Backend Software Engineer

Department: Engineering

Location: San Francisco

Compensation: $160K – $300K • Offers Equity

Employment Type: FullTime

Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews.

Global brands like Hubspot, Microsoft, Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper, qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale.

The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated, slow, and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.

Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025—less than six months after our Series A—led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm), 8VC, Y Combinator, and Adverb Ventures.

The raise follows a breakout year, with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category, AI‑moderated research, as the new standard for understanding people.

We’re a tight-knit team of 30 based in San Francisco’s Financial District, serving some of the world’s largest enterprises

What you will do:

• Collaborate closely with the CTO and CEO on strategic technical decisions and product direction.

• Design, develop, and optimize backend services, APIs, and real-time data processing infrastructure.

• Implement and refine our in-house Large Language Model and real-time interview technology.

• Lead projects from initial conception through production deployment, ensuring scalability and reliability.

• Interface directly with users to gather feedback, understand pain points, and continuously improve our core product.

The ideal candidate will have:

• 3+ years of software engineering experience building production-grade backend systems.

• Strong proficiency with Python and Django, including experience building robust APIs.

• Extensive knowledge of SQL databases (Postgres preferred).

• Experience deploying and managing services on AWS.

• Bonus points for familiarity with WebRTC, real-time data streaming, or AI/ML infrastructure.

Benefits

• Daily collaboration with founders, shaping the core product vision.

• Exposure to and collaboration with design and research leaders at top global brands.

• Competitive cash and equity compensation. Actual compensation packages are based on various factors unique to each candidate, including skill set, depth of experience, and certifications.

Outset is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, free from discrimination based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.