Senior Backend Software Engineer, Cloud & Infrastructure at Taara (Sunnyvale, CA)
Taara· Sunnyvale, CA· $160k–$210k·
Role details
Bonus · Equity · Benefits
Summary
Design and scale distributed backend systems, APIs, and cloud-native infrastructure to manage global optical networks. The role involves building telemetry pipelines, automating infrastructure with Infrastructure as Code, and developing observability tools for network operations.
Job description
About the Team
Born at X, Google's Moonshot Factory, Taara is on a mission to connect billions of people lacking abundant and affordable internet today by pioneering the way we use light to deliver faster, cheaper, more reliable connectivity. Lead the charge in bringing our groundbreaking wireless optical communication and photonics chip technologies to the world. Drive our growth story as we scale innovative solutions across the world. Join us to light the way for bridging the digital divide and illuminating the future.
About the Role
As a Senior Backend Software Engineer, Cloud & Infrastructure at Taara, you will be the architect of the "brains" behind our global network. While our hardware creates the links, your software manages them. You will design and scale the distributed systems, APIs, and cloud-native infrastructure that monitor, control, and optimize our wireless optical terminals in the field.
The ideal candidate is a generalist who thrives on building reliable, scalable backend systems. You are comfortable jumping between writing high-performance Go services, architecting data pipelines for massive telemetry streams, and automating cloud infrastructure.
How you will make 10x impact:
- Scale the Control Plane: Design and implement the cloud-native backend responsible for managing thousands of global optical terminals.
- Architect Telemetry Pipelines: Build robust data ingestion and processing systems to handle real-time performance metrics from the field.
- Bridge Edge and Cloud: Collaborate with embedded engineers to define how hardware communicates with the cloud, ensuring secure and efficient data flow.
- Automate Everything: Lead the "Infrastructure as Code" (IaC) strategy to ensure our global deployments are reproducible and resilient.
- Drive Observability: Develop the tools and dashboards that allow our Network Operations Center (NOC) to troubleshoot complex optical links instantly.
What you should have:
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
- Cloud Proficiency: 4+ years of experience building and deploying scalable services on GCP, AWS, or Azure.
- Core Languages: Strong proficiency in Golang, Typescript, and/or Python.
- Distributed Systems: Experience with container orchestration (Kubernetes) and distributed systems architecture.
- API Design: Proven track record of designing and maintaining clean, scalable APIs (gRPC, REST).
- Data Systems: Experience with relational databases, NoSQL, timeseries databases (e.g., Prometheus), and message brokers (e.g., Pub/Sub, Kafka).
- Cloud Security: Experience with security best practices, least-privilege model, defining IAM roles/policies, and use of public key cryptography.
- Location: Ability to work in the Sunnyvale office at least 3 days per week.
It would be great if you also had these:
- IaC Experience: Familiarity with Terraform, Pulumi, or Ansible.
- Full-Stack Curiosity: Interest in (or experience with) Angular/React/TypeScript for internal monitoring tools.
- Networking Knowledge: Understanding of L2/L3 networking, VPNs, and secure tunneling.
- Startup Mindset: Experience working in fast-paced environments where you might need to wear multiple hats.
- Hardware Interface: Experience or interest in how cloud services interact with physical IOT or networking hardware.
The US base salary range for this full-time position is $160,000-$210,000 + bonus + equity + benefits. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for your location during the hiring process.
Why work at Taara
- Innovation pedigree: Born inside X (Google’s Moonshot Factory) – a culture of tackling world-scale challenges with ambitious technology.
- Mission-driven impact: Work directly on bringing affordable internet to underserved communities and disaster zones.
- Cutting-edge tech: Hands-on with advanced photonics, optical engineering, and system-level hardware/software design.
- Growth phase: Recently spun out as an independent company – opportunity to shape engineering culture and processes from an early stage.
- Hybrid/office: Based in Sunnyvale, CA; roles range from hardware engineering (optical, mechanical, FPGA) to software (backend, Linux, cloud) and go-to-market (sales, customer success). Per company careers page: open roles include Principal Optical Engineer, Director of Product Management, Senior Backend Software Engineer, etc.
- Perks & culture: Described as “a new technological era” with a focus on collaboration, rapid iteration, and global impact.