Principal Software Engineer

About Antler

Antler backs the world's most ambitious founders from the very start. Founded on the belief that innovation is the key to building a better future, we partner with people across six continents to launch and scale high-potential startups that address meaningful opportunities and challenges. Knowing that exceptional founders can come from anywhere with any background, we have offices in more than 25 cities, including New York, London, Berlin, Stockholm, Bangalore, Singapore, Seoul, and Sydney.

Our global community supports founders on deep business model validation, initial capital, expansion support, and follow-on funding. Fueled by a personal passion that goes beyond traditional investing, we have helped create and invested in more than 1,500 startups across a wide range of industries and technologies.

A better future won't happen automatically—the world needs talented, determined, and resilient people to build it. Antler team members are part of an ambitious global community dedicated to helping the most driven founders move the world forward.

The tech team is headquartered in Sydney but works with stakeholders across every fund globally. We're a small, high-impact team building the systems that power Antler's operations.

The Role

This is an individual contributor role. You won't be managing people—you'll be shipping code alongside other senior ICs who operate the same way.

We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer to design and build AI-powered systems that automate high-value workflows across the firm. You'll own the data infrastructure and agentic systems that sit at the core of our operations—integrating diverse data sources, building the knowledge layer that makes AI actually useful, and shipping production systems that deliver real commercial outcomes.

We are an AI-first team. You'll use AI-assisted development tools like Claude Code as the primary part of your workflow, and you'll be building systems where AI is the product—not just a coding assistant.

Our tech stack is React, Node.js, Express.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, TypeORM and Cloud Functions, hosted on GCP and Vercel.

What You'll Work On

AI Systems & Agentic Architecture

• Design and build AI-powered systems that automate complex, multi-step workflows
• Architect the data and knowledge layer that makes agentic AI actually work—not just a wrapper around an LLM
• Build systems that integrate LLM capabilities with real-time data, business logic, and human-in-the-loop workflows
• Own the full lifecycle: from prototype to production deployment to iteration based on real usage

Data Infrastructure & Integrations

• Integrate diverse data sources into a unified intelligence layer
• Build data pipelines that surface actionable insights for investment and operations teams
• Design systems for cross-fund data access, deduplication, and entity resolution

What We're Looking For

Experience

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time in senior or principal-level IC roles
• Experience building systems that integrate LLMs or AI capabilities into production applications
• Strong track record designing data pipelines, integrations, and backend systems
• Proficiency in Python or TypeScript/Node; hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure (GCP preferred)
• You use AI to write most of your code now, and you understand both how to get the most out of it and where the current limitations are

Attitude

• You don't wait for permission or perfect specs—you identify problems, propose solutions, and execute
• You've built things outside of work: side projects, open source, automations—anything that shows you're compelled to create
• You take ownership of outcomes, not just tasks
• You're comfortable with ambiguity and can drive projects forward without heavy oversight
• You're genuinely excited about AI—not just using it, but building systems where AI is core to the product
• You communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders and translate business problems into technical solutions

Working Style

• Collaborate directly with other Principal/Tech Lead ICs
• Ship incrementally and iterate based on feedback from stakeholders
• Use AI tools to accelerate development and maintain high output
• Make pragmatic architecture decisions for a small, fast-moving team

What We Offer

• Competitive salary, including carry—so you get the upside of Antler's investments too
• Hybrid work environment (Sydney)
• Direct exposure to a global portfolio of 1,500+ startups
• Autonomy and trust—we hire senior people and get out of their way
• A front-row seat to the early-stage startup ecosystem
• An AI-first engineering culture