Staff Software Engineer - Infrastructure

Watney

San Francisco, CA

On-site

Who this role is best for

Infrastructure engineers with experience in production networking and cross-team leadership will find this role in robotics and real-time video systems compelling. The job emphasizes ownership of complex systems and collaboration across multiple teams in a San Francisco-based full-time setting.

Best fit for

Candidates with experience leading infrastructure changes across multiple teams and managing production networking systems
— “Have led an infrastructure change across several teams, or founded the team that owns one.”
Individuals who have designed and implemented robust observability and alerting systems for large-scale production environments
— “Have owned observability and alerting for a production system.”
Engineers who have experience managing data pipelines and ensuring reliable data transmission in mission-critical systems
— “The same infrastructure carries that video and data to our ML team and the rest of engineering.”

Things to consider

The job demands ownership of critical systems that support autonomous robots in real-world environments
— “Every robot in the field depends on that answer.”

How to stand out

Highlight your experience in managing large-scale system migrations with minimal disruption
— “Have migrated a large system in stages, through breaking changes, without breaking its users.”
Emphasize your ability to build and maintain tooling that other engineers depend on daily
— “Have built tooling that other engineers rely on every day.”
Showcase your understanding of real-time video pipelines and network reliability
— “Own networking, remote access, and the real-time video pipelines for the fleet.”

Pace · SteadyCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Team

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

ensure safe and reliable fleet operations
implement robust release processes

Typical background

infrastructure engineeringproduction networking

Skills & requirements

Required

NetworkingObservabilityRelease ManagementData ManagementInfrastructure

Preferred

RoboticsAutonomous Systems

Stack & domain

NetworkingRemote AccessReal-time Video PipelinesCIObservabilityAlertingRelease GateRollout ProcessData ManagementInfrastructure ChangesProduction NetworkingEdge TrafficSystem MigrationObservability And AlertingToolingLeadershipProblem SolvingCritical ThinkingTeamworkCommunicationSoftware EngineeringInfrastructureRobotics

About the role

Original posting from Watney via Ashby

OUR MISSION
Expand human ambition in the physical world.
Critical infrastructure is constrained by labor shortages, hazardous working conditions, and operational complexity. Watney builds and deploys autonomous robotic systems that increase the speed and capacity of buildout, starting with data centers.
ABOUT THE ROLE
At Watney, infrastructure engineers keep a fleet of robots in the field connected and safe to change. The robots do production work at customer sites and stream real-time video from their cameras. The same infrastructure carries that video and data to our ML team and the rest of engineering.
Changing software on robots that are doing real work, over customer networks we do not control, is a problem the field has not settled: how a change reaches the fleet safely, and how video and data keep moving when a network fails.
Our software engineers run this infrastructure today alongside the robot software. You will partner with them, own it full time, and decide what a safe release looks like. Every robot in the field depends on that answer. At Staff, you lead the infrastructure changes that cross teams.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Own networking, remote access, and the real-time video pipelines for the fleet.
Own CI, observability, and alerting for the fleet and the services behind it.
Build the release gate and rollout process for the fleet, and own the bar a change must clear.
Decide where data lives, how it is kept, and what our infrastructure costs to run.
Lead infrastructure changes with the software engineers who run this infrastructure today, and across the ML and fleet operations teams who depend on it.
YOU MAY BE A GOOD FIT IF YOU:
Have led an infrastructure change across several teams, or founded the team that owns one.
Have owned production networking or edge traffic for a large system.
Have migrated a large system in stages, through breaking changes, without breaking its users.
Have owned observability and alerting for a production system.
Have built tooling that other engineers rely on every day.
We’re committed to building a diverse, inclusive team. At Watney Robotics, we welcome people of all backgrounds and identities, and we make hiring decisions based on skills, experience, and potential. If you’re passionate about robotics but don’t meet every requirement, we still encourage you to apply!
CURIOUS TO LEARN MORE?
Follow us here on X https://x.com/watneyrobotics/ and LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/watneyrobotics/about/

Source: Watney careers (Ashby)