Software Engineer, Control Plane (Senior/Principal)

The posting, as Positron wrote it

About Positron AI
Positron AI specializes in developing custom hardware systems to accelerate AI inference. These inference systems offer significant performance and efficiency gains over traditional GPU-based systems, delivering advantages in both performance per dollar and performance per watt. Positron AI exists to create the world's best AI inference systems.

Role Overview
We are looking for a Senior or Principal Software Engineer to contribute to control-plane architecture and hands-on development for Positron AI inference systems. You will write software that connects low-level hardware capabilities to system management, diagnostics, security, and firmware updates. Go is our primary implementation language, with C, C++, Python, Bash, and other languages used where they fit the system boundary.
This role can fit a senior/principal software engineer or systems architect who remains a strong, current coder and wants ownership grounded in production implementation. You will set technical direction, define stable secure interfaces, and write, review, profile, and debug production code alongside the team.
The scope spans a wide swath of the platform. You will own substantial features end to end, from problem definition and architecture through implementation, integration, testing, and production validation.

Key Responsibilities
Platform Architecture and Implementation

• Contribute to the architecture and evolution of the system management services and APIs that control hardware state, resources, diagnostics, updates, and workloads.
• Design, write, and review production Go, reaching for C, C++, Python, or Bash at the boundaries where they are the right tools.
• Work across the full stack, from web applications and management APIs through Linux services, hardware interfaces, and low-level protocols.
• Refactor critical subsystems to improve modularity, testability, and fault isolation, and to support future hardware generations.
• Define stable interfaces and data models for orchestration, diagnostics, management tooling, and customer-facing workflows.

Hardware and System Integration

• Partner with internal and external hardware, firmware, and systems engineers to turn low-level capabilities into reliable platform services.
• Debug failures at the board and system level across CPU, memory, drives, USB, I2C, SMBus, PCIe, and in-system accelerators, including FPGAs.
• Build safe control paths for reboot state, accelerator reset and recovery, hardware health, and resource allocation.
• Integrate management-controller capabilities, hardware counters, and telemetry into platform APIs and operational workflows.

Diagnostics, Observability, and Reliability

• Expose diagnostics through platform APIs with persistent results, searchable reporting, and periodic archiving.
• Build comprehensive metrics, logs, and alerts with configurable sinks, including OpenTelemetry-compatible systems.
• Integrate external health probes so failed hardwar

[…]
hitecture and implement critical production code in the same role.

• Work across hardware, firmware, systems software, orchestration, and security with direct influence on the product.

Compensation & Benefits
The base salary range for this role is Senior: $170,000 – $250,000, Principal: $250,000 - $325,000.

Please note that the figures provided represent the base salary range only and do not include other elements of our total compensation package, equity, or comprehensive benefits.

At Positron AI, we value the unique expertise each candidate brings. While the range above reflects our typical expectation for the position, we reserve the flexibility to exceed this range for candidates whose specialized skills, significant experience, or unique qualifications fall outside the standard scope of the role. Final offers are determined based on a variety of factors, including internal equity, and individual impact.
Benefits & Perks
We want you to do your best work and feel confident that you and your family are taken care of. That means comprehensive coverage, real time to rest, and support for your future.
Health and wellness

• Fully company-paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents.
• Company-paid life and disability coverage, with voluntary options to add more.
• Supplemental hospital, critical illness, and accident coverage available.

Time off and flexibility

• Unlimited paid time off, so you can truly unplug and recharge.
• 13 paid company holidays.
• A company-provided computer.

Compensation and future

• Competitive salary and equity.
• 401(k) with company matching, eligible from day one.

Visa Support
This position is open to candidates currently authorized to work in the U.S. We cannot provide new visa sponsorship for this role but are open to facilitating H-1B visa transfers for eligible candidates.

Equal Opportunity Employer. If you're excited about the role but don't meet every bullet, we'd still love to hear from you.