Aether is a VC-backed startup turns data into living, intelligent documents for global consumer brands - we've had amazing early traction with great client logos and we're now building out our foundational team!

To keep pace with our customer base and rapid roadmap we need a senior application engineer who can design elegant backend systems, move quickly from idea to running code, and partner tightly with product and platform peers.

Open to candidates in Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne

You will initially collaborate daily with our hands-on CTO, Lead Platform Engineer and Senior Full‑stack Engineer (Frontend Focus).

• Drive core features: own the server‑side design and implementation of our dynamic document engine, APIs, and high‑throughput data flows.
• Shape architecture: apply modern patterns such as Hexagonal Architecture, DDD, CQRS, and modular monolith, and SOA techniques so we stay flexible without falling into distributed‑system overkill.
• Build with AI superpowers: integrate LLMs, agentic frameworks, RAG pipelines, and vector stores to deliver magical end‑user experiences.
• Ship every day: bias toward working software, iterate quickly, and refine relentlessly.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement backend capabilities in Python, always leveraging strong typing so invalid states are unrepresentable.
• Model the domain using DDD; expose clear application ports for adapters, and implement adapters for specific cloud technologies.
• Choose the right cloud products on Azure or AWS, understanding cost, performance, and vendor lock‑in. Work with platform lead on requirements and configurations for what we need provisioned.
• Craft data stores: select, model, and optimise SQL, NoSQL, graph, and vector databases; design schemas, indexes, and migrations. Know when to use what and why.
• Refactor continuously: keep code cohesive and loosely coupled through disciplined continuous refactoring, readability, and efficient algorithms.
• Implement resilience and performance through asynchronous and concurrent designs such as message queues, event sourcing, tasks, and actors.
• Test thoroughly at unit, integration, and contract levels; automate regression checks in CI pipelines.
• Document and communicate with clear code, ADRs, lightweight diagrams, and concise written proposals.
• Review code carefully with constructive feedback, pair when it helps, and never rubber‑stamp "LGTM".
• Talk to customers to understand pain points and validate that what we ship creates real value.
• Instrument code with OpenTelemetry so we know what our system is doing.

Qualifications

Your existing toolkit

(If you bring equivalent tools or deeper expertise in other relevant tech, we still want to talk to you. We love a good case backed by results. We expect an expert engineer to be able to pick up new or adjacent tech quickly)

• Languages: expert‑level Python, decent Typescript, with minimal reliance on any and maximum leverage of type systems and type-level programming, within the practical constraints of these languages.
• Architectural patterns: Hexagonal / Onion / Clean Architecture, DDD, CQRS, SOLID principles, Law of Demeter, modular monoliths, SOA, event‑driven and state‑machine design. This is a critical mindset and skillset, we are determined not to have a big ball of mud or spaghetti code (for everyone’s benefit).
• Databases: strong SQL design, NoSQL stores, vector databases, graph databases, hybrid solutions. Know the trade-offs and when to use what. Understand scaling and pricing models and how they impact our cost-to-serve.
• Cloud fluency: deep hands‑on experience with Azure services (Containers, Cosmos, Service Bus, etc.) or AWS equivalents, plus working knowledge of the other cloud.
• Front‑end awareness: comfortable reading and light editing of Vue or React components, Typescript, HTML, CSS, design systems.
• Testing disciplines: unit, integration, contract tests, property‑based, e2e tests.
• AI integration: commercial work with OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Claude, or similar APIs; experience with frameworks such as PydanticAI, LangChain, LlamaIndex. Experience with semantic search and vector embeddings.
• Dev workflows: git branching, CI services like GitHub Actions or Azure DevOps, feature flags, canary releases.
• Refactoring skills: e.g: extract method, strangler fig, branch‑by‑abstraction, incremental domain extraction, and other modern techniques.
• Collaboration and communication: strong writing, verbal communication, diagramming, whiteboard skills, RFCs. Etiquette and empathy for colleagues and customers.
• SaaS Multi-Tenant Isolation models: At database, application, and network levels. Understand soft and hard tenancy isolation models, and where to use them.
• Auth & Access Control: strong experience with third party Auth products e.g: Auth0, Kinde, Clerk, Azure AD (Entra ID), and access control patterns like RBAC, ReBAC. Experience implementing SaaS subscriptions, metering and usage-based access control.

Required qualifications and experience

• Education or equivalence: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or comparable real‑world experience.
• Depth over span: at least five years of deep, hands‑on application development where you implemented, operated, and maintained meaningful pieces of production systems.
• Startup or scale‑up exposure: proven ability to thrive in fast‑moving, ambiguous environments.

Bonus points

• Training, fine‑tuning, or distilling custom models. Experience with AI prior to the recent hype cycle.
• MLOps or data pipeline experience.
• End‑to‑end product ownership from zero to launch (side or hobby projects are fair game).
• Building software for air‑gapped or on‑prem deployments, or large enterprise customers.
• Experience with GitOps and deployment automation.
• Security or compliance work such as SOC 2 readiness.
• Polyglot - extra languages (e.g: Rust, Erlang, Haskell, Lisp). Even if we don’t use such languages on the job, we appreciate a passion for programming languages and theory.
• Experience with FastAPI, Pydantic, PydanticAI.

If you are a pragmatic craft‑minded engineer who loves clean architecture, fast feedback, and building impactful AI‑powered products, we want to meet you!