Founding Software Engineer

As a Founding Software Engineer at Operator, you will have a wide range of responsibilities. You will design and implement user-facing features, architect systems for compliance in regulated industries, reduce system latency through optimizations, and translate new research into production software. Your role will involve collaboration across the team and closely engaging with customers to refine our products.

To qualify for the Founding Software Engineer role at Operator, you should have at least 6 years of experience in building production software, a solid understanding of computer science fundamentals, and proficiency in Python and/or Typescript + React. A background in early-stage engineering work and a keen interest in AI advancements are also important for this position.

At Operator, the work environment is collaborative and focused on innovation. As a Founding Software Engineer, you will work closely with a talented team in our San Francisco office. The culture emphasizes autonomy, ownership, and communication, with an expectation that everyone on the team actively participates in building the company culture and its products.

Projects for a Founding Software Engineer at Operator will include developing end-to-end features, building safe and compliant systems for varied industries, and conducting performance optimizations. You will also work on engineering challenges that involve translating new research ideas into actionable software products, which means you'll be at the forefront of technical innovation.

In your role as a Founding Software Engineer at Operator, you'll leverage technologies including Python, Typescript, and React. You will work within a modern web stack, and your responsibilities may also involve utilizing various development and deployment tools suitable for achieving low latency and high performance within our systems.

When answering this, focus on specific projects where you've utilized Python. Highlight your role in those projects, particularly in terms of problem-solving and collaboration. Discuss how your Python skills can contribute to the initiatives at Operator, emphasizing areas like developing scalable and efficient applications.

Provide a structured answer that outlines your methodology. Discuss techniques you've used in the past, such as reducing latency, optimizing algorithms, and experimenting with UX. Emphasize the importance of user experience and how your optimizations have led to significant improvements in system performance.

Share specific examples that showcase your enthusiasm for the dynamic nature of startups. Discuss how challenges excite you, the opportunities for innovation appeal to you, and how you value being part of a close-knit team working towards a common goal. Connect your motivations to the mission here at Operator for additional relevance.

Be ready to narrate a detailed yet concise story about a technical challenge, explaining the context, the steps you took to analyze and address it, and the outcome. Reflect on the lessons learned and how those lessons can be applied in your role at Operator to ensure innovative and effective solutions.

Discuss your approach to product design, focusing on collaboration with other teams or stakeholders to gather user feedback and improve features. Mention specific projects where you incorporated UX principles to enhance functionality or aesthetics and relate your experiences to the values upheld at Operator.

Explain your prioritization process, including methods for assessing project urgency, impact, and resource requirements. Describe how you’ve successfully managed overlapping deadlines and how your strategy goes hand-in-hand with maintaining open communication with your team to ensure alignment on expectations.

Identify a current trend in software engineering, such as AI integration or cloud computing, and relate it to your experience. Discuss how you’ve engaged with these trends and how they can be leveraged in Operator to enhance product development and align with market demands.

Share your understanding of low-latency systems and why they matter, perhaps with examples from your past experiences. Discuss any technical approaches you’ve utilized to achieve low latency and any relevant projects that highlight your qualifications for working with this critical aspect at Operator.

Demonstrate openness to receiving feedback. Share strategies you use to seek out constructive criticism, how you implement changes based on feedback, and a specific instance where feedback significantly improved your work or project outcomes. Highlight how this aligns with the collaborative spirit at Operator.

Summarize your relevant experience and how it aligns with Operator’s goals. Discuss your passion for the technology, your desire to work in a startup environment, and how your skills in full-stack development make you an ideal candidate to help shape the future of the company.