Staff Software Engineer

We are looking for a product-driven Staff Software Engineer to join our team as we build a new software product for the maritime transport industry. Our Wayfinder product runs on board the largest shipping vessels in the world, providing critical decision making context for sea captains as they navigate the world's oceans.

You’ll need a deep understanding of our customers, their workflows, and critical data they need to operate. You will collaborate with a top-notch team of engineers, ocean scientists and product designers to translate these user needs into high quality software that empowers our users with data to get their work done more efficiently.

Our tech stack includes Typescript and React on the frontend with backend APIs written using Typescript, Express, & Postgres, along with some data processing services written in Python. You will own features across the stack and should be comfortable architecting solutions from data storage layer to UIs. You’ll also help work across Sofar’s software engineering teams to simplify our stack and build for the future.

• Passionate about building a product with a positive impact on the world

• Passionate about the craft of software engineering. Loves making beautiful, functional interfaces for humans

• 8+ years experience of professional software development experience.

• Significant professional experience with modern Typescript and React

• Curious and experimental in the face of rapid tech change like LLM’s

• Comfortable building in the frontend and backend

• Owns the full lifecycle of features from conception, development, testing, release, & adoption

• Clear communicator who enjoys collaborating with other engineers, designers, PMs, and scientists

• Can rapidly acquire new technical skills and knowledge in a fast-paced, high-delivery environment

• Excited to be be a part of a small but growing startup team

• Enjoy mentoring & growing engineers earlier in their technical careers

• $175,000 - $222,000

• The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.

At Sofar, we use AI tools in our day-to-day work, and we don't expect our hiring process to be any different. Here's how we think about it:

Applying: Write your own first draft — we want to hear your voice and understand your real experience. AI is fine for refining and polishing, not for generating your story.

Take-home assessments: Complete these on your own unless we've explicitly said otherwise. We'll always be upfront about it when AI is allowed.

Interview prep: Go for it. Use AI to research Sofar, practice your responses, and sharpen your thinking before we meet.

During interviews: This is you. We're a small team and we move fast — live conversations are how we get to know you, and we're genuinely curious how you think in real time.

A note on transparency: We're a lean People team, and we use AI to help with things like drafting job descriptions, preparing interview questions, and candidate communications. We don't use it to make hiring decisions — those are always ours.

The through line: use AI to show more of yourself, not less :)

Hybrid work: We're a hands-on team building hardware and software that operates in the real world — so being together matters. We ask that most team members are in office at least 70% of the time, though some roles (like field technicians or hardware engineering) may require more. Fully remote roles are designated as such in the job posting.

Visa sponsorship: We do sponsor visas and retain an immigration lawyer to support the process. While we can't guarantee sponsorship for every role or situation, if we make you an offer, we'll make every reasonable effort to make it work.

A note on applying: We mean it when we say we want the strongest people — not the most credentialed ones. If you're excited about this work but don't check every box, please apply anyway. Research consistently shows that underrepresented candidates are more likely to self-select out, and that's a loss for everyone. Sofar operates at the intersection of ocean science, climate, and technology — the problems we're solving are consequential, and the perspectives we bring to them matter. We're actively working to build a team that reflects that.

We at Sofar Ocean acknowledge that careers in the marine sciences “... have traditionally been, and remain, non-diverse work environments”, thereby limiting the entry and prosperity of underrepresented groups in the space. (Johri et al., 2021) Many of these same groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, and are often excluded from decision-making that directly address their interests and needs.

We are committed to addressing these climate injustices and highly encourage people who identify as women, LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to apply.