Senior Software Platform Engineer

Prolific Machines is ushering in a new era of biotechnology with light. Our first-of-its-kind optogenetic platform delivers unprecedented control, precisely guiding cellular behavior when and where it matters most. Unlike existing tools used to control biology, our technology enables dynamic, tunable control over virtually any cellular function in any cell type. We're enabling partners to unlock robust efficiency, quality, and reproducibility advantages across the most complex pharmaceuticals and therapeutic proteins. Prolific is supported by leading investors, including Bill Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield and SOSV.

This is a high-ownership role with significant opportunity to shape the long-term direction of software systems at Prolific. As a foundational Software Engineer within the organization, you will have substantial influence over architecture, tooling, and long-term technical direction.

We’re looking for a Software Engineer to help define and build the next-generation software and controls platform underlying Prolific’s illumination systems. This role will serve as a foundational software hire within a multidisciplinary illuminator technology team, helping define software architecture across device control, cloud-connected infrastructure, internal tooling, and future customer-facing systems.

This individual will work closely with Firmware, Hardware, Data, and Bioprocess Engineering teams to develop scalable, production-ready control systems for next-generation illumination products. Over time, this role is expected to help define software architecture, interfaces, and development strategy as Prolific expands both internal software capabilities and external development partnerships.

This is not a traditional consumer web or SaaS role. Success in this position requires strong systems thinking and comfort operating across the hardware/software boundary. The ideal candidate enjoys  working in-person, operating close to real-world systems and hardware, and is comfortable working across abstraction layers rather than specializing narrowly in frontend or backend development.

This role will be primarily based on-site in Emeryville, CA with some hybrid flexibility depending on current project needs.

Responsibilities Architect and develop the software platform connecting Prolific illumination hardware, firmware, cloud infrastructure, internal tooling, and future operational and customer-deployed systems

Define software interfaces, communication layers, and subsystem boundaries across distributed control systems

Collaborate closely with firmware and hardware engineers to design robust hardware/software interactions

Establish scalable software infrastructure and engineering practices suitable for long-term productization

Help define technical scopes, interfaces, and development strategy for external software development partners and contractors where appropriate

Contribute hands-on across the stack while helping shape longer-term software technical direction

Requirements MS with 5+ years or BS with 7+ years of professional software development experience. Degree in Software Engineering , Computer Science, or a related field preferred.

Strong systems-level thinking and ability to reason across software, firmware, hardware, and operational workflows

Ability to balance rapid prototyping with long-term architectural scalability

Experience decomposing complex systems into modular, maintainable subsystems

Fluency in Python and proficiency in at least one other general-purpose language (e.g. TypeScript, Go, Rust)

Experience defining requirements, designing, implementing, and deploying software

Experience designing software for reliability, maintainability, and operational robustness in mission-critical systems

Experience deploying and maintaining cloud-connected applications or services

Experience working with SQL databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL, etc.)

Experience working closely with end users to iteratively improve software usability and workflows

Experience setting up and owning their own development environment (incl. unit/integration/end-to-end testing, continuous integration, etc.)

Experience interfacing software with hardware systems (serial, TCP/IP, etc.) and ability to debug issues across the software/hardware boundary

Comfort working in Linux environments

Nice to Haves Experience leading technical projects involving external vendors, contractors, or distributed development teams

Exposure to the Industrial IoT / Industry 4.0 stack, e.g. protocols (MQTT Sparkplug B, OPC UA), system layers (HMI/SCADA, MES), and architectural patterns like Unified Namespace (UNS).

Experience with electronic records, audit trails, and data integrity principles for industrial or regulated settings

Experience developing software in the biotech or pharmaceutical industries where 21 CFR Part 11, GAMP 5, or ALCOA+ or similar regulations are relevant

Experience modernizing or replacing ad-hoc operational tooling (e.g. Airtable-based workflows)

Experience developing custom dashboards and data visualizers

Expertise in defining and building out devops, development workflows, and selecting toolchains

Embedded C/C++ development experience or knowledge about the limitations of firmware and embedded systems

Experience with Ignition, AirTable or the Particle Cloud systems.

About You Enjoys taking projects all the way from concept to deployment

Comfortable in a dynamic startup environment with evolving requirements

Thrives in multidisciplinary environments alongside scientists, engineers, and operators

Comfortable making pragmatic technical decisions in an ambiguous, rapidly evolving environment

Excited to enable a technology and end product that will have a positive impact on people’s lives

Benefits: Generous equity package in an early stage company, retirement plan with company contribution, flexible PTO with healthy time off minimums, company-covered medical, dental, and vision insurance, life and disability insurance, career coaching, mental health support, free team lunches everyday, great snacks, and companywide social events! Diversity: Prolific Machines values diverse perspectives, backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. We are committed to building an inclusive workplace where all employees can bring their authentic selves to work and have equal opportunities to succeed. Prolific Machines is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Location: The San Francisco Bay Area (Emeryville, CA)