Senior/Staff Software Engineer – Tech Lead

• Lead the ScreamingFace squad building an open-source Python toolkit and leaderboard for fusion models and benchmark evaluations
• Own the squad's technical architecture end to end across design, engineering, and deployment
• Deliver reliable technical capabilities and user experience from current implementation through product roadmap evolution
• Drive production readiness through deployment monitoring, error handling, graceful degradation, and operational runbooks
• Establish and mentor engineering best practices for modularity, security, reliability, scalability, code quality, and production delivery
• Collaborate on core technology stack strategy and identify shared organizational primitives and standard interfaces
• Partner with the product lead on realistic, scalable, and architecturally sound roadmaps
• Own delivery of engineering quarterly goals and manage resources for consistent, high-impact delivery
• Own team output, delivery, productivity, timeliness, morale, and alignment of team members with work
• Establish robust tools, processes, and methodologies for high-quality software delivery
• Provide hands-on technical leadership through individual development contributions, code reviews, pairing, and architectural guidance
• Create technical documentation and processes supporting high velocity and knowledge transfer
• Work closely with Kevin McDonough, Head of Engineering

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a track record of personally building, shipping, and operating production systems at meaningful scale
• Hands-on experience building production software with AI coding agents, such as Claude Code or Cursor, and helping a team manage agentic workflows
• Strong Python 3.12+ proficiency
• Experience with FastAPI services, async orchestration of concurrent model calls, typed SDK design and packaging, parsers, ASTs, and DAG execution
• Distributed systems and API design experience, including design and evolution of interfaces consumed by multiple independent teams
• Technical leadership experience introducing code review, testing, and CI/CD practices to one or more teams
• Mentored or managed at least 2 engineers; direct reports not required
• Comfort with ambiguity and resource constraints
• Commitment, accountability, and ownership
• Async-fluent with strong written communication and capacity to build high-trust working relationships across a 6hr+ time zone spread
• Cross-functional collaboration and communication with engineering and non-engineering/non-technical stakeholders
• Preferred: practical RAG and information retrieval experience with vector databases, retrieval pipelines, embedding strategies, and aggregation
• Preferred: Vue 3 / TypeScript, Rust / Tauri, or cross-platform desktop app experience
• Preferred: networking/P2P application experience

• Mission-Driven Work: Be part of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, focused on social impact rather than profit, offering the chance to make a meaningful difference in the world.
• Open Source Contribution: Make a real impact by contributing to an Open Source project that benefits a broad community.
• Collaborative Global Team: Join a dynamic, international team that values collaboration and diversity.
• Flexible Work Hours: Enjoy the autonomy to structure your work hours around what best fits your life and productivity.
• Fully Remote Work: Work remotely within the location requirements for this role.
• Independent contractor engagement with an initial 12-month term expected to renew.
• Roughly full-time commitment.
• Self-set schedule.
• Working-hour overlap with US Eastern business hours.