Senior Software Engineer: AI

Copia Automation

$172K — $226K *
Manufacturing & Automotive
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience in production software
  • Strong full-stack proficiency in polished frontends and robust backends
  • Daily use of AI coding tools with practical knowledge of their capabilities
  • Deep expertise in at least one statically-typed programming language
  • Proven ability to deliver complex projects on schedule
  • Strong prioritization instincts with problem-solving capabilities
  • Comfort in making architectural decisions and guiding peers
  • Excellent communication skills for both technical and non-technical discussions
  • Eagerness to learn about industrial automation and operational technology

Responsibilities

  • Ship full-stack features from backend data models to user experiences
  • Leverage AI coding tools to enhance work efficiency while ensuring quality
  • Direct technical project decisions including architecture and specs
  • Collaborate with Product and Design for work scoping
  • Write maintainable, scalable code and improve codebase quality
  • Teach team members best practices for AI tool usage
  • Create clear documentation for diverse audiences
  • Mentor engineers to enhance their skills and code confidence
  • Engage with customers to translate complex challenges into engineering tasks

Benefits

  • Competitive base salary based on experience and location
  • Equity in an early-stage, venture-backed firm
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision benefits
  • Unlimited PTO and company-specific holidays
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • Commuter benefits and in-office lunches at NYC HQ
  • Hybrid work model with potential relocation support
  • High-trust culture supporting ownership and technical leadership
Full Job Description
Who you are

We are seeking a Software Engineer to support Copia's fast-growing AI vertical. You're passionate about solving problems through collaboration, experimentation, and ownership, and are happy to pair on tough issues and test your assumptions.

You have experience building AI tooling, not just using AI tooling. Bonus points for experience with controls engineering/PLCs and hardware.

In this role, you will be building AI-based tooling for industrial automation engineers. You will use cutting-edge AI tooling to enable engineering workflows for Copia's user base. Your product taste will help set the direction for integrating AI tooling into existing Copia Source Control & Backup products.

The industrial automation space has lots of information most software engineers are not familiar with. In your day-to-day, you will learn about a wide variety of industrial automation topics.

You'll join a team that encourages ownership and values pragmatic solutions: weighing short-term needs and long-term goals.

You're interested in Copia's mission (rebuilding manufacturing), you enjoy interacting with customers, and driving impact in a foundational industry. We're looking for a strong contributor to the overall trajectory of the company.

Finally, you're optimistic. At Copia, we celebrate successes, support each other through unexpected challenges, and approach problems with a positive attitude.

What you'll do:

  • Ship full-stack features end to end, handling everything from the backend data models to the final user experience.
  • Make AI coding agents a central part of how you work to increase your velocity while maintaining high standards.
  • Drive the technical direction of your projects, including architectural decisions and technical specs.
  • Collaborate with Product and Design to scope out work, balancing quick wins with long-term stability.
  • Write code that is easy to scale and maintain, and help raise the quality of the codebase through thoughtful reviews and testing.
  • Teach the team how to better leverage AI tools by sharing what you have learned and setting best practices.
  • Write clear documentation for both technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Guide and mentor other engineers, helping them improve their skills and ship code with confidence.
  • Talk directly with customers and executives to turn complex industrial challenges into clear engineering tasks.


What you'll need:

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience shipping production software on a team using standard best practices (code review, CI/CD, testing).
  • A strong full-stack background, with the ability to build polished frontends and robust backend services.
  • Daily experience with AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude Code, or Copilot, and a good sense of their strengths and weaknesses.
  • Deep knowledge of at least one statically-typed language. We use Go, TypeScript, and C#, but we care more about your engineering depth than the specific language.
  • A history of delivering complex projects on time and the ability to explain the technical choices you made along the way.
  • Great instincts for prioritization and the ability to take an ambiguous problem and find a clear solution.
  • Comfort making architectural decisions and providing technical guidance to other engineers.
  • Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain technical details to both engineers and non-technical stakeholders.
  • Eagerness to dig into a complex domain. You don't need to know PLCs on day one, but you should be excited to learn how factories actually run.
  • Previous experience adding AI-powered features into a product


Nice to haves:

  • Experience at a growth-stage, venture-backed startup, scaling tools from small betas to thousands or millions of users.
  • Experience with our stack or adjacent technologies: TypeScript / Node.js, React, Go, C#, Python, PostgreSQL, AWS.
  • Experience building developer tools or working on Git internals, CI/CD, or DevOps platforms.
  • Background in industrial automation, OT/IT, manufacturing software, IoT, or developer tooling.
  • Interest in manufacturing and hardware innovation.


$172,000 - $226,000 a year

  • Competitive base salary commensurate with experience and location.
  • Meaningful equity in an early-stage, venture-backed company.
  • Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • Unlimited PTO and company holidays.
  • 401(k) plan.
  • Commuter benefits and in-office lunches at our NYC HQ.
  • Hybrid work environment with relocation assistance available for qualifying candidates.
  • A high-trust, high-ownership culture where senior engineers are expected to lead technically, ship, and grow the people around them.


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