Senior Backend Engineer at Openlayer

Openlayer is a testing and debugging platform for machine learning models. Openlayer makes it easy for ML teams to find failures and biases, figure out their root causes, and create unit tests to ensure they stay fixed — all baked in with experiment tracking and versioning (think GitHub for ML). The company was founded by three previous Siri engineers who contributed to over 15 different AI/ML projects at Apple.

Openlayer is currently working with several well-known enterprise companies worth over $1B, helping them rapidly improve the quality of their models and datasets and save tons of time and money.

We're looking for a founding engineer to help us build the future of sustainable, performant, and ethical machine learning.

We're backed by Y Combinator and several of the top investors and funds in the world, including the founders of companies like Instagram, Voyage, Instacart, Sendbird, Mercury.

Openlayer is solving the AI reliability problem. AI has the potential to transform industries, but too often, inconsistent results and a lack of robust testing hold back that progress. We offer something better—an environment where teams can confidently develop and deploy AI systems.

Today, AI-driven teams—from startups to global enterprises—use Openlayer to deliver trustworthy AI experiences. Openlayer helps them focus on what matters: making AI dependable and impactful in the real world.

This role is ideal for ambitious engineers with entrepreneurial goals. Many of us are former or future founders, and this is an opportunity to scale a company from $1M to $10M ARR while working on one of the most important problems the world is facing today. If you’re a generalist who loves building and maintaining complex systems, this is the place for you.

• Maintain and expand our API. Our backend API is the backbone of our entire product. We need to maintain a scalable, low-latency, and secure API to support our platform

• Work on complex data problems. Our product involves a lot of data (we’re an AI testing platform!). We need to be able to store, fetch and manipulate this data effectively.

• Help mature our user-facing dev tools. We’ve got user-facing APIs, CLIs, and SDKs. You’ll ensure the developer experience accompanying these tools is world-class.

• Be flexible and nimble. You may need to work on security, new features, bug fixes and product ideation all in the same week (and in different languages).

• Help us grow. As an early member of the team, you’ll work with the founders to help grow our team.

• 5+ years of professional backend or full-stack development

• Significant experience working with Python and one other programming language

• Familiarity with building scalable data engines (for querying, aggregation & analytics)

• A passion for crafting a world-class developer experience

• (Bonus) An excitement about the crazy new world of AI and a knack for product ideation

• High impact: be part of a team solving critical challenges in AI reliability and trust, shaping how machine learning models are tested and deployed.

• Growth opportunities: As part of a fast-growing company, you’ll have ample opportunities to shape your role and grow with us.

• Hybrid culture: Work from anywhere or in-person.

• Innovative team: Collaborate with some of the brightest minds in AI and technology, dedicated to making a meaningful impact in the field. Read more about the company and our mission.

• Competitive salary & equity

• Health, vision, and dental insurance

• Flexible PTO

• Hybrid culture

• Regular team off-sites and social events (virtual and in-person) See the full list of benefits here.

Openlayer is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Frontend

• Next.js + Typescript Backend

• Flask + SQL (Postgres) + RQ workers for long-running tasks. We are deployed on AWS but offer an on-prem, cloud-agnostic version of the product. Several SoTA ML models used to generate insights and data-centric tests. Our interview process is designed to be efficient. At each phase, we will be quick to make decisions and will be transparent about our thinking.

The typical interview process takes 2-3 weeks from start to finish, but we have accommodated as short as one week. We are happy to accommodate candidates who might have a short timeline or competing offers. The more information you can share about your situation and where you are in the process, the more we can either attempt to expedite/match, or save you time if we cannot.