Founding Software Engineer
Navi AI · San Francisco
Navi captures everything a pilot sees and hears and turns it into automated debrief intelligence — sortie-level awareness that has never existed before. You're building the platform that makes that happen.
About the role
This is a founding engineering role. You'll own entire systems end to end — the backend and data pipelines that power Navi's AI, the interfaces instructors and squadron commanders depend on daily, the architecture decisions that take this company from startup to aviation standard. Your code ships to university flight schools and military squadrons. Nothing here is theoretical. Navi is live at Embry-Riddle, Purdue, UND, Sling Pilot Academy, and the United States Air Force.
What you'll do
Build and scale the backend and data infrastructure that powers Navi's AI platform
Work directly with pilots, instructors, and military operators to build tools that work in the cockpit and the classroom
Integrate flight dynamics, telemetry, and cockpit audio into intelligent debrief and training systems
Make the architecture calls that define how Navi scales — the frameworks, the infrastructure, the technical bets
Ship code that goes live in aircraft — then iterate on real operator feedback, not hypotheticals
Interface with engineers across the entire stack from hardware integration to AI/ML to frontend.
About you
5+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a track record of designing, building, and operating complex systems in production
Demonstrated ability to lead projects end to end — from scoping and technical design through implementation, launch, and iteration — with minimal direction
Deep expertise in at least one core area (backend systems, distributed infrastructure, data engineering, or full-stack development) and working fluency across others
Experience designing systems for scale, reliability, and performance — you've made meaningful architectural decisions and lived with the consequences
Strong engineering judgment: you know when to build, when to buy, and when to cut scope. You make pragmatic tradeoffs under real constraints
History of raising the bar for teams around you — through code reviews, technical mentorship, establishing best practices, or driving engineering culture
Comfortable operating in ambiguity and moving fast without sacrificing quality. You've shipped in environments where the roadmap wasn't fully defined
Experience with modern data pipelines, real-time systems, or AI/ML integration
You've built something from zero — a product, a startup, a system that people actually used
Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS), CI/CD, containerization, and modern deployment tooling
Comfortable working directly with non-technical users and translating operator needs into engineering decisions
Nice to have
Familiarity with aviation systems, avionics data formats, or defense technology environments
Why this role matters
Pilots trust their lives to the systems in front of them. The intelligence platform we're building has to meet that same bar. As a founding engineer, your fingerprints will be on the architecture, the product, and the engineering culture at Navi.
What you'll get
Early-stage equity — real ownership in a category-defining company
Flight training — earn your pilot's license and build with true domain expertise
Impact you can see — your work will be used by pilots, flight schools, airlines, and the U.S. Air Force
A role that scales into technical leadership as we grow
How we work
Find a way. We don't wait for permission or perfect information. Ideas come from anywhere regardless of title. Figure it out, ship it, iterate.
Creativity over control. First principles over process. We'd rather have a creative solution that's 80% right today than a perfect one next quarter.
Update fast. Come in with a hypothesis, throw it away when the data says otherwise. Ego has no place here.
Intensity with focus. We work hard because the mission demands it. Clarity on what matters is how we make that sustainable.
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