Backend Software Engineer

Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews.

Global brands like Hubspot Microsoft Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale.

The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated slow and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.

Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025—less than six months after our Series A—led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm) 8VC Y Combinator and Adverb Ventures.

The raise follows a breakout year with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category AI‑moderated research as the new standard for understanding people.

We’re a tight-knit team based in San Francisco’s Financial District serving some of the world’s largest enterprises

What you will do:

• Collaborate closely with the CTO and CEO on strategic technical decisions and product direction.

• Design develop and optimize backend services APIs and real-time data processing infrastructure.

• Implement and refine our in-house Large Language Model and real-time interview technology.

• Lead projects from initial conception through production deployment ensuring scalability and reliability.

• Interface directly with users to gather feedback understand pain points and continuously improve our core product.

The ideal candidate will have:

• 3+ years of software engineering experience building production-grade backend systems.

• Strong proficiency with Python and Django including experience building robust APIs.

• Extensive knowledge of SQL databases (Postgres preferred).

• Experience deploying and managing services on AWS.

• Bonus points for familiarity with WebRTC real-time data streaming or AI/ML infrastructure.

Benefits

• Daily collaboration with founders shaping the core product vision.

• Exposure to and collaboration with design and research leaders at top global brands.

• Competitive cash and equity compensation. Actual compensation packages are based on various factors unique to each candidate including skill set depth of experience and certifications.

Outset is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees free from discrimination based on race religion color national origin gender sexual orientation age marital status veteran status disability or any other protected class.

What We Do

Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews. We created this new category of research technology and now it's growing wildly. Global brands like Hubspot Microsoft Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale. The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated slow and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.

Why Work With Us

Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025—less than six months after our Series A with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category AI‑moderated research as the new standard for understanding people. We’re a tight-knit team of 30.

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