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From the employer's careers site First seen 24 Oct 2026 · Still live on 31 Oct 2026

Founding Software Engineer

Navi San Francisco On-site senior full-time

The employer hasn't listed a salary.

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Description

You're building the platform that makes Navi happen. This is a founding engineering role. You'll own entire systems end to end , the backend and data pipelines that power Navi's AI, the interfaces instructors and squadron commanders depend on daily, the architecture decisions that take this company from startup to aviation standard.

Responsibilities

  • Build and scale the backend and data infrastructure that powers Navi's AI platform
  • Work directly with pilots, instructors, and military operators to build tools that work in the cockpit and the classroom
  • Integrate flight dynamics, telemetry, and cockpit audio into intelligent debrief and training systems
  • Make the architecture calls that define how Navi scales , the frameworks, the infrastructure, the technical bets
  • Ship code that goes live in aircraft , then iterate on real operator feedback, not hypotheticals
  • Interface with engineers across the entire stack from hardware integration to AI/ML to frontend.

Requirements

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a track record of designing, building, and operating complex systems in production
  • Demonstrated ability to lead projects end to end , from scoping and technical design through implementation, launch, and iteration , with minimal direction
  • Deep expertise in at least one core area (backend systems, distributed infrastructure, data engineering, or full-stack development) and working fluency across others
  • Experience designing systems for scale, reliability, and performance , you've made meaningful architectural decisions and lived with the consequences
  • Strong engineering judgment: you know when to build, when to buy, and when to cut scope. You make pragmatic tradeoffs under real constraints
  • History of raising the bar for teams around you , through code reviews, technical mentorship, establishing best practices, or driving engineering culture
  • Comfortable operating in ambiguity and moving fast without sacrificing quality. You've shipped in environments where the roadmap wasn't fully defined
  • Experience with modern data pipelines, real-time systems, or AI/ML integration
  • You've built something from zero , a product, a startup, a system that people actually used
  • Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS), CI/CD, containerization, and modern deployment tooling
  • Comfortable working directly with non-technical users and translating operator needs into engineering decisions

Nice to Have

  • Familiarity with aviation systems, avionics data formats, or defense technology environments

Benefits

  • Early-stage equity , real ownership in a category-defining company
  • Flight training , earn your pilot's license and build with true domain expertise
  • Impact you can see , your work will be used by pilots, flight schools, airlines, and the U.S. Air Force
  • A role that scales into technical leadership as we grow

Skills

Required

  • backend systems
  • distributed infrastructure
  • data engineering
  • full-stack development
  • cloud infrastructure (AWS)
  • CI/CD
  • containerization
  • modern deployment tooling
  • AI/ML integration
  • real-time systems

Nice to have

  • aviation systems
  • avionics data formats
  • defense technology environments

Ready to apply?

You apply with the employer directly. Their original posting is here: https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/navi/cc6d60fb-bff3-42bf-90ac-7c00f4cee87c

Apply on Navi