Staff Software Engineer, Platform

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Canada.

📋 Description

• In the role of a Staff Software Engineer, you will have a pivotal leadership position in the development and maintenance of the infrastructure that supports Cake's AI platform.

• You will design and manage the foundational ML platform that both internal teams and customers depend on, taking ownership of systems from architecture through to production.

• Collaborating closely with customers, you will convert real-world ML use cases into dependable and scalable platform functionalities.

• Utilize infrastructure-as-code to oversee intricate cloud environments that back essential ML and AI projects.

• Design systems that are native to Kubernetes, including controllers/operators when applicable.

• Enhance platform networking, security, and observability.

• Take responsibility for critical production systems, ensuring their reliability, scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness.

• Identify and proactively mitigate technical debt, operational risks, and platform bottlenecks.

• Rapidly familiarize yourself with a complex technology stack (Terraform, Kubernetes, Istio, Crossplane, Go, TypeScript).

• Develop abstractions and tools that simplify the deployment, operation, and scaling of AI/ML workloads for teams and customers.

• Work directly with customers to identify their ML infrastructure challenges and convert them into platform enhancements.

• Strike a balance between speed and thoroughness—delivering promptly while upholding a high standard for quality and safety.

• Serve as a technical leader and mentor within the engineering team.

• Produce clear documentation and design proposals that align stakeholders and facilitate decision-making.

• Collaborate closely with product and leadership teams to influence platform direction and priorities.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 10 years of engineering experience, with substantial time focused on infrastructure, platforms, or distributed systems.

• Extensive hands-on experience with Kubernetes in production settings.

• Strong cloud expertise across AWS, GCP, and/or Azure.

• Proven history of building and managing secure, scalable AI/MLOps platforms.

• Profound understanding of infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi, CDK).

• Proficient in at least one backend programming language (Go preferred; TypeScript is also acceptable).

• Experience in diagnosing and resolving complex production issues.

• Familiar with contemporary CI/CD, test-driven development, and DevSecOps methodologies.

• Bonus: experience in building Kubernetes operators and/or working with service meshes (e.g., Istio).

• Comfortable managing large, ambiguous challenges from conception to production.

• Excellent communication skills, capable of articulating complex systems to both technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience engaging directly with customers and integrating their feedback into technical decisions.

• Ability to work independently while keeping stakeholders informed and aligned.

• Customer-centric and product-focused.

• Curious, adaptable, and keen to learn new systems and domains.

• Collaborative, respectful, and willing to engage in difficult conversations.

• Energized by fast-paced work environments and meaningful responsibilities.

🏝️ Benefits

• Competitive cash compensation along with above-market equity potential.

• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance fully covered.

• Life insurance coverage.

• 401k program available.

• Unlimited paid time off (PTO).

• Monthly half-day off.

• Citi Bike membership provided.

• Monthly wellness stipend available.

• Office equipment stipend, including reimbursement for approved disability-related accommodations.

• Commitment to employee learning and growth opportunities.