Otter.ai

Software Engineer, Backend (New Grad)

Otter.ai$136K — $164K *
Information Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science or related field
  • Recent graduate or up to 1 year of software development experience
  • Proficient in Python and modern web stack (APIs, data systems, async workflows)
  • User-focused mindset with an emphasis on product outcomes
  • Interest in working with AI and LLM systems
  • Strong collaborative skills across product, design, and AI teams
  • Ability to navigate ambiguous and fast-paced work environments

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement AI-native product features
  • Continuously improve output quality through iterative feedback and experimentation
  • Translate product requirements into AI systems orchestration
  • Make tradeoffs across latency, cost, reliability, and output quality
  • Rapidly prototype and ship using AI-assisted development tools
  • Develop scalable backend systems that support AI-driven product experiences

Benefits

  • Flexible work environment with hybrid options
  • Opportunities for rapid prototyping and iteration
  • Collaborative teamwork across diverse disciplines
  • Exposure to cutting-edge AI technologies and tools
  • Continuous learning and professional development opportunities
Full Job Description
The Opportunity

We're building the next generation of AI-native product experiences, where conversations turn directly into outcomes. As a Software Engineer on our Product teams, you'll work at the intersection of product, AI, and systems to shape how users interact with intelligence in real workflows.

You'll work across the full lifecycle of AI-driven features, from data ingestion and model orchestration to output structuring and delivery into user-facing product surfaces. This role requires balancing product thinking with systems design, ensuring that AI outputs are not only intelligent, but also reliable, performant, and aligned with real user needs.

You'll partner closely with product, design, and AI teams to rapidly prototype, ship, and iterate on experiences like summaries, action items, and intelligent workflows - turning raw model output into high-quality product features.

Your Impact
  • Build AI-native product experiences end-to-endDesign and implement features that transform model output into structured, actionable user value-such as summaries, action items, and intelligent workflows.
  • Own the product quality loopContinuously improve output quality by iterating on prompts, data flows, and backend logic, using real user feedback, evaluations, and experimentation.
  • Bridge product and AI systemsTranslate product requirements into systems that orchestrate LLMs, retrieval, and structured data-shaping how intelligence behaves in production, not just integrating it.
  • Design for real-world constraintsMake deliberate tradeoffs across latency, cost, reliability, and output quality to deliver fast, trustworthy experiences at scale.
  • Prototype and ship at high velocity using AI-assisted developmentLeverage state-of-the-art tools (e.g., coding copilots, LLM-driven workflows) to move quickly from idea to production while maintaining high engineering quality.
  • Build clean, scalable backend systemsDevelop services in Python (e.g., Django) that support dynamic, AI-driven product experiences and evolving system requirements.

We're looking for someone who
  • Has a bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science or a related field
  • Is a recent grad or has up to 1 year of experience building software, with a growing sense of how backend decisions impact user experience
  • Writes clean, maintainable code (Python preferred) and is comfortable working across a modern web stack (APIs, data systems, async workflows)
  • Thinks in terms of product outcomes, not just technical implementation - cares about whether what they build is actually useful to users
  • Is excited about working with AI/LLM-powered systems, and is interested in shaping their behavior in real-world applications
  • Takes ownership of problems end-to-end and collaborates well across product, design, and AI disciplines
  • Is comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and can iterate quickly on both product and technical direction

Nice to haves
  • Any experience (including coursework, projects, or internships) building or experimenting with LLM-powered features (prompting, evaluation, RAG, etc.)
  • Prior internship or project experience building product-facing systems

Salary range

Salary Range: $136,000 to $164,500 USD per year.

This salary range represents the low and high end of the estimated salary range for this position. The actual base salary offered for the role is dependent on several factors. Our base salary is just one component of a comprehensive total rewards package.

#LI-Hybrid

About Otter.ai

Otter.ai is an AI-powered transcription service that uses machine learning algorithms to transcribe audio and video recordings. The platform is used by businesses, journalists, and other professionals to transcribe interviews, meetings, and other recordings. Otter.ai's platform is designed to be easy to use and offers a range of features, including real-time transcription and collaboration tools.
Learn more about Otter.ai
Size
100 employees
Industry

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