Fluidstack

Software Engineer, Applied AI at Fluidstack (San Francisco, CA)

Fluidstack· San Francisco, CA· $150k–$250k·

Role details

Salary
$150k–$250k
Work type
Onsite
Employment
Full-Time
Skills
AI coding toolsLLM APIsMCP serversAgentic frameworksMachine Learning EngineeringTemporalCadenceAirflowKMZGISBIMRevit
Benefits

Competitive Total Compensation Package · Equity · Retirement Or Pension Plan · Health Insurance · Dental Insurance · Vision Insurance · Generous PTO

Fluidstack at a glance

Builds and operates gigawatt-scale AI data centers and fully managed GPU clusters for frontier AI labs, governments, and enterprises.

Fluidstack acquires power, designs and builds data centers, and operates them, and it delivers fully managed multi-thousand-GPU clusters to AI companies. It pitches gigawatts of compute in roughly six months versus an industry norm of 18 to 24, and is the builder behind Anthropic's $50B US data center buildout.

· latest: In talks for $1B at ~$18B valuation (April 2026, reported) · backed by Cacti, Jane Street, Situational Awareness, Patrick and John Collison

Summary

Build core infrastructure primitives, domain models, and AI agent platforms for high-scale data center operations. Own end-to-end development of systems handling power, datacenters, and chips, integrating with vendor systems and enabling safe AI agent operations.

Job description

ABOUT FLUIDSTACK

We exist to make humanity more free. For most of human history, you farmed or you starved. Technology gave people more time for the things they wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Powerful AI will be the biggest lever for human choice we've ever built - but only if models are aligned with what humanity actually wants. There are groups building AI who don't share these goals. Whoever deploys frontier compute infrastructure fastest will decide whether AI expands human freedom or shrinks it.

We're singularly focused on delivering 10 to 100s of GWs of compute faster than anyone else, rethinking every layer of the stack. We acquire power, design and build data centers, and operate them - with teams spanning hardware and software. Speed and scale are our key differentiators. Come be a part of building civilization-scale infrastructure for AI.

We hire people who care deeply about this problem space. If that is you, please apply!

HOW WE OPERATE

  • Be a barrel. Full autonomy. Own things end to end, take on scope without being asked, no permission required to operate outside your core role.
  • Insane urgency. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
  • Reason from first principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
  • Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.
  • Build something that actually matters. If you're going to spend your time, spend it on something that matters to the world.

HOW WE OPERATE

  • Extreme ownership. Full autonomy. Own things end to end often taking on scope outside your core role without being asked to get things done.
  • Velocity. We drive everything forward as fast as possible.
  • First principles. Challenge every assumption. Zero analogy thinking, no egos, the best idea wins.
  • Love of the game. The frontier of AI is the most interesting problem of our time. We put in long hours at high intensity to push the frontier forward.

THE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING TEAM

EXAMPLES OF KEY EXCITING PROBLEMS THE TEAM IS WORKING ON:

  • We're building the pipeline that processes thousand-page vendor unstructured material against our own DC design to automate the generation of an end to end site design and schedule.
  • We're building the live model of a AI infrastructure project’s entire delivery schedule, durable workflows handing off across every team, to replace static Gantt charts with a plan that updates itself as reality changes.
  • We're building the agent platform that wraps AI in real authorization, audit, and guardrails, to let agents accelerate the development of infrastructure instead of just advising report on it.

ROLE SCOPE

  • Build core primitives end to end. Entity ownership, audit, authorization, orchestration. You make the right thing the default and the wrong thing hard.
  • Own the domain model. Turn Fluidstack's world of power, datacenters, and chips into composable entities that still hold up years from now.
  • Define interactions with the outside. Interface with vendor systems and ingest the formats our domain actually speaks: KMZ, BIM, Revit, vendor docs.
  • Make AI agents first-class operators of our systems. Give them the tools, guardrails, and audit trails to act safely, not just advise.

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

The below is a starting point. We always make space for exceptional people, so if you don't fit this role exactly, tell us where you would. jobs.ashbyhq.com

  • You move toward ambiguity, not away from it. You walk into the fog, build the map, and explain it to everyone else.
  • You learn at a steep slope. You reach real competence in an unfamiliar domain fast, whether it's a workflow engine, an authz model, or a geospatial format. We value this over existing expertise.
  • You have taste in abstraction. You see the one primitive hiding under five janky one-offs, and you know when not to abstract.
  • You model domains with rigor earned the hard way. You've gotten it wrong, felt the pain, and never forgot it.
  • You pull structure out of mess. You've done real work turning messy, unstructured data into something usable, in ML, data engineering, or research.
  • You're fluent with AI tooling. LLM APIs, MCP servers, and agentic frameworks, and you drive Claude Code, Cursor, or similar every day.
  • You've shipped production code that other people depend on, and you're comfortable in any language using AI coding tools.
  • Bonus: MLE work, especially extraction and synthesis from unstructured data. Workflow and orchestration engines (Temporal, Cadence, Airflow). Geospatial (KMZ/GIS) or BIM (Revit, IFC). Authorization and policy engines (OPA, Zanzibar-style, RBAC/ABAC). Audit or event-sourcing systems. Go, TypeScript, and Postgres.

SALARY & BENEFITS

  • Competitive total compensation package (salary + equity).
  • Retirement or pension plan, in line with local norms.
  • Health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Generous PTO policy, in line with local norms.

Total compensation may also include equity in the form of restricted stock units.

We are committed to pay equity and transparency.

Fluidstack is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans’ status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Fluidstack will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records pursuant to applicable law.

You will receive a confirmation email once your application has successfully been accepted. If there is an error with your submission and you did not receive a confirmation email, please email careers@fluidstack.io with your resume/CV, the role you've applied for, and the date you submitted your application-- someone from our recruiting team will be in touch.

Why work at Fluidstack

  • Mission-Driven Work: Directly building the physical infrastructure for the next generation of AI — a rare opportunity to work on frontier technology with tangible, large-scale impact.
  • Rapid Growth Trajectory: 516.7% headcount growth YoY with 270 open positions signals massive opportunity for career acceleration and ownership.
  • Technical Depth: Work spans hardware (electrical, civil, mechanical engineering for data centers) and software (GPU cluster orchestration, monitoring, infrastructure platform engineering), offering diverse technical challenges.
  • Top-Tier Talent Pool: Employees come from AWS, Tesla, Crusoe, Palantir, Oracle, and Meta, indicating a high-caliber, ambitious work environment.
  • Work Policy: Remote-friendly for many roles, with hubs in San Francisco, New York, Austin, Seattle, and Buffalo. Departments span Engineering, Operations, Data Center, Security, and more.
  • Culture: Emphasis on speed, autonomy, and removing friction — "We build technology to enable delivery of gigawatts of compute in 6 months" — reflecting a bias for action and operational excellence.

Application questions