The Founding Senior Software Engineer at Datalab is responsible for owning and scaling enterprise functionality, shipping features to open-source repositories and APIs, optimizing inference performance, and designing user-friendly front-end features. You will also engage actively with our community through Discord and GitHub to collect feedback and solve issues.

To apply for the Founding Senior Software Engineer position at Datalab, candidates should have at least 5 years of full-stack development experience, ideally in early-stage or hyper-growth startup environments. Experience in building user-centric applications, shipping large-scale products, and engaging customers for feedback are essential for this role.

Datalab utilizes a straightforward technology stack, primarily using FastAPI (Python) for both backend and frontend development. In addition, they incorporate light HTMX and JavaScript, alongside Postgres and Redis for database management. The team deploys applications to Render, emphasizing simplicity and efficiency.

Working at Datalab comes with various perks, including equity options, a competitive salary range of $250k - $350k, and the flexibility to choose your own operating system with a BYOD policy. The collaborative environment in a coworking space also includes daily breakfast, snacks, and team events to foster a culture of camaraderie and collaboration.

The interview process for the Founding Senior Software Engineer position at Datalab entails an initial 30-minute video call to assess fit, followed by a paid take-home project that takes about 10 hours and pays $1000. After review, a one-hour follow-up meeting will discuss the project and your approach.

When answering this question, highlight specific projects where you handled both backend and frontend tasks. Discuss the technologies you used, the challenges you faced, and how you integrated different components of the application.

Share stories from your past roles, emphasizing your involvement in collaborations with other teams or partners. Mention any specifics of product launches or fundraising efforts and how they contribute to the growth of a startup.

Illustrate your process for gathering user feedback—how you set up interactions, what platforms you used (like Discord and GitHub), and how you effectively integrated that insight into your development cycles.

Discuss methodologies you employ, such as agile practices or CI/CD pipelines. Provide examples of how you maintain quality assurance while iterating quickly, and stress the importance of testing and user feedback.

Detail your past experiences with designing, building, and maintaining APIs. Discuss technologies and frameworks you have used and any challenges you overcame during the development.

Describe your understanding of performance issues and the strategies you've implemented to tackle them, such as profiling, caching solutions, and load testing. Support your points with real examples.

Explain your methodology for task prioritization, such as using project management tools, setting clear goals, and maintaining flexibility to adapt to changing deadlines and priorities.

Choose a challenge that highlights your problem-solving skills, discussing the steps you took to analyze the problem, the solutions you considered, and the final outcome of your efforts.

Share your passion for AI by referring to any projects you’ve worked on, your interest in advancing technology, and how you see your contribution making an impact in the industry.

Discuss your methods for professional development, including following industry leaders, participating in hackathons, attending conferences, or contributing to open-source projects, and how you intend to bring this knowledge to Datalab.