[Hiring] Staff Software Engineer, Platform @Cake

Role Description

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will play a critical leadership role in building and operating the infrastructure that powers Cake’s AI platform. This is a high-ownership role for an engineer who thrives at the intersection of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and developer experience.

You’ll design and operate the ML platform foundations that both internal teams and customers rely on, owning systems end-to-end from architecture to production. You’ll work closely with customers to translate real-world ML use cases into reliable, scalable platform capabilities.

This role is ideal for someone who wants to be a technical owner, not just an implementer, someone who cares deeply about system quality, operational excellence, and clear communication.

• Build Enterprise-Scale Infrastructure
  • Leverage infrastructure-as-code to manage complex cloud environments supporting critical ML and AI initiatives.
  • Design Kubernetes-native systems, including controllers/operators where appropriate.
  • Improve platform networking, security, and observability.
• Sustain Platform Health and Performance
  • Own critical systems in production, including reliability, scalability, security, and cost efficiency.
  • Identify and proactively address technical debt, operational risk, and platform bottlenecks.
  • “Learn by doing” — Quickly ramp up to a complex tech stack (Terraform, Kubernetes, Istio, Crossplane, Go, TypeScript).
• Enable Teams and Customers to Move Faster
  • Create abstractions and tooling that make it easier for teams and customers to deploy, run, and scale AI/ML workloads.
  • Collaborate directly with customers to understand their ML infrastructure challenges and translate them into platform improvements.
  • Balance speed and rigor—shipping quickly while maintaining a high bar for quality and safety.
• Lead Through Influence
  • Act as a technical leader and mentor across the engineering organization.
  • Write clear documentation and design proposals that align stakeholders and drive decisions.
  • Partner closely with product and leadership to shape platform direction and priorities.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience, with significant time spent on infrastructure, platform, or distributed systems.
• Deep hands-on experience with Kubernetes in production environments.
• Strong cloud experience across AWS, GCP, and/or Azure.
• Proven track record of building and operating secure, scalable AI/MLOps platforms.
• Deep understanding of infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi, CDK).
• Strong programming skills in at least one backend language (Go preferred; TypeScript also welcome).
• Experience diagnosing and debugging complex production issues.
• Familiarity with modern CI/CD, test-driven development, and DevSecOps practices.
• Bonus: experience building Kubernetes operators and/or working with service meshes (e.g., Istio).
• Comfortable owning large, ambiguous problems from inception to production.
• Excellent communicator, able to clearly explain complex systems to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience working directly with customers and incorporating feedback into technical decisions.
• Ability to operate autonomously while keeping stakeholders informed and aligned.
• Customer-first and product-oriented.
• Curious, adaptable, and eager to learn new systems and domains.
• Collaborative, respectful, and willing to lean into hard conversations.
• Energized by fast-paced environments and meaningful responsibility.

Benefits

• Competitive cash compensation alongside above-market equity upside.
• Top-tier fully covered medical, dental, and vision insurance.
• Life insurance.
• 401k program.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Monthly half day.
• Citi Bike membership.
• Monthly wellness stipend.
• Office equipment stipend, including reimbursement for approved disability-related accommodations.
• Investment in employee learning and growth opportunities.