Software Engineer, Backend (Product)

Location: Mountain View, CA

Department: Engineering

The Opportunity

• Build AI-native product experiences end-to-end
  Design and implement features that transform model output into structured, actionable user value—such as summaries, action items, and intelligent workflows.
• Own the product quality loop
  Continuously improve output quality by iterating on prompts, data flows, and backend logic, using real user feedback, evaluations, and experimentation.
• Bridge product and AI systems
  Translate product requirements into systems that orchestrate LLMs, retrieval, and structured data—shaping how intelligence behaves in production, not just integrating it.
• Design for real-world constraints
  Make deliberate tradeoffs across latency, cost, reliability, and output quality to deliver fast, trustworthy experiences at scale.
• Prototype and ship at high velocity using AI-assisted development
  Leverage state-of-the-art tools (e.g., coding copilots, LLM-driven workflows) to move quickly from idea to production while maintaining high engineering quality.
• Build clean, scalable backend systems
  Develop services in Python (e.g., Django) that support dynamic, AI-driven product experiences and evolving system requirements.

• Has 2+ years of experience building product-facing systems, with a strong sense of how backend decisions impact user experience
• Writes clean, maintainable code (Python preferred) and is comfortable working across a modern web stack (APIs, data systems, async workflows)
• Thinks in terms of product outcomes, not just technical implementation — cares about whether what they build is actually useful to users
• Is excited about working with AI/LLM-powered systems, and is interested in shaping their behavior in real-world applications
• Takes ownership of problems end-to-end and collaborates well across product, design, and AI disciplines
• Is comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and can iterate quickly on both product and technical direction

• Experience building or experimenting with LLM-powered features (prompting, evaluation, RAG, etc.)
• Experience designing systems that balance latency, cost, and quality
• Exposure to user feedback loops, experimentation, or evaluation frameworks

About Otter.ai 

We are in the business of shaping the future of work. Our mission is to make conversations more valuable.

With over 1B meetings transcribed, Otter.ai is the world’s leading tool for meeting transcription, summarization, and collaboration. Using artificial intelligence, Otter generates real-time automated meeting notes, summaries, and other insights from in-person and virtual meetings - turning meetings into accessible, collaborative, and actionable data that can be shared across teams and organizations. The company is backed by early investors in Google, DeepMind, Zoom, and Tesla.

Otter.ai is an equal opportunity employer. We proudly celebrate diversity and are committed to building an inclusive and accessible workplace.  We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified applicants throughout the hiring process.  

Accessibility & Accommodations

Otter.ai is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our hiring process.  If you need assistance or an accommodation during any stage of the recruitment process, please contact [email protected] at least 3 business days before your interview.

*Otter.ai does not accept unsolicited resumes from 3rd party recruitment agencies without a written agreement in place for permanent placements. Any resume or other candidate information submitted outside of established candidate submission guidelines (including through our website or via email to any Otter.ai employee) and without a written agreement otherwise will be deemed to be our sole property, and no fee will be paid should we hire the candidate.

Salary range

Salary Range: $136,000 to $185,000 USD per year.

This salary range represents the low and high end of the estimated salary range for this position. The actual base salary offered for the role is dependent on several factors. Our base salary is just one component of a comprehensive total rewards package.

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