Rune - MIT Startup - Fullstack Architect

We’re an MIT startup looking for two rockstar engineers to join our founding team. Ideally, both our new teammates will be comfortable across the stack, with one having prior experience in React Native and the other having prior experience with complex backend architectures (as an AI + voice startup, we’ll be building all sorts of crazy tech 😉). This description is for the backend architect role.

Rune is in its early days 🚀, backed by MIT / Harvard professors and veteran MIT entrepreneurs. We’ve won multiple dilution-free funding awards from the MIT startup ecosystem. Both founders (Bjarke + Sanjay) are technical and love to sling code amidst the riot that is building a startup :) As a founding team member, you will have have real ownership over your work and play a pivotal role in Rune’s success.

Watch Rune’s vision in 5 minutes, presented at the MIT delta v demo day

Culture is very important to us at Rune. As founders who graduated from the MIT Media Lab, we deeply appreciate the importance of creating a space where people can enjoy doing their best work together. A place where creativity, diversity and community are valued. We’re excited to work with amazing teammates who will help us create this space.

We're incorporated as a US startup and will be fundraising from American investors through our MIT connections. The team will be based in Bangalore, where we’re currently setting up shop in some sweet WeWork offices. There'll also be opportunities to travel to the US and get connected to our networks in New York, SF and at MIT if that's of interest. Sanjay and Bjarke will be distributing their time between engineering in Bangalore and fundraising/growth in US.

What you'll be doing

• You will be responsible for building Rune’s APIs and backend infrastructure. We use a GraphQL API that’s auto-constructed from PostgreSQL using Postgraphile. We believe in using automation extensively and are test-driven from the start.
• AI and machine learning algorithms are a crucial component of our infrastructure, powering many of the interactions in the app. We use ML frameworks (Tensorflow Serving / PyTorch / FAISS) for low-latency high throughput predictions.
• Voice infrastructure / WebRTC will become important in the future as we roll out special voice-related features.
• Our infrastructure is completely on AWS lambda and deployed using Apex Up. We’ll be building for scale, right from day one.
• We don’t expect knowledge of every specific technology, but we definitely need a teammate who can learn new technologies quickly as we prioritize different features.

What you should have

• Excellent attention to detail and the ability to learn new tech quickly. Systematic problem solver who is good at planning ahead. Ability to anticipate future features and think about the big picture.
• A strong grasp of PostgreSQL, AWS devops (our infrastructure uses AWS Lambda extensively), NodeJS and Python. The Web APIs are written in NodeJS / PostgreSQL, but some AI microservices will use Python extensively.
• At least three years of experience writing production server side code.

Bonus Points

• Experience working in fast paced engineering teams, especially at a fast growing company.
• A lifelong passion for gaming and deep understanding of what drives the gaming community. What’s a new mobile game you’ll teach the team?

Job Perks

• Above market salary + equity
• MIT Media Lab style work culture
• Great gear (we use Mac/Linux exclusively)
• Trips to the US
• Annual workation at an exotic location 🎉We did Denmark this year (“Codenhagen”)