Senior Software Engineer

Reports To: CTO
Location: San Francisco, CA

Reinventing Government Interactions for a Sustainable Future

At Symbium, we’re on a mission to streamline how citizens interact with local government and cut through the red tape in permitting processes. Imagine a world where homeowners and contractors can effortlessly navigate complex regulations, instantly determine what projects are possible on their property, and secure approvals with the click of a button. Symbium is making that world a reality. By transforming dense rules into user-friendly software, we empower people to get work done without frustration and delay.

Symbium’s proprietary computational law (Complaw®) technology – initially developed at Stanford’s AI Lab – performs permit compliance checks in real time, enabling instant permit approvals. Symbium is currently partnered with 270+ cities – and growing fast. Our platform accelerates clean energy adoption by simplifying approvals for installations of solar panels, reroofing, and EV chargers to heat pumps and beyond. This streamlined process helps communities transition more quickly to decarbonization and energy independence.

The Opportunity

Symbium is looking for a Senior Software Engineer who can take ownership of major technical initiatives, work across the stack, and help drive the evolution of our platform. While this role is primarily an individual contributor position, it also provides meaningful opportunities to lead onboarding, guide teammates, shape engineering practices, and support the growth of the engineering team as Symbium scales.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in hands-on technical work, enjoys building foundational systems, and wants room to influence both product direction and engineering culture without stepping away from writing software.

You’ll tackle challenging technical problems (think translating law into code!), collaborate with a passionate team, and expand your engineering skills in a supportive environment.If you love the idea of using technology to disrupt the status quo and make a positive impact on society, you’ll thrive in this role.

What you’ll do (Responsibilities)

• Build and own core systems
• Lead the execution of Symbium’s AI roadmap, ensuring determinism and accuracy in mission-critical workloads while balancing these requirements with the practical development of scalable, production-ready AI features.
• Build and maintain robust workflows, APIs, integrations, and backend systems in support of large-scale, high-reliability permitting functions.
• Architect, design, and build scalable, maintainable, and performant platform components.
• Lead end-to-end implementation of features – from design and development to deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
• Drive high engineering quality through strong practices in testing, code quality, observability, and data modeling.
• Shape technical direction
• Influence architectural decisions, tooling choices, and engineering standards across the team.
• Contribute to documentation, engineering standards, and knowledge-sharing practices that strengthen team efficiency and alignment.
• Work with senior leadership to shape engineering priorities, technical strategy, and continuous improvements to development processes.
• Strengthen engineering practices
• Provide thoughtful code reviews, design feedback, and peer mentorship (no people management responsibilities).
• Onboard new engineers by helping them understand our systems, tools, workflows, and architectural principles.
• Drive alignment across teams
• Work directly with product managers, designers, policy experts, customers, and other stakeholders to clarify requirements and shape solutions.
• Represent engineering considerations in cross-functional discussions, ensuring that technical decisions align with product and business goals.
• Contribute meaningfully to scoping, sequencing, and forecasting work – without taking on formal people-management responsibilities.

Who we’re looking for (Qualifications)

We welcome creative problem solvers who are excited by our mission and who are looking for a role that allows them to lead through technical expertise and thoughtful collaboration. You might be a great fit if you have:

• 6+ years of hands-on software engineering experience, including designing, building, and maintaining production systems end-to-end. If you’re earlier in your career (around 4–5 years of experience) but have owned meaningful production systems and are hungry to grow into this scope, we’d still love to hear from you.
• A track record of individual contributor excellence: owning major technical initiatives, solving hard problems, and delivering high-quality software independently.
• Demonstrated engineering leadership in guiding architecture, influencing technical decisions, coordinating cross-team work, and mentoring engineers.
• Experience onboarding and supporting new engineers, helping them understand systems, patterns, and practices so they can be productive quickly.
• Strong full-stack capabilities across backend services, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and modern front-end development.
• Deep proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, and familiarity with building reliable systems in cloud environments (e.g., AWS).
• Extensive experience with databases, data modeling, and performance optimization in high-reliability systems.
• Experience developing AI/ML-driven features and integrating deterministic model-based systems into production workflows.
• Strong communication skills. Able to explain technical trade-offs, influence decisions, and collaborate with product, design, and domain experts.
• A high sense of ownership, accountability, and attention to detail, especially in mission-critical workloads.
• A commitment to operational excellence: testing, observability, reliability, and continuous improvement of systems and processes.

Nice-to-Have Skills (Not required, but let us know if you have them)

• Experience leading or coordinating work across multiple engineering teams or functional groups.
• Familiarity with functional or logic programming paradigms (e.g., Prolog) is a plus, but not required, as our core Complaw® system is maintained by a specialized team.
• A Master’s degree or higher in Computer Science or a related field.
• In this role, you will be required to wear many hats, including interacting with solar/electrification companies, communicating with government officials, and being a spokesperson for a company whose current focus is specific to permitting. Having knowledge of government, permitting, and electrification would allow you to contribute more significantly in this dynamic role.

Our Culture & Why You’ll Love Symbium

• Mission with Impact: Your work will directly accelerate the adoption of clean energy and make government services more accessible. Every feature you build can help someone install solar panels, get an EV charger, or improve their home with less hassle. If you’ve wanted to do good with your coding skills, this is it.
• High-Ownership Environment: We believe in ownership and accountability. On our team, everyone trusts each other to deliver results. You’ll have the freedom to innovate, make decisions, and drive projects, with the support of experienced mentors when you need it.
• Tight-Knit & Hands-On: We work side by side every day – C-level executives, engineers, and interns alike – sharing ideas and tackling problems together. You’ll find us walking to the Ferry Building for lunch, debating product decisions, and jumping in wherever needed to keep things moving. Everyone has a voice, and we focus on collaboration and execution over titles and hierarchy.
• Competitive Benefits: We offer a competitive startup package, including:
• Competitive salary.
• Stock options in a growing, venture-backed company.
• Attractive 401k and health benefits.
• Working alongside a highly mission-driven, small, supportive team of ambitious, smart creatives in an environment that fosters continuous learning and adaptive problem solving. We turn complex challenges into beautiful, impactful solutions.

How to Apply

If Symbium’s mission and team resonate with you, we’d love to hear from you! To apply, please send an email to careers@symbium.com with your resume, LinkedIn information, and a brief note about why you’re excited to join Symbium.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis and be willing to relocate to California prior to the start of employment. Symbium does not provide visa sponsorships at this time.

Symbium is an equal opportunity employer.