{"id":73824,"url":"https://alion.io/job/retell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems","title":"Staff Engineer, Platform & Systems","company":{"id":4592,"name":"Retell AI","domain":"retellai.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/retell-ai","size_band":"51-200","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":81,"open_postings":9,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0.778,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":39,"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"staff","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"explicit","locations":["San Francisco, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":225000,"max":350000,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":350000},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":9,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"AI Agents","optional":false},{"name":"Voice Agents","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":true},{"name":"Node JS","optional":true},{"name":"Python","optional":true},{"name":"React.js","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-02-08T18:45:53Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-02-08","last_verified_at":"2026-10-17T08:51:09Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":250,"trust":{"level":"stale","repost_count":0,"flags":["stale"],"days_open":250},"description":"ABOUT RETELL AI\nRetell AI is using first-principles thinking to reimagine the call center with cutting-edge voice AI. Thousands of companies now use Retell's AI voice agents to handle sales, support, and logistics calls that once required large teams of human agents. Backed by Y Combinator, Alt Capital, and other leading investors, we've scaled to $80M in ARR with a team of 50, up from $5M at the start of 2025, and are now valued at over $1.5B.\nOur vision for 2026 is to build a modern CX platform where entire contact centers are powered by AI. Instead of basic automation that needs constant human tuning, we're creating intelligent AI “workers” that act as frontline agents, QA analysts, and managers, continuously executing, monitoring, and improving every customer interaction.\nWe're growing fast and looking for ambitious builders who want to tackle hard technical problems, move quickly, and have a real impact on one of the fastest-growing voice AI companies in the world.\nLet's build the future together.\nRecent recognition:\nNo. 1 Best Places to Work in the Bay Area, San Francisco Business Times 2026\n\nTop 50 AI Apps, a16z (2025)\n\n#3 Fastest-Growing Software Company, G2 Best Software Awards 2026\n\nBest Agentic AI Software, G2 Best Software Awards 2026\n\n#4 Fastest-Growing Software Vendor, Brex Benchmark 2025\n\nEnterprise Tech 30 Class of 2026, Nasdaq & Wing VC\n\nTop-Ranked Startup, Lean AI Leaderboard\n\nBacked by Y Combinator\n\nABOUT THE ROLE\nRetell AI transforms customer experience with voice AI for enterprises, including customers like CVS/Aetna, American Airlines, Lenovo, and Grab. We have more customer stories than we can tell!\nWe’re looking for a Principal/Staff Engineer to help own the technical direction of our core platform. This is a staff-level IC role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves fast, and raises the bar for everyone around them.\nYou’ll work across systems, infrastructure, and product surfaces partnering closely with engineering, product, and leadership to scale what’s already working and build what’s next.\nThis is not a “ticket taker” role. You’ll define problems, design solutions, and ship.\nKEY RESPONSIBILITIES\nOwn the design and evolution of core platform and systems architecture.\n\nLead complex technical initiatives end-to-end, from concept to production.\n\nMake high-leverage technical decisions that balance speed, reliability, and scale.\n\nRaise the technical bar through design reviews, mentoring, and hands-on leadership.\n\nPartner closely with product to translate business needs into robust technical solutions.\n\nIdentify and resolve performance, scalability, and reliability bottlenecks.\n\nHelp define engineering best practices as we scale the team and platform.\n\nYOU MIGHT THRIVE IF\nYou have 9+ years of experience building and operating production systems.\n\nYou’ve operated at Staff or Principal level (or equivalent scope), even if the title wasn’t official.\n\nYou’re strong in systems design and can reason clearly about tradeoffs.\n\nYou move fast but care deeply about correctness, reliability, and maintainability.\n\nYou’re comfortable owning ambiguous problems and defining the path forward.\n\nYou’ve built or scaled platforms used by real customers at meaningful volume.\n\nYou enjoy being hands-on writing code, reviewing designs, and unblocking teams.\n\nBonus points if you’ve worked with: distributed systems, Voice AI, real-time systems, APIs at scale, infra/platform work, or developer-facing products.\nWHY THIS ROLE\nReal ownership over core systems.\n\nDirect influence on product and company direction.\n\nA small, high-caliber team with very little process drag.\n\nProblems that matter to customers, revenue, and scale.\n\nIf you want a role where your decisions visibly shape the company, this is it.\nJOB DETAILS\nCash: $225-$350k\n\nEquity: Offers Meaningful Equity\n\nLocation: Redwood City, CA, US (100% Relocation Provided)\n\nUS Visas: Retell AI is open to sponsoring work authorization for qualified candidates, including H-1B, TN, L-1, E-3, F-1 (OPT/CPT), and O-1 visas.\n\nOTHER BENEFITS\n100% coverage for medical, dental, and vision insurance\n\n$70/day DoorDash credit for unlimited breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks\n\n$200/month wellness reimbursement (gym, fitness classes, etc.)\n\n$300/month commuter reimbursement (gas, Caltrain, etc.)\n\n$75/month phone bill reimbursement\n\n$50/month internet reimbursement\n\nCOMPENSATION PHILOSOPHY\nBest Offer Upfront: Choose from three cash-equity balance options; no negotiation needed.\n\nTop 1% Talent: Above-market pay (top 5 percentile) to attract exceptional builders.\n\nHigh Ownership: Small teams, >$1M revenue/employee, and significant equity.\n\nPerformance-Based: Offers tied to interview performance, not experience or past salaries.\n\nINTERVIEW PROCESS\nRecruiter Screen (15min): Speak with a member of the talent team to learn more about us and which team you would be a good fit for.\n\nTechnical Interview (45 min): Practical coding session focused on code fluency and system design (For frontend roles, we will focus on React-specific questions. For backend roles, we take a technology-agnostic approach.)\n\nTechnical Interview (45 min): This is a systems design-focused interview. There will be no coding; we want to assess your skills in systems design.\n\nOnsite/Virtual Interviews (2-3 hrs): Hosted in our office if located in the Bay Area or virtual, with three rounds:\nPractical Coding: Tackle real-world coding tasks with debugging.\n\nSystem Design: Architect a production-ready system.\n\nTools & Automation: Build automations or improve workflows in any basic environment setup like python, java, node.js, etc.","description_format":"text","description_chars":5625,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":9,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Equity","Internet reimbursement","Vision insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":true,"industries":["Conversational AI","Speech & Audio AI","AI Agents","Contact Center Software"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-02-08T18:45:53Z"},{"event":"open","at":"2026-09-25T18:08:30Z"}],"visa":[{"country":"US","licensed_sponsor":true,"evidence":"H-1B filings in 12 months: 12","filings_12m":12,"filings_prev_12m":3,"green_card_filings_12m":0,"median_offered_wage_usd":248750,"route":null,"cap_exempt":false,"checked_at":"2026-10-15T11:24:14+00:00","sources":["US Department of Labor: LCA disclosure data (H-1B, H-1B1, E-3)"],"filings_for_role_12m":10}],"liveness":{"score":10,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.371,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":250,"expected_fill_days":39,"reasons":["conf:0","win:tail","crowd:"],"computed_at":"2026-10-17T05:46:00Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":350000,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/retell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/retell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-17T09:54:50Z","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":13049,"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":4592},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=4592"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fretell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems"},{"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%2Fretell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems"},{"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%2Fretell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems"},{"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/retell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fretell-ai-staff-engineer-platform-systems"}]}