12T11:31:38Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":59,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":0,"flags":["company_stale"],"days_open":59},"description":"About Chalk\nChalk is building the data platform that powers the future of machine learning applications. We tear down complexity, latency, and scale barriers that have traditionally constrained ML capabilities. Our platform combines Rust-speed performance with elegant tools that developers love to use. Leading companies depend on Chalk for everything from stopping fraudulent credit card swipes, verifying identities, and maximizing clean energy capture. We've recently raised a $50 million Series A, led by Felicis.\nAbout the role\nWe are hiring a Software Engineer to make every other engineer at Chalk move faster. You will be responsible for building our internal developer platform, from Bazel and CI through to release automation, and the tooling engineers use locally.\nToday this work is spread across the engineering team alongside everything else people are shipping. You would be the first person to own it outright, set the priorities, and build the function from here.\nOur product runs inside customers' airgapped environments, meaning we need our code deployments done right the first time. Chalk's engine is C++ and Rust with a Python interface, and it is held to a demanding latency bar of 100k QPS in 5ms. That means CI has to catch performance regressions, not just correctness bugs.\nWe run a mix of GitHub Actions and Buildkite today and are currently consolidating on Buildkite and Bazel. Bazel and containerized dev environments are where the next gains will come from.\nTo be successful in this role, C++ and distributed systems experience matter most. You will also need strong communication skills to work across an engineering org. Developer Productivity specific experience is highly desirable but we're open to ramping someone up.\nWe're in the office 5 days a week. When unavoidable conflicts come up, we're flexible. This is not a hybrid role.\nWhat you will do\nOwn our Bazel build system, including toolchains, dependency management, and remote execution.\n\nWork across the engineering organization to create a consistent experience for engineers to run and develop Chalk in containerized dev environments.\n\nEstablish test and benchmark patterns.\n\nOwn CI health, which includes speed and reliability.\n\nDrive down test flakiness.\n\nMake C++ and Rust builds and tests faster through toolchain work, caching, remote execution, and dependency hygiene.\n\nWhat we're looking for\n5+ years of professional experience as a Software Engineer, ideally in developer productivity.\n\nC++ coding experience as a Software Engineer.\n\nStrong Distributed Systems experience.\n\nIdeally have hands-on Bazel experience. You have written and debugged BUILD files and Starlark, configured toolchains, and worked through either a real migration or in a large existing workspace.\n\nAbility to work autonomously and to make pragmatic tradeoffs with an eye towards business outcomes.\n\nStrong communication skills.\n\nBachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience. Strong experience matters more here than the credential.\n\nBonus points\nExperience with Nix\n\nExperience with Buildkite\n\nExperience with Bazel remote execution and remote caching at scale\n\nExperience writing custom Bazel rules\n\nExperience with benchmark infrastructure for latency sensitive systems\n\nExperience building developer platforms used by an entire engineering org","description_format":"text","description_chars":3343,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":5,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["MLOps"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-08-13T21:30:21Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 2","filings_12m":2,"filings_prev_12m":2,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":152500,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-03T21:08:04+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":2}],"liveness":{"score":39,"band":"fade","label":"Fading","p_open":1,"p_active":0.526,"p_room":0.75,"age_days":59,"expected_fill_days":64,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","win:late"],"computed_at":"2026-10-12T06:55:09Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":280000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/chalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/chalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-12T12:36:54Z","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":19608,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-13T00:00:00Z"}},"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":178332},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=178332"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fchalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity"},{"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%2Fchalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity"},{"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%2Fchalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity"},{"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/chalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fchalk-software-engineer-developer-productivity"}]}