Senior Software Engineer - AI InfrastructureAn active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph is required for this role. About this Role We're looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build the next generation of AI infrastructure powering innovation across a critical national security mission. This is a senior full-stack role embedded in an AI platform organization, where you'll lead the development and operation of scalable inference services and the broader AI application ecosystem.
This isn't just a heads-down engineering role - you'll also carry meaningful technical leadership responsibilities. That means serving as a tech lead for AI infrastructure initiatives, coordinating work across integrated teams, and providing coaching and support for a small group of engineers through regular one-on-ones and ongoing feedback. You'll also act as the team's point of contact for contract administration functions.
Day to day, you'll be doing things like:
- Designing, implementing, and optimizing infrastructure for AI model inference at scale
- Leading the development and maintenance of production AI services and applications, including retrieval augmented generation (RAG), autonomous agents, and other emerging technologies
- Navigating ambiguity and defining solutions for complex, underspecified systems and requirements
- Establishing technical policies, standards, and governance frameworks where gaps exist
- Driving adoption of new technologies and practices across engineering teams
- Implementing and overseeing monitoring, logging, and observability solutions for AI services
- Ensuring high availability, reliability, performance, and security of AI platform components
- Communicating effectively with stakeholders at multiple organizational levels
If you're someone who thrives at the intersection of deep technical work and team leadership - and who gets energized building systems that genuinely matter - this is a role worth your attention.
Requirements - 12 years of experience in software engineering, or 16 years in lieu of a B.S. in a technical discipline
- B.S. in a technical discipline (or 4 additional years of experience in place of the degree)
- Extensive experience designing, building, and operating large-scale production systems
- Deep expertise in systems integration across diverse technologies and platforms
- Hands-on experience with cloud engineering in AWS
- Advanced proficiency with Kubernetes administration and deployment patterns
- Strong Python programming skills
- Experience implementing and scaling observability solutions (APM, OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Prometheus)
- Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and influence organizational change
- Experience developing technical policies and governance frameworks
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills
- Ability to balance hands-on engineering with leadership and coordination responsibilities
- Active TS/SCI clearance with polygraph
Preferred Skills - Experience with AI inference serving technologies such as vLLM or LiteLLM
- Previous experience with agentic frameworks like LangChain
- Knowledge of vector databases and embedding systems
- Experience with high-performance computing or distributed systems
- A track record of successfully driving technical and cultural change within engineering organizations
Benefits at Bitwise - Top salaries because we're top performers
- Pick your PTO - Everyone values time and money differently, so we give you the flexibility to choose between 3 and 5 weeks of PTO with a corresponding adjustment to your pay. Your choice, your balance.
- All 11 federal holidays, paid!
- Up to 2 snow days, paid!
- We'll quadruple (4x!) the first 6% you contribute to your 401(k), giving you up to a 24% company match. Contributing less than 6%? Unclaimed matches come right back to you as extra income, giving you a guaranteed 24% that goes to your retirement, to your paycheck, or both. C'mon now!
- 100% employer-paid medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurances. That's a lot. Already covered on health insurance? No problem - we'll trade you this benefit for a boost to your salary instead.
- $5,250 annual education assistance for training, certifications, tuition, and even student loan repayments.
- Spot bonuses for obtained certifications, customer recognition, and just about anything else that makes us go "Hot damn!". We hope to say that many times about you.
Salary Range $282,000 - $332,000
This range includes our flex income and depends upon your annual work hours.
Salary is determined on an individual basis following the interview process and considering various factors such as years of experience, skills, education, and certifications.
What to Expect After Applying You'll get an email from us right away to acknowledge your application. After that, we'll:
- Send over additional company materials for you to review
- Schedule a video call to talk about you, our company, and your place in it
- Craft a delightful offer package for you and record a video walkthrough
- Work closely with you through onboarding. We'll keep it joyful and easy.
