Senior Software Engineer, Search & Discovery

About the role

In this position, you will play a pivotal role in enhancing our expert matching system, which is essential for helping users connect with the right professionals. You will take charge of the entire search and discovery process, overseeing everything from the foundational data structures to the algorithms that generate relevant results, as well as the user interface. This role is primarily backend-focused but also encompasses full-stack responsibilities, allowing you to significantly impact the technical direction and evolution of our product.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Spearhead the design and improvement of search, discovery, and recommendation functionalities, managing everything from data infrastructure to user-facing components.
• Develop and optimize backend services and APIs that enable expert matching within our knowledge graph, with a strong emphasis on accuracy and performance.
• Convert raw, unstructured data into structured, searchable knowledge through effective ingestion and indexing methodologies.
• Collaborate with product and design teams to ensure the seamless delivery of search and discovery features across the entire technology stack.
• Enhance architectural standards, code quality, and system monitoring as the platform scales in complexity and usage.
• Explore and implement AI and LLM-driven methodologies for discovery, focusing on retrieval, embeddings, ranking, and agentic workflows.
• Conduct performance tuning and optimization of search algorithms to ensure rapid and relevant results for users.
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to a culture of continuous improvement and learning within the team.
• Participate in code reviews and provide constructive feedback to maintain high-quality code standards.
• Stay updated on industry trends and emerging technologies to inform product development and innovation.
• Document engineering processes and decisions to facilitate knowledge sharing within the team.

Requirements

• At least 6 years of experience in software engineering, with a strong emphasis on backend development and familiarity with full-stack technologies.
• Proven track record of delivering high-quality products and features at scale, demonstrating a strong sense of ownership and pride in your work.
• Experience in search, discovery, recommendation systems, or data-intensive applications, with a solid understanding of relevance and ranking principles.
• Ability to translate ambiguous user and business requirements into clear, scalable, and well-tested engineering solutions.
• A proactive and self-motivated mindset, with a desire to take ownership of a technical domain and expand your influence over time.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced environment.

Nice to have

• Extensive background in search relevance and ranking, including managing trade-offs between precision and recall, retrieval, and reranking techniques.
• Demonstrated experience in building large-scale recommendation systems or personalization engines that enhance user experience.
• Familiarity with vector or semantic search concepts, including embeddings, HNSW/IVF, and hybrid retrieval strategies.
• Previous work with knowledge graphs or entity resolution processes.
• Experience integrating LLMs into production search or discovery workflows to enhance functionality.
• Background in data-intensive, event-driven, or asynchronous processing systems that require high scalability.

Skills & tools

• Backend: Node.js, TypeScript, MongoDB, OpenAPI, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch
• Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Kibana, Sentry
• Workflow: GitHub, Slack, Notion, Figma, Amplitude, Storybook

Practical notes

• This position is ideally based in San Francisco, with an expectation of 2-3 days per week in the office; however, fully remote options are available for outstanding candidates.
• The benefits package includes medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan, a monthly wellness stipend, generous paid time off, and paid family leave.
• The company organizes annual off-site events in various locations to foster team bonding and collaboration.
• We welcome applications from candidates who may not meet every single requirement listed, as we value diverse experiences and perspectives.