Senior Software Engineer – Python Backend & Manufacturing Systems

We are looking for an experienced, communicative Senior Software Engineer to own the data pipelines, internal systems, and APIs that power our real-time manufacturing and R&D operations. What we need from you is deep, production-grade Python expertise and the ability to own a project end-to-end: partnering directly with material engineers, technicians, and hardware engineers to turn ambiguous operational challenges into working production software.

This role will be on-site 5 days a week in either our South San Francisco office or our Fremont, CA office.

Responsibilities

• Own technical initiatives from inception to delivery: translate operational needs into technical roadmaps, architectural specs, and deployable code.
• Architect and scale end-to-end Python backends, spanning high-throughput event pipelines, internal REST APIs, and automated data processing tools.
• Interface directly with internal clients (production technicians, metrology specialists, and R&D engineers) to diagnose workflow bottlenecks and validate solutions on the floor.
• Optimize database performance and schema design for high-frequency telemetry, process metrics, and traceability data.
• Partner with our front-end engineers to define clean API contracts and data models for operator-facing UI’s.

Requirements

• 4+ years of software engineering experience with production Python as your primary language (experience with industrial protocols like MQTT, Modbus, OPC-UA, or PLCs is a strong plus).
• Proven end-to-end project ownership with the ability to define roadmaps, write specs, and execute code independently (experience working in manufacturing, hardware-in-the-loop, or physical R&D environments is a plus).
• Full-lifecycle Python backend expertise across REST APIs, event/data pipelines, and automation scripts (hands-on experience with FastAPI, Flask, or async processing is a plus).
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills to run discovery directly with non-software stakeholders like scientists, technicians, and operations teams (experience scoping technical requirements directly from physical shop-floor workflows is a plus).
• Strong querying skills with schema design fundamentals.