Staff Software Engineer (Applied AI)

Traba is the AI operating layer for the industrial supply chain. We started in workforce—temp staffing, the biggest operational pain point for the manufacturing and logistics customers we serve—and used it to embed ourselves inside their daily operations and create a far better customer experience through technology. Now those same customers are pulling us beyond staffing into the broader operational workflows that run their facilities. That foundation gave us proprietary data from millions of shifts and deep enterprise relationships. But our edge is more than data: by connecting to the systems running across every facility and activating the workers already on our platform to execute against them, we are building applied AI that drives real productivity gains and transforms how the global supply chain operates at scale.

We are backed by Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and General Catalyst.

We are seeking an entrepreneurial staff product engineer to join the founding team and lead how we apply existing agents and frontier models to automate the industrial staffing pipeline—the engine that sources, vets, matches, and places workers on millions of shifts—and the core backend services and platform it runs on. You'll set the standard for how Traba builds agent-driven automation into its core product. (Our AI Agents team builds the agent platform; you make it real across the stack.) It's a platform-engineering role first, so you'll go where the priorities are: the infrastructure an agent needs one quarter, a matching, data, or scaling problem with no model involved the next. You'll partner with our CTO to make key architectural decisions, iterate on the roadmap, and build the foundational platform that scales over the next several years.

About You:

• An applier who sets the bar. You're great at taking frontier models and existing agent capabilities and wiring them into real product across the stack—and you set the standard for how the team does it. You don't need to own the orchestration internals our AI Agents team builds; you make them real in production. And you don't need every task to be an AI task: you take the highest-priority problem, model or not, and you know which corners are safe to cut at an early stage.

• Voracious learner. You love diving into new areas and exploring new languages, databases, and technologies, and can discuss API design one minute and deployment infrastructure pipelines with tech leads the next.

• Value clear communication. You recognize the importance of clear communication, documented planning, and transparent, frequent feedback.

• Sweat the small stuff. You have strong opinions on design patterns, IDEs, tabs vs. spaces—you understand that how you do one thing is how you do everything, so you care about the details.

• Deep experience building full-stack web applications. You have designed and built performant, scalable applications, and have expertise in developing APIs, data modeling, optimizing database queries, and scaling distributed systems.

You Will:

• Architect and lead the development of our core systems—from real-time job matching algorithms to autonomous worker vetting pipelines powered by ML and AI agents.

• Set the standard for how we apply agents across the stack to automate the staffing pipeline—vetting, matching, fulfillment—and for how the team builds with AI-assisted tooling.

• Own architecture decisions for our tech platform and advise key product & infrastructure decisions, thinking ahead for what the company and engineering team will need a year or two from now

• Orchestrate our CI/CD workflows, using Docker & Github, and drive efficiency through automated testing

• Build analytics & monitoring to help understand our user experience & application health

• Drive backend application performance measurement and optimization

• Contribute in a ton of other ways to a scrappy founding team building the future of flexible light industrial staffing!

You Have:

• 7+ years experience with Typescript/Node.js or Python, RabbitMQ or Kafka, and PostgreSQL or equivalent

• A track record of shipping amazing products and leading projects at scale with high velocity

• Expertise designing APIs

• Experience with Docker, Github Actions, and Datadog

• Experience building or integrating AI/LLM systems in production is a plus—what matters most is the judgment to lead the team into it.

• Experience working in an early-stage engineering team, working through ambiguity, and being a self-starter

• A passion for helping people find meaningful work that works for them

Benefits:

• 📈 Start-up equity

• 💰 Competitive Salary

• 🩺 100% Paid health, dental & vision coverage

• 🍽️ Dinner Provided via DoorDash, free DashPass & stocked kitchen for NY employees

• 🚍 Commuter benefit

• 🏋🏽 Gympass Benefit

• ✚✚ Additional: One Medical Membership, Gympass, HSA via Optum, Talkspace, HealthAdvocate, Teledoc Health

Salary Range Details

The compensation range for this position is set between $240,000 and $300,000, reflecting our market analysis and other relevant considerations. However, exceptions may be made for candidates with qualifications that significantly differ from those outlined in the job description.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Traba is dedicated to promoting Equal Opportunity employment practices. We evaluate all applicants without discrimination based on race, color, religion, creed, national origin, age, sex, gender, marital status, sexual orientation and identity, genetic information, veteran status, citizenship, or any other characteristics that are legally protected by local, state, or federal regulations. We encourage applicants from a variety of backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets.

Our Values

Dream Big - We are on a path to change the world for the better. We create and communicate a bold direction that inspires a life-changing vision. We don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results.

Olympian’s Work Ethic - Changing the world never comes easy. We work harder, longer, and smarter, not just two out of three. We put everything we have on the field.

Growth Mindset - We confront the toughest challenges head-on and persevere. Sometimes we fail, but we brush ourselves off, adapt, learn, and push forward with resilience.

Customer Obsession - We go the extra mile for our workers and businesses. We remain focused on delivering high-quality products and services that solve this massive and overlooked industries’ problems

What is light industrial labor?

Light industrial flexible staffing is a $50B labor market that encompasses entry-level jobs in warehouses & distribution centers. These workers pack boxes, load trucks, and manage warehouse operations to keep supply chains running at peak efficiency.

Job Applicant Privacy Notice