Exa
AI & Machine LearningDirect Ashby career site

Software Engineer, Backend

Location
San Francisco, CA · On-site
Job type
Full-time
Level
Mid-level
Listed
30 days ago

Skills & highlights for this role

  • high throughput low latency systems
  • data processing pipelines
  • performance optimization

Also useful

  • C++
  • Rust
  • vector databases

Stated benefits & perks

  • Health
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Parental leave
  • Wellness stipend

Desired Experience

  • You have experience writing and maintaining high throughput, low latency systems
  • You can build data processing pipelines that deal with millions of documents per day
  • You’re comfortable optimizing a system to an exceptional degree
  • You care about the problem of finding high quality information and recognize how important this is for the world
  • Plus: Experience in some high performance language (C++, Rust, etc.)

Example Projects

  • Recreate Google-level keyword search over 10 billion pages in 1 month
  • Build a state-of-the-art crawling system that works optimally for any website
  • Build a custom vector database that runs over a billion vectors in under 100ms

Logistics

  • Location: This is an in-person opportunity in San Francisco.
  • Visas: We're happy to sponsor international candidates (e.g., STEM OPT, OPT, H1B, O1, E3). While we cannot guarantee your visa, we have historically been successful in sponsoring candidates from all over the world. If you receive an offer, our team will work hard to get you a visa.
  • Benefits: We offer premium healthcare benefits (medical, dental, vision), fertility benefits, 16 weeks of fully paid parental leave for all new parents, and a monthly wellness stipend to all of our employees.

About Exa

Exa is an applied AI lab building a search engine unlike the world has ever seen. We build massive-scale infra to crawl the entire web, train state-of-the-art embedding models to process it, and design super high performant vector databases to retrieve over it. We now power search for Cursor, Cognition, HubSpot, and over 400,000 developers and have raised $350m from Lightspeed, Benchmark, and a16z.

Our ultimate goal is to build perfect search over all the world's information, far beyond Google. If you want to build massive-scale ML systems that will define the way the new AI world consumes information, this is the place for you.

As a backend engineer, you'd play a critical role in our search architecture. We're pretty flexible on what projects people work on based on their skills and interests.

Equal opportunity and legal notices

Exa is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, creed, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy or related conditions, criminal histories consistent with applicable law, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

Read the original posting

From Exa's careers page, first listed on Rolev.ai on October 10, 2026. Rolev.ai is not the employer.

How Rolev.ai helps with this application

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Common questions

Where is the Software Engineer, Backend job at Exa located?

This Software Engineer, Backend position at Exa is located in San Francisco, CA (On-site). Always check Exa's application page for specific state eligibility or relocation policies.

What qualifications are required for Software Engineer, Backend at Exa?

For the Software Engineer, Backend role, Exa highlights experience with high throughput low latency systems, data processing pipelines, performance optimization. Rolev.ai can score your existing resume against these requirements and show any skill gaps before you apply.

How do I apply for the Software Engineer, Backend position at Exa?

This listing links directly to Exa's Ashby application page. You can apply directly on Exa's site, or use Rolev.ai to check your resume fit, generate a zero-hallucination tailored resume and cover letter for this posting, and autofill the Ashby application form in 1 click with the Rolev.ai Chrome extension. You always review the form and press Submit yourself.

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