Software Engineer - Fullstack

Location

Los Angeles, CA;
Adrian, MI

Full time

Hybrid

Engineering

Job Title:

Staff Software Engineer, Full Stack

Job Type: Full-Time

• Own multi‑quarter technical roadmaps for platform systems, translating company goals into durable architectural decisions.
• Define and evangelize engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across teams — writing the documents other engineers reference.
• Drive architectural decisions for distributed systems and ensure long‑term technical scalability across the stack.
• Identify and resolve systemic technical risks before they become production incidents.

• Lead multi‑team technical design processes — writing RFCs, facilitating alignment, and driving decisions to closure.
• Actively develop senior and mid‑level engineers through design reviews, pairing, and structured feedback.
• Translate complex technical trade‑offs into business impact for non‑technical stakeholders including executives and customers.
• Work closely with cross‑functional teams to define and deliver solutions for our customers.
• Contribute to hiring by interviewing candidates and helping define what "great" looks like at Observable Space.

• Design, build, and maintain Kotlin backend microservices, C++ edge applications, and reactive frontends.
• Design and optimize relational database schemas, ETL pipelines, and data warehousing solutions.
• Debug and resolve complex production issues across the full software stack (backend, frontend, and edge).
• Ensure high reliability and performance in production systems, and establish the observability practices that make this possible.

• 8+ years of experience in a relevant software engineering role, with at least 2–3 years in a Staff, Principal, or technical lead capacity.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction beyond your immediate team — through documents, standards, or organizational initiatives.
• Track record of improving engineering quality, velocity, or culture at an organizational level.
• Strong programming skills in Java, Kotlin, C++, or C#.
• Excellent data modeling skills—extensive experience working with RDBMSs, ETL processes, and data warehousing.
• Experience in a test‑driven development environment.
• Acute product sense, placing an emphasis on user experience and outcomes over outputs.
• An iterative mindset — perfect is the enemy of good, and you know when to pay down technical debt versus when to ship.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and lead others through it in a fast‑paced, dynamic environment.

• Experience working with foreign function interfaces to call Rust and C++ from the JVM.
• Experience with Kotlin for backend programming and an allergy to monolithic frameworks and ORMs.
• Experience with Type Script and React to create complex user interfaces.
• A love of astronomy, physics, and science.

• Competitive salary and comprehensive benefits package.
• Cutting‑edge projects in a highly innovative environment.
• A culture that values collaboration, inclusion, and professional growth.

Observable Space is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, or any other basis protected by federal, state, or local law.