---
title: 'Software Engineer, Backend & Data at Vital Lyfe'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-backend-data-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-41nnq6prr849'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-24'
---

# Software Engineer, Backend & Data at Vital Lyfe

- **Company:** Vital Lyfe
- **Location:** Los Angeles, CA
- **Compensation:** $120k–$150k
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** onsite
- **Posted:** 2026-10-21
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-24
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe/a6849d83-933c-4105-8ac6-030e208f163d

## Job description

## About Vital Lyfe

Vital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation, creating a new category of personal water making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.

The Mission We’re looking for a Software Engineer to help build the software behind a high-demand consumer hardware product. We’re spinning up manufacturing from scratch, scaling fast, and the software you work on will directly affect how we build, track, and deliver thousands of units. This is the first full-time hire on our software team. You’ll work directly with our Head of Software, take ownership of a substantial area of our backend and data systems, and contribute across the tools and infrastructure that power our operations and help us scale.

## What You’ll Do

- Build and maintain data pipelines that bring test and production data off the manufacturing line, validate and store it, and turn it into views our teams use to track yield and failures
- Build, extend, and maintain backend services and system integrations on our established cloud platform, keeping data reliable across the company
- Own what you build end to end: design, test, ship, debug, and keep it running in production
- Help shape design and implementation decisions that advance our technical roadmap
- Build and improve internal tools that give our engineering and operations teams real-time visibility into production and manufacturing workflows
- Contribute across the rest of our software, including our manufacturing execution system (MES) and the handheld app our floor teams use

Our stack includes TypeScript, Python, React, and AWS.

## What We’re Looking For

- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience
- 2 to 4 years building software professionally
- Experience building and maintaining backend services or APIs in production
- Strong programming fundamentals and comfort learning new systems quickly
- Deep experience with at least one modern language, such as Python or TypeScript
- Working knowledge of SQL and structured data
- Comfortable in a codebase you didn’t write, and able to debug problems on your own
- Practical and curious, with a habit of taking ownership and following through
- Able to break down a problem, work through it, and know when to ask for help
- Excited to work where software and hardware intersect

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience building data pipelines, including validating and cleaning messy real-world data
- Background in building user-facing interfaces with React or a similar frontend framework
- Experience with dashboards or data visualization tools
- Experience with AWS, especially serverless and infrastructure as code
- Experience with ERP, MES, or other manufacturing systems
- Interest in manufacturing, hardware-software integration, or IoT systems

Why Join Vital Lyfe?

- Be the first full-time hire on a new software team, with a hand in shaping how the team works
- Work on high-impact problems with global relevance
- Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience
- Early ownership in a high growth, engineering led startup
- Join a tight knit, mission driven team in a fast-paced environment
- Build long term career equity as we grow

Location Requirement: Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, CA (remote or hybrid work will not be considered)

Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vital Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.

## About Vital Lyfe

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Vital Lyfe is a climate technology company building portable, aerospace-grade water purification systems that turn any naturally occurring water source—including saltwater—into clean drinking water on demand.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Seed stage; total funding $42.1M)
- **Headquarters**: Hawthorne, California, United States
- **Founded**: 2024
- **Founders**: Jon C. (CEO) and Andrew Harner (COO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry/industries**: Climate Technology Product Manufacturing, Water Purification
- **Target customers**: B2C (outdoor enthusiasts, emergency preparedness, off-grid living), B2B (disaster relief organizations, military, remote operations), and potentially B2G (government/municipal infrastructure alternatives)
- **Mission or purpose statement**: “Rewriting how the world thinks about water” by creating a platform for water autonomy—personal water-making technology that scales where infrastructure can’t.

## Products & Services
- **[Access]**: A portable, intuitive device that uses a simple three-step process (place hose in water → press start → hydrate) to purify water from any natural source, including ocean water. Type: Hardware (personal water-maker) with an integrated platform for monitoring and reliability.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$42.1M** across four rounds (Pre-Seed led by Cantos; Seed rounds led by Interlagos Capital and General Catalyst, including $18M in December 2025 and $6M debt financing)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Cantos, Interlagos Capital, General Catalyst
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **1000% YoY** to 29 employees; LinkedIn followers up 440% yearly; website traffic surged 747% yearly; currently has 5 active job postings and has opened pre-orders for its first product.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Aerospace-grade engineering** applied to consumer water purification—founders and early team include alumni from SpaceX and other aerospace/defense firms.
- **Field-tested simplicity**: The device requires no complex installation or logistics, enabling water autonomy anywhere.
- **Platform approach**: Not just a single product but a scalable platform designed for solo missions, everyday readiness, and large-scale deployment.
- **First-mover in a new category**: Personal water-making that works with saltwater, addressing the 70% of Earth’s surface previously out of reach for portable purification.

## Strategic Focus
- Scaling manufacturing and reducing unit cost to make water autonomy accessible globally.
- Expanding use cases from individual outdoor/adventure to disaster relief, military operations, and off-grid communities.
- Building a brand around “liberation” and independence from fixed water infrastructure.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Described as “engineering liberation”—a mission-driven environment where employees push boundaries and reimagine essential resources. The team is heavily technical (39% in engineering/technical roles) and includes alumni from SpaceX, L3Harris, and other advanced engineering companies.
- **Remote/Hybrid/Office**: Offices in Hawthorne, CA (HQ) and Long Beach, CA. Likely on-site given the hardware and manufacturing focus, but roles may offer flexibility.
- **Notable Perks**: Competitive salary, equity, 401K, health/vision/dental insurance, paid holidays, cellphone & internet stipend, referral bonus, team outings, meals & snacks, EV charging station, spot bonuses.
- **Growth Opportunity**: With 29 employees and rapid scaling, new hires will have significant impact and ownership from day one.

## Sources
1. [vital-lyfe.com](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/)
2. [vital-lyfe.com/about](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/about)
3. [vital-lyfe.com/careers](https://www.vital-lyfe.com/careers)
4. [jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/vital-lyfe)
5. [linkedin.com/company/vital-lyfe](https://www.linkedin.com/company/vital-lyfe)

## Other roles at Vital Lyfe

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- [Materials Manager](https://feeny.ai/job/materials-manager-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-5h50gg753b44) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Software Engineering Internship - Spring 2027](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineering-internship-spring-2027-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-avwq544fm36n) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Electrical Engineering Internship - Spring 2027](https://feeny.ai/job/electrical-engineering-internship-spring-2027-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-nfbadja53nk9) — Los Angeles, CA
- [Account Executive, Business Development](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-business-development-vital-lyfe-los-angeles-0htpcbmwd6de) — Los Angeles, CA
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