What are the responsibilities and job description for the Principal Staff Software Engineer position at Harnham?
Staff / Principal Engineer (GenAI / Full-Stack)
Oakland, CA (Hybrid – 3 days/week)
Compensation
- Base salary: $280,000 – $350,000 (flexible up to $400,000 for exceptional candidates)
- Bonus included in total compensation
- Equity included
The Opportunity
We’re looking for a Staff or Principal Engineer to join a high-impact, product-driven environment building next-generation AI-powered systems.
This is a hands-on, end-to-end engineering role where you’ll design architecture, write production code, and validate new ideas from the ground up. You’ll work directly with senior leadership in a lean, high-performing team, with significant influence over product and technical direction.
This is a rare opportunity to operate as a founding-level engineer, building systems from scratch while helping scale a platform with millions of engaged users.
What You’ll Be Doing
GenAI & Intelligent Systems
- Build agentic workflows and AI-powered systems using large language models
- Develop solutions leveraging structured and unstructured datasets
- Design systems that drive personalization, insights, and automation
Product & System Development
- Architect and build end-to-end features across backend and frontend
- Rapidly prototype, test, and validate new product ideas
- Translate ambiguous problems into scalable solutions
Growth & Commercial Systems
- Build systems focused on user engagement, personalization, and growth
- Develop data-driven insights into user behavior and interactions
- Support monetization and targeting capabilities through intelligent systems
Collaboration
- Work cross-functionally with product, design, and leadership teams
- Collaborate with a distributed engineering team across time zones
Tech Stack
- Backend: Python (Django preferred)
- Frontend: React
- Cloud: AWS
- Database: PostgreSQL
- AI/ML: OpenAI, LLMs, agentic systems
What We’re Looking For
- 8–12 years of software engineering experience
- Strong backend expertise in Python (Django or similar frameworks)
- Experience building full-stack applications (React)
- Deep understanding of system design and scalable architecture
- Hands-on experience with AWS or cloud infrastructure
- Exposure to LLMs, generative AI, or AI-driven systems
Ideal Profile
- Builder mindset: thrives in 0→1 or early-stage environments
- Comfortable operating in lean teams with high ownership
- Strong problem solver who can go deep technically and think strategically
- Experience working with large datasets or knowledge systems
- Bonus: exposure to healthcare, life sciences, or regulated data environments
Why This Role?
- Direct partnership with executive leadership
- Opportunity to build from scratch and shape product direction
- High-impact role in a fast-growing, profitable business
- Strong compensation and meaningful equity
- Work on cutting-edge AI applications with real-world impact
Salary : $200,000 - $400,000