About Astera:

Astera is a private foundation on a mission to steer science and technology toward an abundant future. We believe the coming years will bring an era of unprecedented scientific and technological advancement as exponential progress in AI converges with central advances in other fields to dramatically accelerate innovation. This inflection point provides an unparalleled opportunity to fundamentally rethink the institutions, systems, and tools that drive scientific progress.

Unlike traditional non-profit research organizations, projects supported by Astera operate like high-velocity startups, allowing us to focus on ambitious goals, match structure to problem, and attract strong technical talent and leadership. You can read more about our mission, vision, and programming here.

Position Summary:

The Astera Institute is seeking a full-time software engineer to help build and scale The Stacks (https://thestacks.org), a new content platform designed to meaningfully improve how scientific, technical, and intellectual work is shared, discovered, and built upon. The ideal candidate is a highly capable, hands-on generalist who has built and maintained complex content platforms or large-scale web applications, and who is comfortable redesigning core systems as the product’s identity evolves. Beyond technical skill, you should have strong architectural judgment, a user-centered mindset, and enthusiasm for building tools that accelerate knowledge-sharing.

This is a unique opportunity to shape a core piece of public digital infrastructure at the earliest stages. Successful candidates will be comfortable working in fast-moving environments, collaborating across multiple teams, and making thoughtful architectural decisions that support long-term growth. Open-source experience and enthusiasm are a major plus.

Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the architecture, development, and maintenance of The Stacks—including backend services, frontend interfaces, data models, and integrations.

• Design flexible internal structures that can adapt as The Stacks platform develops.

• Implement high-quality user-facing interfaces and experiences using modern web technologies.

• Build reliable APIs and services and integrate content-management fundamentals such as search indexing, metadata enrichment, static/dynamic content generation, and back-office tools for moderation and curation.

• Ensure data integrity, performance, scalability, and maintainability for both content and user data.

• Work closely with product and design teams to develop user-centric features and iterate rapidly based on feedback.

• Manage and deploy cloud infrastructure, ensuring high availability, observability, and smooth development workflows.

• Maintain high-quality engineering practices including version control, testing, documentation, and CI/CD workflows.

• Provide ongoing support and improvements post-launch, including bug fixes, feature development, and performance optimization.

• Contribute to open-source components of The Stacks when appropriate.

• Collaborate with related internal teams across Astera’s connected programs and external partners as needed.

Qualifications and Experience:

• BA/BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or equivalent experience.

• 7+ years experience building and maintaining production-grade, user-facing software systems.

• Demonstrated experience with content-heavy or knowledge-based platforms, such as:

  • publishing systems

  • large documentation or archival sites

  • hybrid static/dynamic content architectures

  • search indexing and metadata pipelines

  • user-generated content, content moderation

  • back-office workflows

• Strong engineering fundamentals and experience owning complex systems over time, including refactoring or re-architecting major components as products evolve.

• Proficiency with modern backend and frontend technologies (e.g., Python, TypeScript, SQL databases, Flask/FastAPI, React, etc.)—specific technologies matter less than your ability to learn and adapt.

• Experience deploying and managing cloud infrastructure (AWS or equivalent).

• Ability to move quickly in environments with evolving requirements, ambiguity, and rapid iteration cycles.

• Highly adaptable and comfortable working across disciplines.

Location:

On site at our office in Emeryville, CA. Some travel may be required from time-to-time for in-person collaboration and work.

Compensation:

The posted salary range is based on location in the Bay Area. The successful candidate will receive a competitive compensation package, commensurate with their experience and location.