Senior Product Engineer, Discourse Graphs

Required

• You are drawn to the problem of how research gets documented, connected and built upon, and you have built software that people chose to use. You like going from a conversation with a user to something they can click on within days, with enough design sense to make it pleasant without waiting for a mockup. You use AI coding tools every day and take responsibility for what lands in the repo. You're likely to do well in this role if you have:
• A record of shipping user-facing products from early prototype to something people rely on
• Fluency in TypeScript and a modern front-end stack, and comfort moving between the interface, the data layer and the APIs that join them
• Experience building with large language models, such as agent tools, MCP servers or retrieval over structured data
• A habit of talking with users, and of working alongside designers and other engineers rather than handing work over
• Experience with knowledge graphs, research software or a scientific field will help, though none of it is required.
• The post is full-time for 12 to 14 months, either as a temporary employee of the Astera Institute or on contract at the same annual rate. It is fixed-term because our funding is, and we will be open about where the funding stands for as long as you are with us. It is fully remote, with some overlap with North American working hours, and you can also work in person at Astera in Emeryville, California. Everything you build is open source. We'd like you to start as soon as you can. Pay is $120,000 to $215,000 a year, depending on location and experience. We also offer:
• A flexible approach to working hours and remote working
• Astera-sponsored health, vision and dental benefits for employees
• Onboarding help from peer product teams
• We are an equal opportunity employer and are invested in fostering a culture where everyone can thrive. We are committed to equity and inclusion, and we encourage women, people of color, LGBTQIA individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, foreign-born residents, older members of society, and others from minority communities and diverse backgrounds to apply.
• We start with a 30-minute call to get to know each other, with the last ten minutes for your questions. Next is a working session of up to 90 minutes with two of us, building on a real piece of our product, in place of a take-home task. After that you'll talk with the founders about which of the new uses you would build first and how you'd know it was working, and finally we'll ask for two references, from an engineer and from a designer or product manager you have worked with.