Who we are
Lightning AI is the company reimagining the way AI is built. After creating and releasing PyTorch Lightning in 2019, Lightning AI was launched to reshape the development of artificial intelligence products for commercial and academic use.
Focusing on simplicity, sustainability, modularity, and extensibility, Lightning AI streamlines the lifecycle of machine learning development to expand widespread AI adoption. Its aim is to enable individual and enterprise users to build deployment-ready AI tools without having to hire experts or sink resources into in-house infrastructure.
Lightning AI is a company with offices in New York City, Palo Alto, and London backed by $58.6 million in funding from Coatue, Index Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Firstminute.
What’s important to us
We are building a company of people that care deeply about the impact of AI on our society. We value:
- Integrity: AI is bound to change how we interact with computers, with each other, and the world—for the better. We are committed to building an inclusive company and developing ethical AI that improves humanity.
- Perseverance: Be bold, take the initiative, and make decisions with confidence. We empower our community, clients, and colleagues to tackle the impossible.
- Curiosity: We are genuinely interested in finding solutions to advance the state of AI research and foster its application in novel products. It’s not about whether we can solve the problem, but how.
We also feel that it’s essential to point out the self-evident here – there’s a genuine lack of diversity in our industry, which has to change. One of our goals is to help drive that change. Lightning AI is fully committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion, and we embrace how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.
What we’re looking for
We are looking for a Staff Backend Engineer to work on developing and scaling the Lightning AI platform from the frontend, CLI, and API, to billing, security, and integrations.
We want someone who can take ownership of key features and drive development from end to end while collaborating with a super-smart team of engineers, product managers, and designers. Here, you’ll build from proof of concept to release with a focus on speed, quality, and iteration.
This is an opportunity to create groundbreaking technology that will transform the machine-learning ecosystem!
What you’ll do
- Write readable/testable/efficient code in Go (Golang) or Python.
- Master our technology stack to deliver new features, improve system stability, and increase overall performance.
- Partner with engineering and product leaders on developing the Lightning product while using your experience to set the technical direction for large projects.
- Evaluate, strengthen, and document technical architecture, tools, and processes.
- Champion software quality, implement automation, drive continuous delivery, and reduce time to production while proactively reducing technical debt.
- Mentor and coach engineers on system design, operating in high uncertainty, and problem-solving to create a supportive, inclusive environment where each engineer can grow.
How we evaluate your candidacy
Our interviews will not only give us insight into your skillset but give you insight into our company.
- Introduction- 15 minutes: You will speak with our Recruiter about your background and what you are looking for in your next role. They will share some information with you about our team and the projects you will be involved in. If both parties decide that there is a match, we will proceed with a technical interview.
- Coding - 60 minutes: Our second interview will be a coding interview with our CTO. We will provide a study guide for each interview, along with instructions on interview logistics.
- Virtual Onsite - 3 sessions at 45-60 minutes each: These interviews will cover your domain expertise, systems architecture and Culture. During this stage, you will meet individually with our Eng Director, Technical Lead and CEO.
- Offer: We determine your level based on your interview performance and make an offer based on geo-located salary bands updated on a monthly basis using Carta’s Total Compensation tool. During the presentation call, we will review the base salary, benefits, number of options, notional option value, and strike price. We would like to know if you accept our offer within seven days.
- As of 12/4/2023, if we hire you in either the Bay Area or New York City, your base salary would fall within the bands below. Please keep in mind that the equity portion of your offer is not included in these numbers and represents a significant part of your total compensation.
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- Principal Software Engineer, IC8: $221,000 - $251,000
- Senior Staff Software Engineer, IC7: $211,000 - $239,000
- Staff Software Engineer, IC6: $192,000 - $218,000
- Senior Software Engineer II, IC5: $172,000 - 198,000
- Senior Software Engineer I, IC4: $157,000 - $180,000
When you’ll hear from us
We aim to review every application within 72 hours of submission and provide feedback on each of your interviews within 48 hours of completion. If you don’t hear from us, please reach out to your recruiter or [email protected] directly to get an update on your candidacy.
How you’ll be rewarded
We champion equal pay for work of equal or comparable value based on the level of skill, effort, responsibility, and impact of any given role. We use Carta’s Total Compensation tool to enable data-driven decision-making around benchmarks, levels, and planning. We are confident that our compensation practices are equitable, explainable, fair, and competitive, and in the spirit of transparency, we provide a compensation bands for each open role.
We pride ourselves on making sure our employees enjoy a good quality of life, no matter where they live. We offer competitive base salaries and stock options with a 25% one year cliff and monthly vesting thereafter. For our international employees, we work with Velocity Global to pay you in your local currency and provide equitable benefits across the globe.
In the US, we offer:
- 90% monthly premium contributions towards medical, dental, and vision plans for you, you and your spouse, you and your children, or you and your family, along with HSA and FSA options. Our health plans are offered through Aetna, a health insurance company with a care network encompassing 1.3 million doctors and 5,700 hospitals across America.
- Life and AD&D insurance equal to 1x salary, as well as optional supplemental life insurance for extra peace of mind
- Flexible paid time off plus 3 weeks of company-wide mandatory vacation in May, August, and December. Most of our employees take a total of 25-30 days off per year.
- 12 weeks of paid family leave for employees who have worked with the company for 6-12 months and 16 weeks of paid family leave for employees who have worked with the company for 12+ months
- $500 monthly meal reimbursement, including groceries & food delivery services
- $1,000 1-time home office build out for a desk, chair, keyboard, pair of headphones, and/or other home office supplies
- $1,000 annual learning & development stipend for classes, conferences, certifications, and continuing education
- 100% covered bike membership
- $45/month to ClassPass, a platform providing access to over 30,000 gyms and studios, as well as 5,000 beauty and spa partners, in 28 countries
- Access to monthly equity education sessions hosted by Carta and 1:1 meetings with Certified Public Accountants so that you can take proactive measures to minimize taxes due and maximize the value of your equity
- Ability to early exercise your stock options after 1 year of continuous employment
- Opportunities to obtain an employment-based immigrant VISA for relocation every 3 years
- Membership to a local co-working space upon request
- 24/7 access to:
- Teladoc, the leader in whole-person virtual care with access to doctors, therapists, and medical experts anywhere you are by phone or video
- One Medical, a patient-focused on-demand primary care practice
- Kindbody, a fertility, gynecology, and wellness service provider
- HealthAdvocate, an employee assistance program (EAP)
- Talkspace, a comprehensive, personalized mental healthcare platform providing access to licensed therapists for therapy, medication, assessment, healthy living support, and self-help tools
- Headspace, a guided meditation application focused on improving mindfulness, sleep, and stress-relief
