--- title: 'Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Product) at Otter.ai' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-backend-product-otter-ai-mountain-view-xf6an9cserkx' type: 'job' last_seen: '2026-09-21' --- # Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Product) at Otter.ai - **Company:** Otter.ai - **Location:** Mountain View, CA - **Posted:** 2025-04-15 - **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-21 - **Apply:** https://otter.ai/careers?gh_jid=6531765003 ## Job description The Opportunity We’re building the next generation of AI-native product experiences, where conversations turn directly into outcomes. As a Staff Software Engineer on our Product teams, you’ll define how these capabilities are translated into scalable systems and cohesive product experiences. You’ll operate across the full lifecycle of AI-driven features—from data ingestion and model orchestration to output structuring and delivery into user-facing product surfaces—but at a systems level. This includes shaping the architecture behind generation pipelines, defining how AI outputs are structured and persisted, and ensuring these systems are reliable, performant, and adaptable as both product requirements and underlying models evolve. This role goes beyond individual features. You’ll drive technical direction across product areas, aligning product, AI, and infrastructure teams on how to build AI-native systems that scale. You’ll help define patterns for how we evaluate, iterate on, and continuously improve AI-driven experiences, turning ambiguous opportunities into clear systems and execution plans. You’ll partner closely with product, design, and AI teams to identify high-leverage opportunities, prototype new approaches, and guide them into production—shaping both the product experience and the underlying systems that power it. ## Your Impact - Define system architecture for AI-native product surfaces Design foundational systems (generation pipelines, data models, evaluation frameworks) that power multiple product areas. - Drive cross-team technical strategy Lead initiatives that span product, AI, and infrastructure teams, ensuring alignment on architecture and execution. - Establish best practices for AI product engineering Set standards for how we build with AI—covering areas like evaluation, reliability, iteration loops, and system design. - Translate ambiguity into scalable systems and product direction Take loosely defined opportunities and turn them into clear technical approaches and execution plans. - Raise the bar across the organization Influence engineering quality, system design, and product thinking beyond your immediate team. - Shape how AI accelerates engineering velocity Drive adoption and best practices for AI-assisted development, improving how teams design, build, and iterate on product. We're looking for someone who - Has 10+ years of experience building and scaling complex systems - Has a strong track record of owning technical and product direction for large or ambiguous problem spaces - Demonstrates deep expertise in system design, especially in data-intensive or distributed systems - Has experience leading cross-team initiatives and influencing without direct authority - Brings strong product intuition and can balance user experience, system constraints, and business impact - Is comfortable operating at a high level of ambiguity and defining both the problem and the solution Nice to haves - Experience building or experimenting with LLM-powered features (prompting, evaluation, RAG, etc.) - Experience designing systems that balance latency, cost, and quality - Exposure to user feedback loops, experimentation, or evaluation frameworks ## 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: $210,000 to $275,000 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 on several factors. Our base salary is just one component of a 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. [Indeed company profile](https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Otter.ai) ## Other roles at Otter.ai - [Head of Brand & Storytelling](https://feeny.ai/job/head-of-brand-storytelling-otter-ai-san-francisco-5xgn38h5cp4g) — San Francisco, CA - [Senior Applied Scientist, Speech](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-applied-scientist-speech-otter-ai-mountain-view-x076bttmnk8j) — Mountain View, CA - [Senior Data Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-data-engineer-otter-ai-mountain-view-6tpbnd4r7qek) — Mountain View, CA - [Account Executive, Higher Education](https://feeny.ai/job/account-executive-higher-education-otter-ai-san-francisco-9f9zrr3qxdmg) — San Francisco, CA - [Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Infrastructure)](https://feeny.ai/job/staff-software-engineer-backend-infrastructure-otter-ai-seattle-washington-2wcjazhsn6d9) — Seattle Washington, United States - [Senior Software Engineer, Backend (Infrastructure)](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-backend-infrastructure-otter-ai-seattle-washington-nmgena38kd7c) — Seattle Washington, United States - [Software Engineer, AI Agent & LLM](https://feeny.ai/job/software-engineer-ai-agent-llm-otter-ai-mountain-view-3zdqcxnm8800) — Mountain View, CA - [Senior Software Engineer, AI Agent & LLM](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-software-engineer-ai-agent-llm-otter-ai-mountain-view-61x0wsgq1ksq) — Mountain View, CA - [Senior Solution Architect](https://feeny.ai/job/senior-solution-architect-otter-ai-mountain-view-qnsafvy4xncg) — Mountain View, CA - [Sales Development Representative](https://feeny.ai/job/sales-development-representative-otter-ai-phoenix-arizona-5e5w8kjvzfwf) — Phoenix Arizona, United States