About the job
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to work on the runtime systems of a novel search engine tailored for agentic AI consumption.
In this role, you will focus on building low-latency, high-throughput systems that serve search queries in real time. You will work on the critical path of user-facing requests, where performance, predictability, and efficiency directly impact product quality. You will design and operate systems that handle thousands of requests per second under strict latency budgets, optimising every layer from request handling to data access and response assembly.
Responsibilities
Design, implement, and operate core runtime services for serving search queries at scale
Build and optimise request flows, including query processing, retrieval orchestration, and response assembly under strict latency budgets
Develop systems that maintain performance and predictability under high load
Optimise CPU, memory, and data access patterns in performance-critical paths
Ensure reliability, observability, and predictability across production services
Build well-tested systems with clear responsibilities and interaction contracts, while remaining flexible as architecture evolves
Define and implement observability primitives, including structured logs, metrics, traces, and latency breakdowns
Monitor throughput, latency, and resource usage, and drive improvements in performance and cost efficiency
Collaborate with indexing and ML teams to integrate retrieval and ranking components, keeping ML logic decoupled from core system internals
Support experimentation and iteration through controlled rollouts and rigorous benchmarking
Qualifications
Minimum
Have 5+ years of experience as a software engineer working on production backend systems
Have strong hands-on expertise in C++ or Rust in real-world, high-load services
Have built and operated high-load, low-latency user-facing systems handling thousands of RPS under strict latency constraints
Understand performance at a systems level — CPU, memory, networking, and data access
Have operated your own code in production: deployed it, debugged incidents, and rolled back changes when necessary
Think end-to-end about request flows rather than staying within isolated components
Can balance correctness, latency, and development velocity, making pragmatic tradeoffs when scope or time requires
Collaborate effectively across engineering, ML, and product teams, communicating clearly in cross-functional settings
Preferred
DBMS internals (open source or SaaS) and cloud infrastructure
High-load web applications or large-scale APIs
Performance-critical systems such as trading platforms or real-time data pipelines
Low-level performance tuning and hardware-level optimisation
Open-source contributions or active involvement in the engineering community
Competitive programming or CTF participation
SHAD or similar advanced technical programmes
Conference talks or technical publications