--- title: 'Senior Software Engineer, Search & Recommendations at Otter.ai' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-search-recommendations-otter-ai-mountain-view-ahydybnzjpye' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-07' --- # Senior Software Engineer, Search & Recommendations at Otter.ai - **Company:** Otter.ai - **Location:** Mountain View, CA - **Posted:** 2024-01-31 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-07 - **Apply:** https://otter.ai/careers?gh_jid=5871635003 ## Job description The Opportunity We're excited to welcome a talented and passionate Senior Software Engineer to join our highly skilled team. The ideal candidate will hold a deep comprehension of search and recommendations algorithms and infrastructure, including retrieval augmented generation (RAG), semantic search using embeddings, text indexing and retrieval, query understanding, various ranking algorithms etc.. In your crucial role, you'll be responsible for managing every aspect of our sophisticated enterprise search system, spearheading the design, development, and optimization of search system accuracy and performance. ## Your Impact - Design, develop, and oversee our enterprise search infrastructure, employing a mix of vector databases, full-text search engine, and relational database techniques. - Understand the user's information needs by developing deep learning-based NLP algorithms to analyze, reformulate and suggest search queries effectively. - Design, implement, and deploy various ranking algorithms to deliver the most relevant results with the best user experience. - Evaluate and optimize algorithm accuracy by focusing on key metrics.. - Constantly track and analyze end-to-end system performance, leading improvement initiatives as required. - Stay informed about the latest industry developments and emerging technologies, aligning our search system with, or advancing it beyond, the industry benchmarks. We're looking for someone who - Holds a Masters degree in Computer Science, or a relevant field, PhD a plus. - 5+ years of experience in search, recommendation or question answering systems. - In-depth knowledge of relevance measurement, tuning, and modeling. - Engineering experience with large language models and RAG systems. - Expertise in Python and/or C++. - Exceptional problem-solving capabilities coupled with meticulous attention to detail. - Outstanding communication skills to explain complex concepts convincingly to non-technical team members. - Abilities to contribute individually while functioning effectively as part of a team. - Familiarity with embedding-based search systems will be considered a major advantage. ## About Otter.ai We are in the business of shaping the future of work. Our mission is to make conversations more valuable. With over 1B meetings transcribed, [Otter.ai](http://otter.ai/) is the world’s leading tool for meeting transcription, summarization, and collaboration. Using artificial intelligence, Otter generates real-time automated meeting notes, summaries, and other insights from in-person and virtual meetings - turning meetings into accessible, collaborative, and actionable data that can be shared across teams and organizations. The company is backed by early investors in Google, DeepMind, Zoom, and Tesla. Otter.ai is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive and accessible workplace.  We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants throughout the hiring process. Accessibility & Accommodations Otter.ai is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our hiring process.  If you need assistance or an accommodation during any stage of the recruitment process, please contact hr@otter.ai at least 3 business days before your interview. *Otter.ai does not accept unsolicited resumes from 3rd party recruitment agencies without a written agreement in place for permanent placements. Any resume or other candidate information submitted outside of established candidate submission guidelines (including through our website or via email to any Otter.ai employee) and without a written agreement otherwise will be deemed to be our sole property, and no fee will be paid should we hire the candidate. Salary range Salary Range: $185,000 to $230,000 USD per year This salary range represents the low and high end of the estimated salary range for this position. The actual base salary offered for the role is dependent based on several factors. Our base salary is just one component of our comprehensive total rewards package. #LI-Hybrid ## About Otter.ai ## Core Business - **Primary industry/industries**: AI-powered meeting transcription and productivity software - **Target customers**: B2B – enterprises, teams, sales, recruiting, education, and media professionals - **Mission or purpose statement**: “Create smarter tools that free people up to do their best work.” ## Products & Services - **Otter Meeting Agent**: AI notetaker that joins meetings, records conversations, provides live transcription (multi-language), automated summaries, action items, and insights. Available as a desktop app (Mac/Windows) and mobile. Integrates with CRM, calendar, and can be queried via Otter AI Chat. - **Otter SDR Agent**: Handles live demos and booked meetings directly from a company’s website. - **Otter Recruiting Agent**: Provides real-time interview assistance, structured candidate insights, and automated follow-ups. - **Otter for Education**: Tailored transcription and note-taking for classroom or lecture settings. - **Otter for Media**: Optimized for content creation and media workflows. - **Otter AI Chat / MCP Server**: Connects meeting knowledge to AI chat tools like ChatGPT and Claude for deeper analysis and workflow automation. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed - **Key Metrics**: - Annual Revenue: $12.9M (estimated) - Total Funding: $73M - Headcount: 202 employees (+14.6% YoY) - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Spectrum Equity, Omega Venture Partners (lead Series B), Horizons Ventures, Draper Associates, DFJ DragonFund - **Growth Signals**: - 14.6% headcount growth year-over-year - 30 active job postings (up 36.4% monthly, 57.9% quarterly) - Expanding product lineup with specialized AI agents (SDR, Recruiting) - Operating in 7 countries (US, Canada, UK, Philippines, Vietnam, Brazil, India) ## Competitive Advantages - **Real-time, multi-language transcription** with speaker recognition and automated summaries – differentiates from basic recording tools. - **Enterprise-grade security and governance** (compliance controls, data governance). - **Integrated AI chat** that surfaces meeting knowledge across connected apps (CRM, MCP Server). - **Specialized agents** (SDR, Recruiting) that automate workflows beyond note-taking. - **High user satisfaction** (4.6/5 product rating) and strong employer brand (4.5/5 on Glassdoor, Great Place to Work certified). ## Strategic Focus - Scaling AI capabilities beyond transcription into proactive meeting intelligence and workflow automation. - Expanding enterprise adoption with tailored agents for sales, recruiting, and education. - Deepening integrations with CRM and AI chat ecosystems (ChatGPT, Claude) to become a “Conversational Knowledge Engine.” - Growing headcount and hiring across engineering, product, sales, marketing, and data science. ## Why Work Here - **Hybrid work model**: Mix of in-office (Mountain View and San Francisco) and remote days; quarterly Bay Area gatherings. - **Compensation**: Highly competitive salaries, equity option packages, 401(k) plan. - **Time off**: Minimum 15 days PTO, 18 weeks maternity leave, 8 weeks paternity leave. - **Health & wellness**: Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, life insurance, disability from day one. - **Office perks**: Free parking, pet-friendly, on-site fitness center, putting green, bocce court, unlimited snacks. - **Culture**: Values include Be Authentic, Think Team, Create Delight, Build Fast, Push Limits. High employee satisfaction (4.5/5 on Glassdoor) and Great Place to Work certified. - **Engineering culture**: Strong technical talent pool (alumni from Google, Meta, Apple, Uber, AWS); 104 employees in technical roles (37% of workforce). ## Sources 1. [otter.ai (main site)](https://otter.ai/) 2. [otter.ai careers page](https://home.otter.ai/careers) 3. [LinkedIn company page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/otter-ai) 4. 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