Sr. Staff Software Engineer

About Karius

Karius is a venture-backed life science startup that is transforming the way pathogens and other microbes are observed throughout the body. By unlocking the information present in microbial cell-free DNA, we're helping doctors quickly solve their most challenging cases, providing industry partners with access to 1000’s of biomarkers to accelerate clinical trials, discovering new microbes, and reducing patient suffering worldwide. 

Position Summary

As a Senior Staff Software Engineer in the Karius Engineering team, your primary focus will be leading high-level technical initiatives, providing mentorship, and driving innovation to enable the operation of Karius products in commercial and research setups. This role requires strong problem-solving skills, deep technical expertise, and the ability to lead cross-functional and complex engineering projects. We are building and operating a unique software stack of microservices deployed to a cloud infrastructure, APIs, web and mobile interactive interfaces, and AI-driven data analytics pipelines to deliver life-saving results in the highly complex infectious disease landscape. We believe the success of Karius’ products is driven by both our unique technology and the elegance of the software solution. We seek talented and passionate individuals who want to be part of this impactful journey of reaching the team’s ambitious goals, far beyond what any single individual could accomplish.

Why Should You Join Karius?

Karius aims to conquer infectious diseases through innovations around genomic sequencing and machine learning. The company’s platform is already delivering unprecedented insights into the microbial landscape, providing clinicians with a comprehensive test capable of identifying more than a thousand pathogens directly from blood, and helping industry accelerate the development of therapeutic solutions. The Karius test we provide today is one of the most advanced solutions available to physicians who aim to deliver better care to many otherwise ineffectively treated patients. Our test is the result of some incredible work done by our scientists, statisticians, engineers, and physicians, all driven by the same mission. You, as part of the Karius team, will be able to see how directly your work has a life-changing impact on people, and at scale.

Reports to: Sr. Director of Software Engineering

Location: Redwood City, CA (Hybrid) or Remote (USA)

Primary Responsibilities 

• Architect and Design Solutions: Lead the design and development of complex systems, ensuring scalable and maintainable architecture. Collaborate with cross-functional teams to define system requirements and develop solutions.

• Software Development: Write high-quality, maintainable, and scalable code using modern software engineering best practices. Participate in code reviews, test-driven development, and continuous integration to ensure the delivery of high-performance applications.

• Technical Leadership: Provide hands-on technical leadership, making key decisions on technologies, frameworks, and tools to be used.

• Code Quality and Best Practices: Ensure adherence to best coding practices, identify opportunities and propose process and tools improvements, perform code reviews, and promote high standards of software craftsmanship.

• and Team Development: Mentor other engineers, helping them grow their technical skills and improve productivity.

innovation & Problem Solving: Proactively identify technical challenges and recommend innovative solutions to ensure the development of cutting-edge software applications that meet the company’s evolving needs.

• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams (product, operations, customer success) to align engineering efforts with business goals.

Problem-Solving and Debugging: Lead troubleshooting efforts to resolve complex technical issues and identify long-term solutions.

• Documentation: Ensure comprehensive documentation of all system designs, codebases and development processes to maintain clarity and transparency across teams.

Innovation and R&D: Drive innovation by exploring new technologies and educating the team on the latest applicable industry trends.

• Performance Optimization: Ensure system reliability and performance through proper monitoring, tuning, and optimization of the codebase.

• Strategic Impact: Contribute to the engineering and technology roadmap, aligning technical goals with broader company objectives.

• Stakeholder Communication: Act as a liaison between the engineering team and key stakeholders, providing regular updates on project progress and technical challenges.

What’s Fun About the Job?

Karius is operating at the edge of what is now known to be possible in infectious disease diagnostics. With that, comes a wave of new and incredible challenges and opportunities. To deliver on that value, you will be tapping into some of the most advanced technologies, architecting and innovating where the current solutions simply don't suffice. You will get to see how much your work really matters.

Travel: For Hybrid roles, the candidate is required to travel up to four times a year. It is also highly recommended to travel for first 2 weeks for on site onboarding.

Physical Requirements Subject to extended periods of sitting and/or standing, vision to monitor and moderate noise levels. Work is generally performed in an office environment.

Position Requirements

• BS or MS degree in Computer Science, or related technical fields involving algorithms and coding, with at least three years in a senior role. Experience in life sciences or healthcare is a plus

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, including designing, developing, and maintaining backend solutions in a production environment.

• 10+ years hands-on experience designing, building, and maintaining microservices-based systems.

• 6+ years of hands-on experience with event-driven architecture (EDA), including message brokers (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ, AWS SNS/SQS) and event streaming technologies.

• Ability to design systems with asynchronous communication and eventual consistency.

• Extensive experience deploying and managing applications in cloud environments (AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure).Deep knowledge of cloud-native technologies like Docker, Kubernetes, and serverless architectures.

• 5+ years of experience and deep knowledge of Typescript/javaScript backend stack using frameworks such as Express, Nest.js, and Node.js.

• Practical examples of complex system data modeling and se++rvicing using REST, GraphQL, no-SQL/SQL databases & ORMs.

• Hands-on experience with both relational and NoSQL databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB).

• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and automated testing for cloud deployments using tools like Jenkins, Github actions etc.

• Strong grasp of system design principles, including performance optimization, scalability, and reliability in distributed systems.

• Knowledge of security best practices (e.g., OAuth, JWT, data encryption) and experience with monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack).

• Proven track record of leading technical teams, mentoring engineers, and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

• Experience in healthcare, life sciences, or other regulated industries is a big plus.

Personal Qualifications 

First and foremost, you are energized and motivated by the opportunity to build elegant software. You enjoy seeing your creation work like a clock positively impacting thousands of people every year. You crave tough challenges in a super technical and collaborative environment that requires creativity and vision to navigate complex and ambiguous problems. 

• Passionate, purpose-driven, and excited about Karius’ mission

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills

• Mastered your craft yet eager to learn and grow

• Excellent problem-solving skills and demonstrated ability to tackle complex problems • Demonstrated ability to work independently but also be an excellent team player • Demonstrated ability to work effectively and efficiently in a fast-paced (startup) environment

Disclaimer

The above job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this position. It is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and skills required. Responsibilities and duties may change or be adjusted to meet the needs of the company, and additional duties may be assigned as necessary. The job description is subject to change at any time at the discretion of Karius.

At Karius, we value a diverse and inclusive workplace and provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees and are committed to honor and invest in the full diversity of people, in our hiring, recruiting and development of employees across the Company. All qualified applicants for employment are encouraged to apply and will be considered without regard to an individual’s race, color, sex, gender identity and gender expression (including transgender individuals who are transitioning, have transitioned, or are perceived to be transitioning to the gender with which they identify), religion, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, physical or mental disability, medical condition, family care status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local laws. If you are unable to submit your application due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected] and we will accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities.