Level

Scale AI

Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack - Gen AI

Scale AI is hiring a Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack - Gen AI in New York, San Francisco and Seattle, United States. Level rates it ; you can apply on Scale AI.

Level's read on this job

  • Level rates this software engineer role Builds AI ●●●●: the job is building AI systems.
  • Tools and skills the posting cites include JavaScript, TypeScript and SQL.
  • Level classifies it as a senior role.
  • Level lists 170 other open roles at Scale AI.

AI in this role

Lead full-stack architecture and development for generative AI data operations platforms and foundation model infrastructure.

javascripttypescriptsqlkubernetesawsgcpazure
ai-evaluationfullstack-engineeringarchitecturellmsvector-databases

Our Generative AI Data Engine powers the world’s most advanced LLMs and generative models through world-class RLHF (Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback), human data generation, model evaluation, safety, and alignment. The data we are producing is some of the most important work for how humanity will interact with AI.

This is a horizontal, high-impact L6 Staff Fullstack Engineer & Architect position reporting directly to the Director of Contributor Engineering.

Instead of being tied to a single domain, your scope is spread across all Contributor (CB) teams (including Allocation, Growth,  Trust & Safety, Pay, and Allocations). Together, these teams power Scale’s AI data operations - from building high-impact datasets that push the boundaries of LLM capabilities, to optimizing contributor onboarding and incentives, to safeguarding data integrity through advanced trust, safety, and security measures. They work at the intersection of ML, operations, and analytics to ensure we deliver the highest-quality data at scale.

You will act as an organizational architect and tech lead, dynamically embedding yourself into the highest-priority projects across the org to guarantee execution, unblock teams, and successfully ship mission-critical initiatives. Concurrently, you will lead the long-term technical evolution of our stack, transforming the core architecture to ensure it is highly sustainable, scalable, and fundamentally AI-native.

You will:

  • Deploy flexibly into critical, fast-moving product initiatives across the CB organization
  • Lead the architectural overhaul of our platform infrastructure, making it highly sustainable, robust, and optimized for deep integration with LLMs and foundation models.
  • Lead architecture decisions for scalability, reliability, and performance
  • Mentor and uplevel engineers across the team
  • Partner with product and leadership to shape roadmap and priorities
  • Own large, ambiguous problem spaces end-to-end
  • Work across backend, frontend, and ML systems

Ideally you'd have:

  • 7+ years of full-time engineering experience, post-graduation, with a proven track record of operating as a Tech Lead, Architect, or Principal Engineer.
  • Track record of shipping high-quality products and features at scale
  • Experience tinkering with or productizing LLMs, vector databases, and the other latest AI technologies
  • Proficient in Javascript/Typescript, and SQL
  • Experience with Kubernetes
  • Experience with major cloud providers (AWS, Azure, GCP)

Compensation packages at Scale for eligible roles include base salary, equity, and benefits. The range displayed on each job posting reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries for the position and may be inclusive of several career levels at Scale; it will be determined during the interview process based on work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and relevant education or training. Scale employees in eligible roles are also granted equity based compensation, subject to Board of Director approval. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your preferred location during the hiring process, and confirm whether the hired role will be eligible for equity grant. You'll also receive benefits including, but not limited to: comprehensive health, dental and vision coverage, retirement benefits, a learning and development stipend, and generous PTO. Additionally, this role may be eligible for additional benefits such as a commuter stipend.

Please reference the job posting's subtitle for where this position will be located. For pay transparency purposes, the base salary range for this full-time position in the locations of San Francisco and New York is:$252,000—$315,000 USD

PLEASE NOTE: Our policy requires a 90-day waiting period before reconsidering candidates for the same role. This allows us to ensure a fair and thorough evaluation of all applicants.

About Us:

At Scale, our mission is to develop reliable AI systems for the world's most important decisions. Our products provide the high-quality data and full-stack technologies that power the world's leading models, and help enterprises and governments build, deploy, and oversee AI applications that deliver real impact. We work closely with industry leaders like Meta, Ernst & Young, Mayo Clinic, Time Inc., the Government of Qatar, and U.S. government agencies including the Army and Air Force. We are expanding our team to accelerate the development of AI applications.

We believe that everyone should be able to bring their whole selves to work, which is why we are proud to be an inclusive and equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability status, gender identity or Veteran status. 

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with physical and mental disabilities. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation in the application or recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at accommodations@scale.com. Please see the United States Department of Labor's Know Your Rights poster for additional information.

We comply with the United States Department of Labor's Pay Transparency provision. 

PLEASE NOTE: We collect, retain and use personal data for our professional business purposes, including notifying you of job opportunities that may be of interest and sharing with our affiliates. We limit the personal data we collect to that which we believe is appropriate and necessary to manage applicants’ needs, provide our services, and comply with applicable laws. Any information we collect in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our internal policies and programs designed to protect personal data. Please see our privacy policy for additional information.

How we rate this

Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack - Gen AI at Scale AI rates 85 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Builds AI (AI Level 4 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Builds AI. The job is building AI systems.

  1. ●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
  2. ●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
  3. ●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
  4. ●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI EvaluationFullstack EngineeringArchitectureLLMsVector databasesJavaScriptTypeScriptSQL

Also common in software engineer jobs at this level

Pay

Typical software engineer job
$168k

This posting doesn't list pay. Use the typical software engineer figure when pay comes up. See software engineer jobs

Questions you could be asked

  1. How do you decide that one model's output is better than another's for a given task?
  2. Tell me about a project where fullstack engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
  3. Tell me about a project where architecture was part of your work. What did you do?
  4. Tell me about a project where llms was part of your work. What did you do?
  5. Tell me about a project where vector databases was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

  • List these exact terms on your resume: AI Evaluation, Fullstack Engineering, Architecture, LLMs, and Vector databases. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
  • Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
  • Lead with what you built, trained or shipped. This role is judged on the AI system itself, not the tools around it.

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