Lead Platform Engineer

About the company

Our client is a biotechnology company.

The role

Raydar is recruiting for this role on behalf of our client. Act as technical lead for the cloud, data and automation infrastructure behind a high-volume operation. Own backend services, data pipelines and distributed workflow systems, and build internal tooling that lets automated agents support day-to-day operations. Mentor engineers and lead cross-functional projects from idea through production.

What you'll do

- Own core backend services that coordinate physical devices and on-prem servers, along with the data ingestion pipeline.

- Build cloud infrastructure and data pipelines to store, process and deliver very large volumes of data.

- Design infrastructure for running millions of compute tasks, including queues, workflow orchestration and scheduling.

- Build AI infrastructure and internal tooling that supports agent-based systems for monitoring, logistics coordination and adaptive data analysis.

- Lead ambiguous, cross-functional projects from concept to production.

- Mentor teammates and help others build new skills.

Requirements

What we're looking for

- Strong experience with cloud orchestration services on AWS and Python backend development with a framework such as FastAPI or Django.

- Impactful experience at a startup as it scaled.

- Experience designing, building and shipping reliable distributed systems, including queues, orchestration and state machines.

- Linux server administration and experience with distributed task queues.

- Experience leading projects and mentoring engineers on small teams.

- Up to date with the latest AI tooling.

- A university degree in a quantitative or technical discipline, or comparable practical background.

- High agency, strong ownership and clear communication in a fast-paced, tight-knit team.

Bonus points

- Experience building LLM or agent systems, including tooling, evaluation, permissions and workflow design.

- Ambition to step up from a Senior or Staff engineer role into a lead role.

- Genuine curiosity about science domains.

- Former founder or founding engineer.

Benefits

Compensation and benefits

- Base salary: USD 205,000 to 235,000 per year

- Equity

- Health, dental and vision coverage

- Life insurance and mental health coverage

- Retirement plan with matching

- Paid time off and paid holidays

Location and work model

- South San Francisco, California, United States

- Hybrid, 3 days a week on-site

- Full-time