Senior Software Engineer, AI Platform (Remote)

Engineering

Remote (United States)

Packback’s mission is to empower every student to be fearlessly curious and find their unique voice.

These few words shape everything we do at Packback from the smallest decision to the largest. Over the last decade since our company’s founding, our team has seen first-hand the power of giving students intentionally designed spaces in their learning experience to be autonomous and curious.

We have also seen the incredible benefits of using AI technology to shorten feedback loops and help students revise their work before they submit.

Packback is a pedagogy partner that uses technology as a “means to an end” to shorten feedback loops for students and instructors, improve writing and critical thinking skills, and cultivate student-centered, trust-based educational learning environments.

About the role

Packback is looking for a Software Engineer, AI Platform to support our mission to awaken and fuel the lifelong curiosity in every student. As an AI Platform Engineer at Packback, you will be building features that empower students and professors to have a better learning experience.

Packback’s A.I.-powered platform is used by educators in K-12 and higher education to help their students fall in love with the subject matter, drive personalized learning, and most importantly, quantify and improve student critical thinking skills.

What you'll do

• Leading and mentoring a team of engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Providing strategic direction and oversight for the development of our data infrastructure and Python APIs that power Packback’s AI.
• Architecting and implementing advanced algorithms, leveraging Packback’s unique dataset to build new features that enhance the learning experience.
• Collaborating closely with cross-functional teams, including product managers, to align AI initiatives with business goals.
• Championing best practices in software engineering, code quality, and technical documentation, ensuring the scalability and maintainability of our systems.

Qualifications

We’re looking for somebody who is excited to work on our backend, infrastructure, and data codebases. To succeed, you should have experience working with web frameworks (we are migrating toward FastAPI, but mainly care that you are a great developer), have a strong grasp of data management fundamentals, and have experience developing production data processing systems throughout the entire lifecycle. 

Additionally, we’re looking for:

• Hands-on experience throughout the AI lifecycle: data transformation, feature engineering, and model deployment
• Experience interacting with, deploying, and fine-tuning large language models
• A solid understanding of the principles of machine learning and AI
• Excellent SQL skills and experience with ETL/ELT data modeling processes
• Demonstrated experience doing backend web development using a modern web framework

It's great if you have

• Experience working on highly scalable cloud infrastructures
• Comfort with Linux/UNIX systems
• Startup or small company experience
• Experience in managing and deploying Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform.

Additional Information

• Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S without the need for sponsorship. Packback does not offer visa sponsorship for this role. 
• Currently we are only able to hire from these states: AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, WI. 
• The salary range for this position is $139,000 - $160,000 annually + bonus. We set clear expectations for professional growth and offer an annual learning and development stipend.

Why work at Packback?

Build a meaningful career while innovating the future of education as a part of a company culture that fosters the growth, safety, and creativity of its employees.

Reach - Our platform, Packback Questions, is used by more than 10 thousand educators and 1.5 million students, who collectively author more than 10 million posts a year. You will be a part of building a platform that has a huge impact on inspiring curiosity in students.

Training - We offer opportunities for learning and mentorship. We value people who like to wear many hats. You can get involved with the front end, back end, infrastructure and data functions.

Ownership - Packback is a rapidly growing company. You will have responsibility for bringing innovative features to market while working closely with the product team.

Want to learn more about engineering at Packback? Check out our docs repo on Github.

Intentional Culture

Packback knows that the single most important part of any company is its people. We take building and maintaining a conscious and intentional culture of open communication, curiosity, and leadership extremely seriously. We work hard to make Packback a safe environment where people can focus on doing great work instead of dealing with drama.  

Career Development

Packback’s career development tracks present a unique balance between clarity and guidance around defined paths, and room for our team to forge their own path. Each team has its own career development tracks with support and training, and still allow for customization of these paths to create a role where a team member’s full passions and abilities are put to use!

Thoughtful Benefits

• Generous leave policies for welcoming new children or family care
• Multiple Health and Welfare Benefit Options (Medical, Dental, Vision)
• 401k plan (with employer matching)
• Flexible + Remote Work Opportunities
• Flexible “unlimited” Vacation policy with a minimum of 10 days off required, plus over 10 additional days of scheduled company closures outside of paid Federal holidays each year
• “Momentum Maintenance Fridays” - Packback has a scheduled Friday office closure to create a 3-day weekend. 
• 12 weeks of paid parental leave
• Employer Assistance Program (EAP)
• Calm and DoorDash subscriptions

Who we are

Packback team members are passionate, mission-driven lifelong learners. Many of us spent time as educators in classrooms and have experienced first hand just how draining the day to day of educating can be. We have seen the gap between the most and least prepared students grow wider every year. The pressure to close that gap has once rested directly on our shoulders, and we understand the enormous cost of addressing that gap, and also not addressing that gap.

Some of us were intrinsically motivated students, the “teacher’s pets” who never want to stop learning. Some of us were the distracted or unmotivated students who wished their instructors would have adopted the pedagogy behind Packback. But all of us share a passionate commitment to our purpose.

The pay range for this role is:

139,000 - 160,000 USD per year (Remote - United States)

Apply now