--- title: 'Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Product at Pika' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/senior-staff-software-engineer-product-pika-united-states-0m6ceye0wm3c' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-10-14' --- # Senior/Staff Software Engineer, Product at Pika - **Company:** Pika - **Location:** United States - **Compensation:** $250k–$350k - **Employment:** full-time - **Work type:** remote - **Posted:** 2026-09-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-14 - **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pika/75d96bc4-db1b-4b24-bbcb-d49739c30290 ## Job description ## About Pika At Pika, we’re building the next generation of AI creative tools to empower human creativity. Our mission is to make video creation seamless, intuitive, and accessible to everyone by leveraging the power of advanced AI. We believe that AI should amplify creative expression—enabling everyone to create, collaborate, and communicate across media. Our team includes engineers, artists, and product thinkers, all passionate about building tools that unlock new creative possibilities. Pika has raised significant funding and is backed by leading investors, with a collaborative culture based in Palo Alto, CA. We prefer a hybrid in-office model, sharing ideas and launching products together. ## About the Role We are seeking a Senior/Staff Product Engineer to play a key role in developing, launching, and scaling the product features that define Pika’s next generation AI-powered creative tools. You will collaborate closely with engineering, design, ML, and product teams to define product vision, design and build user-facing features, and deliver seamless creative experiences powered by cutting-edge AI technology. You will be responsible for architecting robust, scalable software systems and crafting high-quality product features from concept to launch. As a technical leader, you’ll mentor peers, drive technical best practices, and have significant ownership in shaping the evolution of our core product. ## What You’ll Do - Design, develop, and launch intuitive product features for AI-powered video and multimedia tools - Collaborate with designers, engineers, and researchers to translate creative possibilities into real, user-facing features - Architect and implement end-to-end product solutions, from backend infrastructure to frontend experience - Ensure product quality, performance, and reliability across platforms - Conduct code reviews, promote engineering best practices, and mentor team members - Iterate rapidly on features, prototypes, and experiments in a fast-paced startup environment - Partner closely with product and UX to deliver delightful, accessible user experiences ## What We’re Looking For - 5+ years experience in a senior engineering or product engineering role, ideally with a focus on user-facing features or creative tools - Strong proficiency in software engineering fundamentals, with experience across the stack (front-end and back-end) - Proven ability to design and build high-quality, scalable product features end-to-end - Experience shipping software in production, ideally in consumer applications, SaaS, or creative technology - Solid coding skills with modern languages and frameworks (e.g., TypeScript, React, Python, Go, or similar) - Strong architectural skills and an eye for product detail and intuitiveness - A collaborative, ownership-driven mindset with the ability to work independently and in teams - Excellent communication skills and a passion for mentorship and technical leadership ## Nice to Have - Experience with creative tools, multimedia, generative AI, or video/image/audio product development - Background in building applications that leverage ML or AI-powered features - Startup experience—taking features or products from 0 to 1 - Familiarity with designing delightful UX/UI in partnership with designers ## What We Offer - Competitive salary in the AI and creative technology industry - Equity in a rapidly growing startup shaping the future of AI and creativity - Comprehensive health benefits, monthly stipends, and company retreats - Supportive, collaborative office culture—we’re all building and launching together. ## About Pika ## Company Overview - **One-liner**: Pika is an AI-native creative platform that enables users to generate, edit, and transform videos—and now "birth" persistent AI agents—from text, images, and voice. - **Entity Type**: Private (Series B) - **Headquarters**: Palo Alto, California, United States (also has an office in Mountain View, CA) - **Founded**: 2023 - **Founders**: Demi Guo (CEO), Chenlin Meng (CTO) ## Core Business - **Primary industry**: Generative AI / AI Video & Agent Platform - **Target customers**: B2C (creators, social media users, marketers) and B2B (developers via Pika API and MCP) - **Mission or purpose**: To make video creation accessible to everyone, and now to give everyone a "creative partner" AI agent ## Products & Services - **Pika Video App**: The core product—an AI video generator that turns text prompts, images, and videos into new clips. Supports styles (3D animation, anime, cartoon, cinematic) and effects like "squish it, melt it, cake-ify it." - **Pika Agent**: A persistent, portable AI agent that users "birth" and own. Multi-modal (text, voice, image, video) and lives across platforms. Users can train it to have personality, memory, and voice—essentially a creative co-pilot. - **AI Trendmaker**: A feature that lets users hop on viral video trends with just a selfie and a sound. - **Pika API**: Hosted API for developers to integrate Pika's video generation capabilities into their own apps and workflows. - **Pika MCP**: Model Context Protocol for connecting agents to external tools and data. ## Market Standing - **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed (estimated at ~$470M post-money based on Series B terms) - **Total Funding**: $135M across 4 rounds - Pre-Seed (Jan 2023): $15M led by Nat Friedman & Daniel Gross - Seed (May 2023): Amount undisclosed - Series A (Nov 2023): $35M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners - Series B (Jun 2024): $80M led by Spark Capital - **Notable Investors/Partners**: Spark Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross - **Growth Signals**: - Headcount grew 27.4% YoY to 59 employees - Monthly website visits: ~1.87M (global rank #25,677) - Talent sourced from top AI labs (TikTok, Jane Street, Runway, Kling AI, Snap Inc.) - 1 active job posting (Head of Engineering) as of mid-2026 - Launched Pika Agent and Pika API in 2025-2026, expanding beyond video generation into agentic AI ## Competitive Advantages - **"Birth and own" agent model**: Pika is pioneering the concept of a user-owned, persistent AI agent that evolves with the user—different from one-off chatbot interactions. - **Multi-modal creative platform**: Combines video generation, agent capabilities, and trend tools in one ecosystem. - **Strong early traction and talent density**: Raised $135M quickly from top-tier investors; alumni from TikTok, Runway, Jane Street, and other elite tech firms. - **Small, high-leverage team**: ~59 people operating globally with a "small, dynamic team" culture that values efficiency and ambition. ## Strategic Focus - **Agent-first future**: Pika is shifting from "just a video tool" to an agent platform where users create and own their AI creative partner. - **Platform expansion**: Opening up via API and MCP to integrate with external apps and workflows. - **Global reach**: Operating in 19 countries with a distributed (but Palo Alto-centric) team. - **Continued R&D in generative video**: Improving realism, style variety, and real-time generation. ## Why Work Here - **Culture**: Pika describes itself as "small, dynamic" and values "efficiency, collaboration, and creativity." They seek "intellect, work ethic, and ambition." - **Remote/Hybrid**: Not explicitly stated, but the team is distributed across 19 countries (with the US hub in Palo Alto/Mountain View). Likely hybrid or flexible. - **Notable perks**: The careers page emphasizes "career growth in a culture that fosters both individual and collective development." They also champion an inclusive culture. - **Engineering culture**: Tech stack includes Python, TypeScript, Kubernetes, TensorFlow, React, and more. The team has strong representation from top AI labs and trading firms. The open role is Head of Engineering, suggesting they need a senior leader to scale. - **Impact**: You'd be building the infrastructure for a new category of "owned AI agents" and state-of-the-art video generation—working on cutting-edge generative AI. ## Sources 1. [pika.art](https://pika.art/) – Official website 2. [pika.art/careers](https://pika.art/careers) – Careers page 3. [LinkedIn (Pika Labs)](https://www.linkedin.com/company/pika-labs) – Company data, headcount, funding, talent 4. [Craft.co](https://craft.co/pika-art) – Company summary, locations, sectors 5. [Apple App Store](https://apps.apple.com/pl/app/pika-ai-self-agent/id6758411447) – Pika Agent app details ## Other roles at Pika - [Product Designer](https://feeny.ai/job/product-designer-pika-united-states-5jmsmgqqc59k) — United States - [Data Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/data-engineer-pika-united-states-z74nah1052dn) — United States - [Growth Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/growth-engineer-pika-united-states-ve2g8v53yde2) — United States - [Head of Engineer, Product](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-engineer-product-pika-united-states-nze1qewm24g3) — United States - [Principal Software Engineer, Product](https://feeny.ai/job/principal-software-engineer-product-pika-united-states-5mj1z1a3yqdf) — United States - [Head of Finance](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-finance-pika-palo-alto-amgp22pfthqa) — Palo Alto, CA - [Head of Sales](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-sales-pika-palo-alto-2vyc6rx4jzs7) — Palo Alto, CA - [Research Intern (BS/MS/PhD)](https://feeny.ai/job/research-intern-bs-ms-phd-pika-palo-alto-rgvx54yph1n5) — Palo Alto, CA - [Product Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/product-manager-pika-united-states-ghy7tmfjf3t6) — United States - [Head of Growth](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-growth-pika-palo-alto-wkvx79nkgnhn) — Palo Alto, CA