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Engineering Full-Time
Unit

Software Engineer, Backend (US)

Unit • San Francisco, CA

Company

Unit

Annual salary

$225k – $275k/yr

Location

San Francisco, CA

Listed

2d ago

Experience:
5 to 10 years
Workplace:
On-site 5 days/week at Unit's San Francisco office. No relocation support, candidates must already be based in the SF Bay Area and able to start immediately. No remote or hybrid flexibility.
Equity:
<p><strong>Competitive equity grant.</strong> The hiring manager emphasized that senior hires would be positioned for leadership and encouraged to lean into equity as part of their total compensation. As an early-stage startup backed by <strong>Khosla Ventures</strong> and <strong>Air Street Capital</strong>, equity carries significant upside potential.</p>

On-site in San Francisco, CA.

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What you'll do

  • Design and develop scalable backend systems that power the creative engine behind GTV, Unit's AI video platform
  • Build core infrastructure for agentic workflows, video generation pipelines, reinforcement learning loops, and real-time data processing
  • Take ownership of distributed systems architecture and drive reliability through automated testing, performance benchmarking, and end-to-end observability
  • Partner closely with researchers, engineers, and designers to develop new product features and APIs
  • Lead by example as a senior technical voice on the team, writing excellent code, setting engineering guidelines, and raising the bar for the entire org
  • Write clear documentation, define agent skills, and communicate technical decisions effectively in a fast-moving, in-person startup environment

What you need

  • We need a senior backend engineer with 5-10 years of experience who has hands-on industry experience building agentic systems and working with LLMs. You should be deeply technical, able to understand algorithms, data structures, and system design at a fundamental level, and have a proven track record at early-stage or high-growth startups. You'll serve as a technical lead and set the standard for engineering excellence on a small, high-caliber team.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for the Software Engineer, Backend (US) role at Unit? +

Use the Apply for a referral button on this page to send us your LinkedIn and CV. If your experience fits, we'll introduce you to the recruiter filling this role. They'll email you to check you're interested, then put you forward for this job or others that suit you better. It's free.

What does this Unit role pay? +

The listing gives $225k – $275k/yr.

Is this role remote? +

The listing gives the location as San Francisco, CA. On-site 5 days/week at Unit's San Francisco office. No relocation support, candidates must already be based in the SF Bay Area and able to start immediately. No remote or hybrid flexibility.

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