Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

About the role

This is a hybrid role, requiring in-person work at our San Jose, CA headquarters 10 days per month. Archer is on a mission to unlock the skies with our aircraft Midnight and the entire software fabric that powers a large, sophisticated airline operation. We are looking for 0 to 1 Software Engineers to join an elite team building Archer’s Airline Operations Software Ecosystem. This role enables you to craft the future of urban air mobility by building agentic software that powers it. The products you build will be integral for Archer’s LA2028 Olympics operation and will support the logistics, routing, performance, and dispatch of our aircraft for decades to come.

We're looking for someone who can own a product end-to-end—from frontend to backend to deployment—while bringing strong backend depth to guide the team's architecture decisions. Engineers who have built and shipped multiple products across disciplines and languages are encouraged to apply. The Airline Software team operates with startup DNA, so we seek engineers who thrive in an autonomous environment where you will make product, design, and architecture decisions. The team is intentionally lean to provide career-defining opportunities to design and scale applications that will serve millions of passengers annually.

Responsibilities

• Build great software: turn product requirements into reliable, high-quality web and mobile applications.
• Create and manage backend infrastructure, including database schemas, API architecture, orchestration services, and refining system architecture.
• Lead end-to-end technical execution and own the full software development lifecycle.
• Design and implement the architecture and tech stack serving as the backbone for our platform, balancing scalability, speed, and reliability.
• Contribute to our roadmap: ideate, plan, and prototype technical tools for aircraft performance and dispatch settings.
• Collaborate with Design, Data Science, and Technical Aviation Experts to enhance features and products.
• Use the latest code-generation technologies to streamline workflows and boost productivity.
• Implement and productize novel machine learning and deep learning algorithms developed by our AI/ML research team.

Requirements

• 5+ years of post-college work or entrepreneurial experience.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in an engineering discipline (or demonstrated outstanding individual technical achievement).
• End-to-end experience building software across the full stack—from front-end to back-end to cloud deployment.
• Proficiency with technologies: NextJS, JavaScript, React, React Native, Swift, Python, Fast API, Postgres.
• Ability to create intuitive, clean, and professional products without a dedicated designer or design system.
• Strong understanding of how to implement and train AI systems into SaaS products, with willingness to learn and adapt to building voice agents.
• Familiarity with building serverless and microservices in popular cloud hyperscalers.
• Experience managing production-grade CI/CD pipelines.
• Adaptability: quickly and iteratively respond to customer needs and turn product changes around on tight timelines.

Nice-to-have

• Infrastructure & DevOps experience: k8s, S3, RDS, SQS, Lambda, Datadog, Docker, Github Actions, Fastlane.
• Strong passion for aviation and/or Urban Air Mobility (UAM).
• Willingness and ability to transition between mobile and web development.
• Previous experience in logistics, transportation, and/or aviation-related companies.
• Ex-founder or early-stage startup experience.
• Experience working on complex systems of record like EHRs, ERPs, PMS, CMS, CRMs.
• Rich GitHub history with personal projects or open-source contributions.
• Passion for design.

Pay

For this position, we are targeting a base pay between $150,000 and $180,000. Actual compensation offered will be determined by job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.