Senior Software Engineer (AI Infrastructure)

About the role

About The Role

What if your engineering skills could directly shape the platforms and systems behind the AI revolution? We're looking for Senior Software Engineers based in Austin and across Texas to design, build, and scale the infrastructure that powers cutting-edge AI products used by millions of people worldwide.

This is high-impact, technically challenging work — the kind that keeps great engineers engaged. You'll tackle real architectural problems, write code that matters, and collaborate with some of the sharpest minds in AI research and engineering.

This is a fully remote, flexible contract role. If you're an experienced engineer who thrives on autonomy, writes clean and scalable code, and wants to work at the frontier of technology — we want to hear from you.

Organization: Alignerr

Type: Hourly Contract

Location: Remote

Commitment: 20–40 hours/week

What You'll Do

Design, develop, and maintain production-grade software systems that support AI training, evaluation, and deployment pipelines

Write clean, well-tested, and performant code in Python, TypeScript, or other modern languages

Build and optimize APIs, data pipelines, and backend services that operate reliably at scale

Architect solutions that balance speed of delivery with long-term maintainability

Troubleshoot complex technical issues across distributed systems and cloud infrastructure

Collaborate asynchronously with cross-functional teams — including ML engineers, researchers, and product managers

Participate in code reviews and contribute to engineering best practices across the team

Work independently on well-scoped projects with meaningful ownership and autonomy

Who You Are

5+ years of professional software engineering experience

Strong proficiency in at least one modern programming language — Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, Go, Java, or similar

Solid understanding of software architecture, design patterns, and system design principles

Experience building and deploying backend services, APIs, or data-intensive applications

Comfortable working with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerized environments

Familiar with version control (Git), CI/CD workflows, and modern development tooling

Strong debugging and problem-solving skills — you can navigate ambiguity and find root causes efficiently

Excellent written communication skills — you can document decisions, explain tradeoffs, and collaborate effectively in an async-first environment

Self-directed and reliable — you manage your own time and deliver consistently without close supervision

Nice to Have

Experience with ML/AI infrastructure — training pipelines, model serving, data annotation platforms, or evaluation frameworks

Familiarity with large-scale data processing tools (Spark, Kafka, Airflow, or similar)

Background in distributed systems, microservices architecture, or event-driven design

Experience with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Pulumi) or Kubernetes

Contributions to open-source projects or a public portfolio of technical work

Previous experience in a remote-first or async-heavy engineering culture

Why Join Us

Work on cutting-edge AI infrastructure alongside world-class research labs and engineering teams

Fully remote and flexible — set your own schedule and work from anywhere

Tackle genuinely hard technical problems with real-world impact at scale

High autonomy and ownership — no micromanagement, just meaningful engineering work

Collaborate with a global community of top-tier engineers and researchers

Potential for ongoing work, expanded scope, and long-term contract extension as projects grow