--- title: Senior Software Engineer Backend Systems description: Distributed Spectrum is hiring for the Senior Software Engineer Backend Systems role in New York, NY. See the full description and apply. type: job url: https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/senior-software-engineer-backend-systems-at-distributed-spectrum-01a1121e-8a55-744c-b73f-aee1947791f5 date: 2026-11-15T17:42:40Z og_description: Join Distributed Spectrum as Senior Software Engineer Backend Systems in New York, NY. Pays $180K–$220K per year. og_image: https://www.foundrole.com/og/b5d90p.png breadcrumbs: - label: Home url: https://www.foundrole.com/ - label: Search url: https://www.foundrole.com/jobs --- | | | |---|---| | **Company** | Distributed Spectrum | | **Location** | New York, NY | | **Salary** | $180K/yr - $220K/yr | | **Type** | Full Time | | **Posted** | Oct 06, 2026 | ## Is this job real? **Ghost job check:** A- · Low risk. Probably a real opening. ## Visa sponsorship - **H-1B:** No H-1B sponsorship on record for Distributed Spectrum. - **E-Verify:** No E-Verify enrollment on record for Distributed Spectrum. ## Pay for similar jobs Most similar jobs pay $100,000 – $174,000 a year (median $143,000). ## Description DS creates systems that power the next generation of radio spectrum intelligence. We collect radio data from all over the world, train neural networks to decipher it, and run them on the smallest chips we can. We’re solving a new, technically hard problem where nothing from other fields works out of the box, and along the way, we’ve built our own stack from scratch, including entirely new embedding model architectures, custom GPU kernels, and much more. Joining DS means owning major parts of a fast-growing AI research organization, joining a collaborative, talent-dense team with decades of experience in probabilistic ML, accelerated computing, embedded systems, and signal theory, and growing your career in the areas that interest you. You’ll fit in if you want to come to work for the problem itself and don’t want to choose between technical rigor, business value, and real-world impact. We work with high ownership and trust. ## **The Role** We're hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to design and build the services that sit at the heart of the Distributed Spectrum platform: the systems that ingest spectrum data, orchestrate ML inference, and increasingly, power autonomous agents that reason over what our sensors see. You'll define how our backend evolves from a set of services into an agent-native system — one where models, tools, and workflows are first-class citizens of the architecture rather than bolted-on integrations. This is a high-ownership role. You'll set technical direction, make architecture decisions that stick for years, and mentor engineers around you. ## **What you'll do** - Design, build, and operate backend services that are reliable, observable, and built to scale with our sensor fleet and customer base. - Architect the agent layer of our platform: tool-calling interfaces, orchestration, state management, memory, and evaluation harnesses for LLM- and model-driven agents. - Own the ML inference architecture — model serving, batching, GPU/CPU scheduling, latency and cost optimization, and the APIs that expose inference to the rest of the system. - Define service boundaries, data contracts, and API standards across the backend. - Build for production: instrumentation, alerting, graceful degradation, and clear runbooks. - Partner closely with ML researchers to move models from experiment to production quickly and safely. - Lead design reviews, mentor engineers, and raise the bar on code quality and engineering practice. ## **What we're looking for** - 4–6+ years of professional software engineering experience, with significant time spent building and running backend / distributed systems in production. - Strong proficiency in at least one of Python, Go, Rust, or a similar systems-capable language; comfort moving between languages. - Hands-on experience with AWS or another major cloud provider (GCP, Azure) — compute, networking, storage, IAM, and managed data services. - Experience building or integrating LLM / agent systems: tool use, orchestration frameworks, RAG, evaluation, or comparable work. - Experience serving ML models in production (e.g., Triton, TorchServe, vLLM, custom serving) and reasoning about throughput, latency, and cost. - Deep understanding of APIs (REST / gRPC), async processing, message queues / streaming (Kafka, SQS, Kinesis, etc.), and data consistency trade-offs. - Track record of owning systems end to end and making architecture decisions with long-lived consequences. ## **Nice to have** - Experience with containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes, ECS). - Background in signal processing, RF, geospatial, or other high-volume time-series domains. - Experience with GPU programming or accelerated computing. - Familiarity with regulated or defense-adjacent environments and their security expectations. ## **Who Thrives at Distributed Spectrum** - *Fast learners over specific backgrounds* – We care more about how quickly you can pick up new skills than where you’ve worked before. - *Intellectual honesty* – The right answer matters more than being right. You challenge assumptions, test ideas, and pivot when needed. - *Adaptability* – We’re organized, but sometimes things change quickly. You find a way to make it work and balance short-term deliverables with long-term goals. - *Ownership of outcomes* – You optimize your own time, focus on what matters to deliver quickly, and cut out inefficiencies. - *Not building in a vacuum* – You stay connected to the rest of our teams and our customers to make sure all the pieces fit together. ## **What We Offer** - Above-market salary, equity, and benefits package. - Early Series A Equity - Excellent health, dental, and vision coverage - 401(k) match - up to 4% of your salary - Flexible PTO - Daily office lunches in NYC ## **ITAR Requirements** To conform to U.S. Government technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR [here](https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_kb_article_page&sys_id=24d528fddbfc930044f9ff621f961987). ## Skills - gRPC - Cloud Computing - Signal Processing - Balance Sheet - ITAR Compliance - Amazon Web Services - GPU Computing - Go - CPU/Processor Architecture - Message Queues - NVIDIA Triton Inference Server - Time Series - Amazon Kinesis - Python - Code Quality - Docker - Artificial Intelligence - State Management - Microsoft Azure - Kubernetes - Retrieval-Augmented Generation (Rag) - Apache Kafka - Graceful Degradation - TorchServe - Embedded Systems - Machine Learning Inference - Runbook Development - Amazon SQS - Identity And Access Management - GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) - Large Language Models (Llm) - Data Contracts - Google Cloud Platform (Gcp) - Tool Calling - Design Review - Rust - Cost Reduction - Asynchronous Programming - Export Control Compliance - Geospatial Analysis - Machine Learning - Model Serving - Adaptability - vLLM - Amazon Elastic Container Service - Distributed Systems ## Benefits - Health Insurance - Dental Insurance - Vision Insurance - Paid Time Off (Pto) - 401(k) Plans ## Related - [Technology & Software jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/careers/technology-and-software?utm_source=ai_markdown)- [Software Development jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/careers/technology-and-software/software-development?utm_source=ai_markdown)- [Software Developer / Engineer jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/careers/technology-and-software/software-development/software-developer-engineer?utm_source=ai_markdown)- [Browse all companies](https://www.foundrole.com/companies?utm_source=ai_markdown) ## Explore this job market - [New York](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us/new-york?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 149918 jobs - [New York, NY](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us/new-york/new-york?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 65923 jobs - [Defense and Space](https://www.foundrole.com/sectors/aerospace-and-defense/defense-and-space?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 61184 jobs ## Related pages - [New York](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us/new-york?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 149918 jobs - [New York, NY](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us/new-york/new-york?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 65923 jobs - [Defense and Space](https://www.foundrole.com/sectors/aerospace-and-defense/defense-and-space?utm_source=ai_markdown) — 61184 jobs ## Browse - [Companies](https://www.foundrole.com/companies?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [Jobs by country](https://www.foundrole.com/locations?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [Jobs in the United States by state and city](https://www.foundrole.com/locations/us?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [H1B sponsors by location](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-sponsors?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [H1B salaries](https://www.foundrole.com/h1b-salaries?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [Sectors and industries](https://www.foundrole.com/sectors?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [Jobs by career field](https://www.foundrole.com/careers?utm_source=ai_markdown) - [Latest jobs](https://www.foundrole.com/jobs/latest?utm_source=ai_markdown)