Senior Software Engineer

About the Role

Our technical team is creating the infrastructure that enables AI agents to discover, negotiate, and transact media inventory autonomously.

As a Senior Software Engineer, you'll be a hands-on contributor to the APIs, protocols, and agent interfaces that power our agentic advertising platform. You'll help build systems where AI agents are first-class participants, with their own authentication, capabilities, and communication standards.

You'll work at the intersection of advertising technology, distributed systems, and emerging AI agent frameworks, tackling complex technical challenges and helping shape how our marketplace evolves.

This is a full-stack (80/20 backend-leaning), hands-on product engineering role. You'll design and build production systems, explore new agent communication patterns, and take meaningful ownership of technical problems from concept through implementation. We're looking for someone who combines strong engineering fundamentals with curiosity, resourcefulness, and an eagerness to work with emerging AI technologies.

This Isn't a Typical Engineering Role

• AI isn't an add-on to how we engineer; it's central to how we build. We embrace AI-first development workflows and expect engineers to actively leverage AI coding agents and tools throughout their work. We're looking for people who are genuinely excited about this shift, experiment with emerging capabilities, and continuously rethink what's possible when AI becomes an integral part of the engineering process.
• We're operating in a space without a fixed playbook. We value engineers who are comfortable navigating ambiguity, figuring things out, and creating structure where none exists.
• Our approach favors rapid experimentation over upfront perfection. We test, learn, iterate, and formalize what works.
• We move quickly, tackle difficult problems, and expect engineers to take ownership of their work. You'll have significant autonomy and the opportunity to make a meaningful impact.
• We're a small, collaborative team where initiative matters. We value people who know how to make progress independently, communicate proactively, and seek out the context or support they need to succeed.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable APIs for both human and AI agent clients.
• Develop agent interfaces, MCP servers, and A2A communication layers.
• Build and operate high-throughput systems for real-time advertising transactions.
• Explore, evaluate, and integrate emerging agent frameworks and protocols.
• Contribute to architectural decisions around authentication, protocols, and transaction flows.
• Take ownership of complex technical challenges, anticipating edge cases in autonomous agent behavior.
• Continuously improve engineering workflows, including the practical application of AI tools to accelerate development and problem-solving.
• Collaborate with teammates to share knowledge, work through technical challenges, and raise the overall quality of our engineering output.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of professional software product engineering experience, ideally building distributed backend systems or complex production applications. Exceptional candidates with 4+ years of experience are encouraged to apply.
• AI-native engineering mindset: Demonstrated experience incorporating AI coding agents and tools into your development workflow. You actively experiment with AI-assisted development and are excited about the evolving role of AI in software engineering.
• Strong engineering fundamentals, with the ability to think through complex technical problems and translate them into practical, scalable solutions.
• Experience designing and building APIs and backend services (REST, event-driven systems, authentication, versioning).
• Experience working with distributed systems, high-throughput applications, or systems involving autonomous or semi-autonomous decision-making.
• A self-starter mentality and the ability to take ownership of projects and drive them forward with minimal direction.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity, learning unfamiliar technologies, and adapting quickly as priorities and requirements evolve.
• Strong communication skills and the confidence to advocate for what you need, ask questions, and collaborate effectively with teammates.
• A low-ego approach to engineering: open to feedback, willing to challenge your own assumptions, and more interested in finding the right solution than being right.

Backgrounds in early-stage startups, founding engineering teams, or forward-deployed engineering can be particularly valuable, especially where you've had to operate independently, take ownership across multiple areas, and work directly with customers or external partners.

Our Engineering Environment & Tech Stack

AI-First Development: AI is central to how we build software at Apostra. Our engineers actively leverage AI coding agents and development tools throughout the software development lifecycle, from exploring unfamiliar codebases and designing solutions to writing, testing, debugging, and iterating on production code. We're looking for engineers who are enthusiastic about pushing the boundaries of what's possible with AI-assisted development and continuously evolving how they work.

Core Technologies:

• Backend & APIs: TypeScript/Node.js, REST and event-driven services
• Frontend: React
• Agent Interfaces: MCP servers and A2A protocol handlers
• Data: PostgreSQL, BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Redis
• Infrastructure: GCP, AWS

We're interested in engineers who understand systems, think critically about technical problems, and know how to leverage AI to build effectively. Deep familiarity with every technology in our stack is less important than strong engineering fundamentals, adaptability, and the ability to learn quickly.

Leveling & Growth

We're hiring at the Senior Software Engineer level, with flexibility to consider candidates whose experience and technical capabilities warrant a broader scope of responsibility.

At Apostra, we value demonstrated impact, ownership, and technical ability over titles alone. For an exceptional candidate, there may be an opportunity to grow into Staff-level responsibilities, taking on greater technical ownership and influence as the company and engineering organization evolve.

We're most interested in what you can build, how you approach difficult problems, and how you contribute to the success of a small, highly collaborative engineering team.

Compensation

The salary range for this role is $160k-$210k USD, $160k-$215k CAD.

These ranges span multiple location-based salary bands across the US and Canada. Candidates are aligned to a narrower range based on geographic market compensation data specific to where they live, and final offers reflect demonstrated skills, experience, and role expectations.

Benefits & Perks

Details vary by location (USA/Canada), but all employees receive:

• Health & wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage with significant employer contribution; short- and long-term disability coverage; health savings/flexible spending options
• Retirement: Employer-matched retirement savings plan (401(k) or RRSP)
• Time off: Generous paid time off, statutory holidays, and year-end office closure
• Parental leave: 13 weeks fully paid (eligibility requirements apply)
• Remote work: Company-provided home office equipment, setup stipend, and access to WeWork spaces
• Equity: Stock options

Application Requirements

• As part of our application process, candidates must provide a LinkedIn profile that includes a clear, identifiable photograph of themselves. Because we receive a high volume of applications for fully remote positions, we use publicly available professional profiles as one part of our candidate identity and experience verification process. Applications without a verifiable LinkedIn profile and identifiable profile photo will not be considered. Please ensure your LinkedIn profile URL is included and that your profile is accessible to our recruiting team before applying.
• Although Apostra has a global team, this position is limited to candidates authorized to work in the United States or Canada. We are unable to provide employer-sponsored work authorization now or in the future.