Staff Software Engineer, Platform

About SandboxAQSandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.The OpportunityThe Cybersecurity Group at SandboxAQ is a fast-paced team focused on delivering AQtive Guard, a groundbreaking solution for modern non-human identity and cryptography management. We collaborate closely with product managers and security researchers to translate complex requirements into robust, scalable technical designs for global financial institutions and government agencies.The Cybersecurity Group is looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join our team. This role is central to our efforts to: functionalize AQtive Guard by designing, building, and maintaining mission-critical services in both Kotlin and Go. This person will push the boundaries of performance and reliability, leveraging technologies like Kubernetes and Kafka to ensure high-throughput, low-latency processing of security data. We are looking for a proactive engineer who thrives in a startup environment and is passionate about building fault-tolerant, highly available distributed systems.Key ResponsibilitiesDesign and maintain mission-critical services in Kotlin and Go, deploying them on Kubernetes to support global-scale operations.Leverage Kafka and KStreams for the asynchronous processing of security data, ensuring systems meet stringent latency requirements.Champion technical excellence by implementing best practices for distributed systems and mentoring other engineers through code reviews and design discussions.Drive performance optimization and tuning efforts to meet the reliability requirements of top-tier financial and government clients.Take ownership of complex projects, demonstrating a proactive approach and a high tolerance for ambiguity in a fluid startup environment.Essential Skills & Experience5+ years of production experience with at least one core language (Kotlin or Go) and a willingness to master the other quickly.Proven track record with Kafka, including practical experience in high-throughput data environments.Production-scale RDBMS experience, specifically with systems like Postgres.Kubernetes Proficiency, with experience deploying and managing services in a production Kubernetes environment.Security Awareness, including a solid understanding of standard IT security best practices.Highly Desired Skills & ExperienceAdvanced Streaming: Hands-on experience with KStreams for asynchronous data processing.Build Systems & Tools: Familiarity with Bazel for managing complex software builds.Language Polyglot: Proficiency in additional languages, specifically Rust or Python.Domain Knowledge: General knowledge of cryptography and familiarity with specialized security technologies.Why Join Us?We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.Work-Life Balance: Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.Career Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.SandboxAQ Welcomes AllWe 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.Read: Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews