Senior Backend Engineer, AI Sim

SandboxAQ is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to contribute to its drug discovery and chemistry simulation platform. This role involves core application development, API and data plane contributions, and DevOps for complex build, testing, and deployment pipelines. The engineer will work closely with researchers and product teams, focusing on writing high-quality, well-tested code, API design, database fundamentals, and CI/CD across the entire software stack. Entrepreneurial spirit and customer obsession are key.

Must Have

• 3+ years of Python experience with software design principles and architectural patterns.
• Comfort writing clean, readable, well-tested, maintainable code.
• Experience with at least one major cloud provider (GCP preferred).
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience with building REST APIs and knowledge of best practices.
• Knowledge of cloud orchestration technologies like K8s or batch-type systems.
• Knowledge of workflow management tools (Airflow or similar).
• Knowledge of database systems and related concepts: ORMs, schemas, and transactional vs. analytic systems.
• Exposure to Terraform or another IaC system, along with DevOps and GitOps.
• Knowledge of CI/CD best practices and building CI/CD pipelines.

Good to Have

• Domain experience in advanced materials, drug discovery, cheminformatics, or other areas of chemistry or biology, especially with AI systems.
• Delivering scientific code for R&D projects, especially in simulation and numerical optimization domains.
• HCP systems, GPU programming and optimization.
• AI applications in knowledge graphs, AI agents, and multi-agent systems.

Perks & Benefits

• Competitive, equitable, and transparent compensation.
• Salaries and total compensation benchmarked to premium markets.
• Environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact.
• Deep investment in people for continuous growth.
• Opportunity to advance career in pursuit of an inspiring mission.
• Community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.
• Culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued.
• Equal Employment Opportunity.
• Reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures.

About the Role

We are seeking a backend engineer generalist to contribute to our drug discovery and chemistry simulation platform. You’ll get exposure to a wide variety of areas, including:

• Core application development - we’re building a platform that powers our R&D in life sciences and chemistry simulation. You will contribute to its core functionalities, APIs, and data and control planes.
• DevOps - you will contribute to build, testing, and deployment pipelines for a complex set of build artifacts and IaC-managed infrastructure.
• User and product work - you will work closely with the researchers that are using the software you’re building and you’ll immediately get to see your impact. You’ll work with the product team to gather and prioritize the feedback.

You’ll bring experience writing high-quality, readable, well-tested code. You will have experience with API design, database fundamentals, and CI/CD pipelines. You’re entrepreneurial and customer-obsessed. Most importantly, you’ll bring a track record of working in a fast-moving software development team, exploring new technologies, and solving problems across an entire software stack.

What You’ll Do

• Contribute to the development of our chemistry and life sciences simulation platform.
• Work closely with users and members of the product team to measure the impact of the code you develop on users, gather feedback, and iterate on your software.
• Participate in planning, design, and sprint ceremony meetings.
• Embed closely with R&D teams to assist in delivering project goals and drive adoption of practices and tooling.
• Collaborate closely with the product team and internal stakeholders in all phases of software development to validate the solutions you propose and implement.
• In collaboration with the rest of the engineering team, build and manage infrastructure for our simulation and data platform.
• Review code and participate in design and architectural discussions.

About You

• 3+ years of experience with Python with knowledge of software design principles and architectural patterns.
• Comfort writing clean, readable, well-tested, maintainable code.
• Experience with at least one major cloud provider. GCP preferred.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to effectively influence a cross-functional team.
• Experience with building REST APIs and knowledge of best practices.
• Knowledge of cloud orchestration technologies like K8s or batch-type systems as well as workflow management tools (Airflow or similar).
• Knowledge of database systems and related concepts: ORMs, schemas, and transactional vs. analytic systems.
• Exposure to Terraform or another IaC system, along with DevOps and GitOps.
• Knowledge of CI/CD best practices and building CI/CD pipelines.

Nice to have

• Domain experience in advanced materials, drug discovery, cheminformatics, or other areas of chemistry or biology, especially experience with AI systems applied to these domains.
• Delivering scientific code for R&D projects, especially in the simulation and numerical optimization domains.
• HCP systems, GPU programming and optimization.
• AI applications in knowledge graphs, AI agents, and multi-agent systems.

We Welcome All

We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.

Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.

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