Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform

Staff Software Engineer - Data Platform Build a safer world with us, one incident at a time. Ambient.ai is the leading agentic physical security platform built to prevent incidents and modernize physical security operations. Our products help the world’s leading enterprises reduce risk, improve operational efficiency, and gain critical insights. Seven of the top 10 U.S. technology companies, along with multiple Fortune 500 organizations, rely on Ambient.ai to protect their people, places and assets. Our platform uses state-of-the-art AI to seamlessly integrate with existing camera and sensor systems, enabling real-time monitoring and proactive threat detection. By reducing false alarms by over 95%, Ambient.ai allows security teams to focus on real threats and prevent incidents before they occur. Founded in 2017 and backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Y Combinator, and Allegion Ventures, Ambient.ai is a Series B company on a mission to make every security incident preventable. We’ve found that in-person time meaningfully supports collaboration, creativity, and team alignment. Our talent, engineering, product, design, and marketing teams work from our Redwood City office three days a week. All other Bay Area employees join on Fridays to stay connected and close out the week together. Recently, we've ranked #71 out of 500 on the Forbes best start up employers list https://www.forbes.com/lists/americas-best-startup-employers/! Ready to learn more? Connect with us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/ambient-ai/?viewAsMember=true and YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@ambient2599 About the role: Reporting to Raghu Nallamothu https://www.linkedin.com/in/raghu-nallamothu-66704724/, this Staff Data Platform Engineer role is a unique opportunity to establish the foundational direction and strategy for the data platform team. As the founding member, you will take the lead in designing, building, and scaling data storage and caching systems to petabyte-level capacity, setting the standard for reliability, availability, and performance in support of mission-critical applications. Additionally, you’ll have a pivotal role in pioneering retrieval-augmented generation systems, setting a precedent for cutting-edge data-driven capabilities at Ambient.ai. What you'll do: - You will lead the design, development, and scaling of our data storage and caching systems to petabyte scale while also spearheading the development of advanced retrieval augmented generation systems. - Develop highly efficient caching systems that obliterate latency, ensuring lightning-fast data access. - Tackle data infrastructure challenges head-on, swiftly troubleshooting and resolving issues to minimize downtime. - Lead groundbreaking efforts in the retrieval of augmented generation systems, pushing the boundaries of what's possible. What you'll bring: - Foundational Engineering Leadership: Significant experience in software engineering with a specialization in architecting, optimizing, and scaling data infrastructure, ideally as a founding or principal engineer. - Visionary Data Store Architecting: Proven track record of architecting and scaling data stores to accommodate petabyte-level data volumes, with a clear vision for long-term data infrastructure strategy. - Advanced Caching System Design: In-depth experience in designing high-efficiency caching systems to eliminate latency, enabling near-instantaneous data access across applications. - Database & Infrastructure Mastery: Hands-on expertise in scaling, managing, and fine-tuning complex database systems, including MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, and OpenSearch, to meet enterprise-level demands. - Programming & Software Development Excellence: Strong programming skills, particularly in Python and C++, with expertise in applying software development best practices to ensure robust, maintainable code. - Distributed Data Processing Frameworks: Familiarity with distributed data processing frameworks, and ... (truncated, view full listing at source)