Senior Software Engineer, Backend

About Our Team
Chef Robotics is on a mission to accelerate the advent of intelligent machines in the physical world. As the rise of LLMs like ChatGPT has shown, AI has the potential to drive immense change. However, we believe AI’s biggest impact will be in the physical world, given industries like manufacturing, food, and transportation represent 90% of global GDP. We're starting with food, with a goal to put an intelligent robot in every commercial kitchen in the world. We have signed multiple multi-year contracts with various large food companies and we are growing fast. We're backed by investors like Kleiner Perkins, Construct, Bloomberg BETA and Promus Ventures. We have a great team, where you will be surrounded by talented engineers and tech leaders from companies like Cruise, Zoox, Google, Verb Surgical, Tesla, Nuro, Vicarious, Amazon Robotics, Strateos, Built Robotics, Facebook, Plenty, Yelp, and Microsoft.
About the Role
As a Senior Software Engineer, Backend specializing in database architecture and AI systems, you'll lead the design, implementation, and maintenance of the robust backend services that power our robotics platform. You'll work at the intersection of data management, API development, and AI integration to build scalable solutions that support our robotics systems across customer deployments. This role requires expertise in database optimization, API framework implementation, and a deep understanding of how to architect systems that enable real-time robotics operations. As a senior engineer, you'll mentor team members and drive technical decision-making for backend infrastructure.

Database Architecture & Management

• Lead the design, implementation, and optimization of database schemas to support robot operations, telemetry, recipe management, and system analytics
• Develop robust data migration strategies and version control for database schema evolution
• Implement efficient query optimization and indexing strategies to support high-throughput robot operations
• Establish data integrity protocols and backup systems to ensure operational continuity across customer deployments
• Create scalable data access layers that balance security, performance, and maintainability
• Mentor team members on database design patterns and optimization techniques

API Development & System Integration

• Lead the development and maintenance of scalable APIs to serve robot control systems, dashboards, and monitoring tools
• Design and implement secure authentication and authorization mechanisms across backend services
• Develop robust middleware for processing and validating data between robotics subsystems
• Create service interfaces that enable efficient communication between robotics components and cloud services
• Collaborate with frontend and robotics engineers to ensure cohesive integration of backend services
• Establish API design standards and best practices for the engineering team

AI & Machine Learning Integration

• Lead implementation of backend services that support machine learning pipelines for robot vision and motion planning
• Develop sophisticated APIs for model deployment, monitoring, and version management across robotics fleets
• Create efficient data storage and retrieval systems for training datasets and inference results
• Design and implement systems to collect and process performance metrics from AI components
• Collaborate with ML engineers to optimize data flow for training and inference processes
• Drive architecture decisions for AI/ML infrastructure and scalability

System Reliability & Performance Leadership

• Lead implementation of comprehensive logging, monitoring, and alerting for backend systems
• Develop diagnostic tools and dashboards for operational visibility across distributed robotics deployments
• Establish performance benchmarks and optimize systems to meet latency requirements for real-time operations
• Implement fault-tolerant design patterns to ensure reliability in production environments
• Create and maintain technical documentation for backend systems and mentor team on best practices
• Drive technical initiatives for system scalability and performance optimization

Required Qualifications - Technical Expertise

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• 7+ years of professional experience in backend development roles with demonstrated leadership experience
• Expert knowledge of relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL) including schema design, optimization, and administration
• Strong proficiency with Python and JavaScript/TypeScript with advanced software engineering skills
• Exte