5+ years of software engineering experience, particularly in small teams that developed products from inception.
Proven experience designing multi-tenant systems with a focus on architectural tradeoffs.
Full-stack expertise with a strong backend focus; TypeScript and Postgres experience preferred.
Ability to manage deployment processes without a dedicated DevOps team, including familiarity with containers and CI/CD.
Strong communication skills to explain technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and engineers.
Experience prioritizing user needs in engineering decisions and product development.
Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and methodologies.
Responsibilities
Own the technical aspects of Terra's software product, including writing production code and making architectural decisions.
Collaborate with hardware and firmware engineers to streamline sensor installation processes.
Manage the product roadmap from concept to deployment, incorporating industry-standard protocols and alerting systems.
Ensure software reliability and security for government clients, particularly on AWS GovCloud.
Establish engineering best practices for testing, code reviews, and AI tool integration, while leading future engineering hires.
Benefits
Competitive salary and equity packages, with fully covered health, dental, and vision insurance for employees.
Unlimited PTO and a two-week company holiday at the end of each year.
Supportive of mental health and family needs, including fertility benefits.
A fun and respectful work environment that values both camaraderie and mission-driven work.
Full Job Description
About the Role
Valinor Terra is looking for a Senior Software Engineer to take ownership of Terra's software offering, the platform that connects environmental sensors in military barracks to the facilities teams responsible for keeping them safe and livable. Terra aims to turn sensor readings into alerts and work orders so problems get fixed before they become emergencies. This role is onsite in Austin.
We're looking for someone who has taken a product from zero to one on a small team, enjoys working across software and hardware, and can explain technical tradeoffs as clearly to a government customer as to an engineer. This role is ideal for a full-stack engineer who wants real ownership, cares about the people using the product, and is excited to build the bridge between physical devices and the cloud.
What You'll Do
Own Terra's software product technically, writing production code across our TypeScript stack and making the architecture decisions that shape the platform at scale.
Work closely with our hardware and firmware engineers to define how sensors connect, register, and get installed, so an install technician can set up hundreds of devices in a day without having to involve our engineering teams.
Carry the roadmap from idea to shipped, including support for industry standard building-system protocols, new alerting channels (email, sms, etc.), reporting, and eventually the ability to not only monitor but actuate building systems.
Keep Terra's software production-ready for the DoD and other government agents, owning reliability, monitoring, security, and the technical work behind our government authorization on AWS GovCloud.
Set engineering practices for testing, code review, releases, and effective use of AI tools, then help shape the hiring plan and lead the engineers who join after you.
What We're Looking For
5+ years of software engineering experience, including time on a small team that took a product from zero to one and an architecture you designed from the ground up.
Experience designing multi-tenant systems, including the tradeoffs involved and which decisions you'd make again. This shouldn't be the first multi-tenant architecture you've built.
Full-stack range with real depth on the backend: comfortable on the frontend, with stronger opinions about services, data, and architecture. TypeScript and Postgres experience is ideal, but strong fundamentals matter more than a matching re9sume9.
Comfort owning deployment without a dedicated DevOps team, including containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and Terraform. You don't need to be a Kubernetes expert, but you can step in when it matters.
The ability to explain technical tradeoffs in plain language to non-technical leaders, government customers, and hardware engineers.
A track record of building for real users, including making engineering tradeoffs in favor of the person using the product.
Fluency with AI-assisted development, using it to move faster, not as a substitute for understanding the code you ship.
A builder's mentality and comfort with ownership in an early-stage environment. Experience building software for connected hardware (consumer devices, smart home, IoT) as well as working with telemetry or event-driven systems like MQTT or Kafka is a plus.
What Valinor Offers
Competitive salary, equity packages, and benefits, including health, dental, and vision insurance - fully covered for employees, 401(k), among others.
Unlimited PTO and two-week company holiday at the end of every calendar year.
We are a pro-mental health and pro-family company - we actually encourage employees to spend time with themselves and their families. Valinor also provides fertility benefits to those just beginning that journey.
Fun work environment - we like to laugh and take care of each other, but we also deeply respect the mission in front of us.
This role requires the candidate be eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance. Active clearance preferred, but not required.
