Senior Engineer, High Performance Data Systems
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 5, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 29, 2026.
About us
We're solving AI's hardest problem: alignment.
Encord is the data layer for Physical AI and enterprise, serving as core infrastructure for 300+ of the world's leading AI teams, including Woven by Toyota, Hitachi, Skydio, AbbVie and Dyna, Walden and Agility Robotics. From autonomous vehicles and robotics to sports and healthcare, we're solving AI's hardest problem: turning complex, real-world data into production-ready intelligent systems.
We're a team of founders, scientists, quants, researchers, and former Olympians, who’ve helped build some of the most successful companies in Silicon Valley, and alumni of MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial. We’ve raised $110M from legendary technology investors, early backers of companies like Databricks, ElevenLabs and Vercel, and we’re growing at an extraordinary pace.
The role
Most engineers never get to redesign core infrastructure for the next 100x of scale. On Foundations, that's the job.
AI teams are generating video, images, 3D sensor data and documents faster than anyone's systems can keep up. Help us build the high-performance data systems behind the AI data platform for robotics and beyond.
You'll join Foundations, the backend backbone of Encord. We build the reliable, scalable, fast systems every other team and every customer runs on. The work sits deep in distributed and data-intensive systems: storage, indexing, querying and processing multimodal data at a scale few companies ever reach.
The timing is rare. A year ago we were a team of 100; now we're over 150 and still accelerating, driven by massive demand. We are building the team to unlock our next orders of magnitude of scale and capability.
What you'll do
Own significant projects in our data systems end to end: design, architecture, deployment, monitoring and measuring the impact you made
Build distributed systems that stay fast and correct under load, and reason carefully about every way they can fail
Shape performant protocols and APIs, that customers build directly on top of
Find simple solutions to complex domains at scale, and know when boring technology wins
Raise the bar for everyone around you through code reviews, pairing and sharing what you know
Why engineers join Foundations
Scale that's genuinely hard. Multimodal AI data is big, messy and growing fast. You'll solve problems most backend engineers only read about.
Real ownership. You'll own whole systems, not tickets, and the architectural calls are yours to make.
Work that ships. Your systems power 300+ AI teams, including Woven by Toyota, AXA, UiPath and Zipline.
Long-term thinking. A team that plans 24 months out and gives you room to build things properly.
The right moment. A Series C company growing fast, early enough that your decisions shape the platform for years.
Who we're looking for
You've seen and built a lot. You have personally developed and maintained multiple systems from scratch, and you know what trade-offs are involved in building reliable, performant software at speed
You combine rigorous engineering with ruthless prioritisation to ship efficient and correct systems quickly.
You're happy to tackle problems without a predefined, clear definition or obvious solution, and are excited to have autonomy to make decisions as you go
You understand that being a member of a high-performing team requires two things. You contribute your best work and help others contribute their best. You'll always lend a helping hand when needed and level up those around you
Experience requirements
Fluency in at least one high level (Python, Typescript), and one imperative statically typed (Rust, C++, Java, Go, or other)
Solid grounding in distributed systems concepts (databases, replication, partitioning, queuing, caching, consistency) and how they behave under load
Deep understanding of CS fundamentals, data structures and algorithms
Experience owning services in production and improving quality through code reviews, testing, rollout and monitoring
Why Encord
Competitive salary, commission, and meaningful equity in a high-growth startup
Clear, accelerated growth opportunities as the company scales rapidly
Strong in-person culture: 4 days/week
Daily team lunches & dinners
Annual learning & development budget
Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
US employees: 18 paid vacation days plus US public holidays
UK employees: 25 paid vacation days plus UK public holidays
Frequent travel opportunities across the U.S., London, and Europe
Bi-annual company offsites & monthly socials
Operating principles
High agency
You see something broken, you fix it or find the person who can. We celebrate the people who solve 90% of a problem before anyone asks.
Build with care & urgency
We bear-hug the customer. Former founders and people from fast-moving, high-stakes environments thrive here.
Self-aware & hungry
We stay warm, self-aware, and genuinely hungry. We elevate our peers, and ego doesn't last long.
Invent in real time
We move toward the ambiguity. We’re pragmatic, resourceful, energized by the fact that there's no playbook.
If you're looking to do the most meaningful work of your career alongside people who push you to be better, we'd love to meet you.