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Software Engineer

San FranciscoFull-timeOffice$150,000 - $250,000

Strala is rebuilding the foundation of the world's largest industry: insurance. In less than a year, they reached multi-seven-figure ARR and are growing 50% month over month. Raised two rounds from Tier 1 funds, including Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, led by the partner who was early in OpenAI, Cognition, and Scale AI. The team comes from Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford, Optiver, AMD, and Palantir, with backgrounds in ICPC and NeurIPS. Team of 25, 11 engineers, targeting 100 by the end of the year.

About the Role

Strala is hiring a Software Engineer to own and build the core technical infrastructure of an AI-native insurance platform. You will deploy to production on day one, take full responsibility for your code, and operate with extreme ownership from the start. This is not a role where you wait for a spec. You create it, you figure it out, and you build it.

Week one is orientation: learning the insurance space, meeting the team, and getting up to speed. Month one and beyond: you are agentic, identifying what needs to be built and going ahead to build it. A year out, you are expected to be in a leadership role as the team scales toward 100 people.

Key Responsibilities

Ship to production from day one and take full responsibility for your code
Own and build core infrastructure, databases (PostgreSQL, vector databases), and architecture
Create specs, design systems, and build features end-to-end without heavy direction
Scale the existing codebase to support rapid growth across a complex insurance platform
Work directly with the founding team in a high-intensity, high-ownership environment
Help hire your next teammate and contribute to the engineering culture as the team scales

Requirements

Must-Have:

1.5 to 5 years of backend development experience, open to exceptional new grads with a top internship signal (Optiver, Jane Street, or equivalent)
Strong Python and backend fundamentals with a track record of fast, production-grade code shipping
Core system design depth: PostgreSQL, vector databases, and scalable architecture ownership
Cloud fluency: REST, GraphQL, GCP, AWS, Docker
High agency and extreme ownership mindset, bonus if you have been a CTO or founding engineer
Proven problem solver with a history of tackling hard problems independently
Based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco, relocation fully supported

Nice-to-Have:

ICPC, IOI, NeurIPS, or equivalent signal of raw technical intelligence
Prior experience at Optiver, DRW, Citadel, or equivalent high-signal firm
Experience building in regulated industries or financial services

Green Flags

Raw intelligence signal: IOI, ICPC, NeurIPS, Putnam, or equivalent, this is the clearest indicator of the abstract thinking Strala needs
Background at Optiver, DRW, Citadel, Jane Street, or equivalent high-signal firm
Has been a CTO, founding engineer, or early engineer at a startup, understands what extreme ownership actually means
Exceptional new grad with a top-tier internship at Optiver, Jane Street, or equivalent
Has shipped production-grade systems fast and takes full responsibility for their code
Agentic problem solver, does not wait for direction, identifies what needs to be built and goes and builds it

Red Flags

No raw intelligence signal and no high-signal internship or company background
Needs heavy specs and direction before executing, this role requires someone who writes the spec
Only worked in large companies with established engineering processes and no founding or early-stage experience
Weak Python or backend fundamentals, these are non-negotiable
Not based in or willing to relocate to San Francisco, fully in-person is required

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