Avante is the enterprise AI platform for benefits teams. Benefits is one of the most complex, high-stakes functions in any company, and Avante’s purpose-built agents take on end-to-end benefits work, from checking vendor contracts against claims to preparing leadership reports to helping employees use and understand their benefits. Samsung Semiconductor, Real Chemistry, Zscaler and News Corp use Avante today to keep costs in check, support employees across the globe, and get more from their benefits investment.
As a Senior Software Engineer at Avante, you will own outcomes end-to-end: writing production code yourself where it matters most, and directing AI agents to handle implementation elsewhere, with full accountability for what ships either way. This is a hands-on, high-ownership role. We are looking for an engineer who solves problems pragmatically, whether that means building directly or steering an agent to do it well, and who brings the judgment and maturity to guide both human teammates and the AI systems increasingly doing implementation work alongside them.
What You'll DoAI-Native Engineering
- Direct AI agents to handle implementation where appropriate, remaining accountable for what ships either way
- Push toward a "touchless PR" workflow where your judgment, not your keystrokes, is the bottleneck
- Use AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as a core part of how you build, with sharp instincts for where they help and where they don't
- Help the team decide how and when AI agents get used, and mentor teammates on working effectively alongside them
Product & Customer Impact
- Collaborate closely with product, design, and engineering peers to deliver solutions that drive real business value
- Mentor teammates by sharing context, giving feedback, and helping them grow their craft
Ownership & Execution
- Own outcomes across our stack, writing production code directly where it counts
- Design and build scalable services, APIs, and user-facing features within our TypeScript monorepo
- Integrate with external systems such as HRIS and ticketing platforms
- Model data, design schemas, and optimize queries to keep our systems fast and reliable
- Build for production with a focus on observability, monitoring, and testability from day one
- Participate in design discussions and code reviews
- Deep expertise in backend engineering, with solid working knowledge of the other side
- Proven track record of delivering complex features end-to-end in production systems
- Deep experience with TypeScript or other modern application development languages such as Java, C#, or Python
- Familiarity with system architecture, API design, and scalable engineering patterns
- Proficiency with databases (schema design, query optimization, performance tuning)
- Active, hands-on engagement with AI engineering, including real experience with LLM APIs, RAG, agent workflows, evals, or tool-calling, and a clear point of view on how AI has changed what you own and how you work. This goes beyond openness to using AI tools
- Startup or high-ownership experience: comfortable operating without a large team or established process behind you
- Strong product and customer judgment: a track record of trade-off calls that account for what's actually right for the end user, not just what's technically correct
- Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, prioritize well, and balance speed with maintainability
- Strong communication skills and empathy for both teammates and end users
- Initial screen with our recruiters
- Video Interview with our Engineering Manager
- Technical interview focused on real-world problem solving (no whiteboard algorithms)
- On-site interview loop:
- Team behavioral interview (60 min)
- Session with our Engineering Manager (60 min)
- Final conversation with our CTO (30 min)
The base salary for this role is $170,000–$210,000. Where you land in that range depends on your experience, your skills, and how well your background fits what the role needs.
We also offer:
- Equity: Stock options, so you share in what we’re building
- Health coverage: Medical, dental, and vision, with employee premiums covered by Avante
- Unlimited PTO: Take the time you need to rest and recharge, plus paid company holidays
- Retirement: 401(k)
- Commuter benefit: $150/month toward however you prefer to get to work
Avante is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We’re building a diverse, inclusive team and welcome candidates of all backgrounds.
Our four values aren't aspirational. They translate into concrete operating tenets that shape how we make decisions every day.
Beat Yesterday. We re-evaluate our own toolkit every quarter, because the workflows that made you effective three months ago may already be outdated. We act on 70% of the information rather than waiting for certainty. We timebox, execute, and iterate, getting work in front of real people quickly instead of polishing in isolation. And we own our output regardless of how we produced it. AI can get you 80% of the way there. Everything that goes out with your name on it is your responsibility to review, refine, and stand behind.
Embrace Type 2 Fun. We take on hard problems and find meaning in the work, even when it's uncomfortable. We assume good intent and follow up directly rather than venting in side channels. We celebrate wins loudly and specifically, naming the actual behavior so the whole team learns what great looks like. We are on by default, because we owe it to each other and to our customers to be available beyond what a regular corporate job would demand. And we do unscalable things today that build scalable advantages tomorrow: every hand-built account play and late-night proposal turnaround earns us the right to scale later.
Stay Hungry, Stay Curious. We expect everyone to be the expert on AI in their function before anyone asks them to be. The landscape changes weekly. When you learn something, teach it. Learn enough about adjacent functions to ask good questions. Ask the question you think is too basic, because in complex domains like benefits, the cost of a wrong assumption can be a lost account. And remember: curiosity without urgency is a hobby. Learning has to translate into action on a timeline that matches the opportunity.
Act Like an Owner. We say the uncomfortable thing early, raising missed commitments or quality gaps directly with the person within 48 hours. We surface problems when they're small, not the week they become a crisis. Customer-facing work gets priority, always. And we close the loop every time, because over-communication is a feature at our stage, not a bug.
Skills Required
- Deep expertise in backend engineering with working knowledge of frontend engineering
- Proven track record delivering complex features end-to-end in production systems
- Deep experience with TypeScript or modern application development languages such as Java, C#, or Python
- Familiarity with system architecture, API design, and scalable engineering patterns
- Proficiency with databases, including schema design, query optimization, and performance tuning
- Hands-on AI engineering experience with LLM APIs, RAG, agent workflows, evaluations, or tool-calling
- Startup or high-ownership experience operating without large teams or established processes
- Strong product and customer judgment with experience making end-user-focused trade-offs
- Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity, prioritize well, and balance speed with maintainability
- Strong communication skills and empathy for teammates and end users
Avante Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Compensation transparency is highlighted through clearly published salary bands and structured commission tiers, which helps set expectations early for candidates.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity or stock options are commonly paired with base pay, aligning longer-term incentives for early-stage hires.
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Retirement Support — 401(k) plans are identified among the core benefits, indicating baseline retirement offerings consistent with tech-sector norms.
Avante Insights
What We Do
Avante is the enterprise AI platform for benefits teams. We help companies run and improve their benefits with AI. Benefits is one of the biggest investments a company makes, and costs keep rising. Employers expect a median 9% increase in health care costs for 2026 (Business Group on Health, 2026). Yet 85% of employees say they're confused about their benefits (Businessolver, 2026). Carly answers employees' benefits questions 24/7 in 80+ languages, in Slack, Microsoft Teams, email, the web and ServiceNow. Every answer comes from the employer's own plan documents, with sources. Ava Workbench gives benefits teams reports and analyses of claims, contracts and vendor performance in minutes, not weeks. Ongoing work, like recurring vendor reviews and employee trend reports, goes to Ava Agents (beta). Avante works alongside a company's benefits administration system, broker and enterprise AI rather than replacing them. We work with self-insured employers with 1,000+ employees, including Samsung Semiconductor, Real Chemistry, Zscaler and News Corp. Partners help us reach smaller employers. Samsung Semiconductor used Avante to build targeted communications and raised use of its mental health benefit 66%. Founded in 2023, Avante is based in Seattle with an office in New York. Learn more at https://www.avante.ai.
Why Work With Us
Our mission is to make benefits simple and clear for people and organizations. At Avante, you'll build AI for one of the most complex functions in any company, owning real problems early with teammates in Seattle and New York. Our values: Beat Yesterday. Embrace Type 2 Fun. Stay Hungry, Stay Curious. Act Like an Owner.
Avante Offices
OnSite Workspace
We are on-site 4 days a week, with a remote day on Wednesday across teams.
