Software Engineer, Infrastructure

Cursor7 months ago

Location

SF / NY

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 150,000 – 250,000

Level

Mid

Role

Backend Engineer

Posted

Jul 29, 2025

Full TimeMid

The role

Summary

Infrastructure Engineer role at Cursor (AI coding tool company) focused on building highly-scalable distributed systems supporting millions of programmers. The position involves working on retrieval systems, performance optimization, and complex infrastructure challenges in a small, talent-dense team environment.

What you'll do

Distributed Systems Architecture: Design and implement highly-available distributed systems to support Cursor's AI-powered coding platform

Large-Scale Data Processing: Build retrieval systems capable of processing 10+ billion files with optimal performance

Performance Engineering: Analyze flame graphs and optimize system performance, particularly reranking libraries

Infrastructure Management: Work with databases, proxies, caches, task queues, and orchestration systems

Code Analysis Infrastructure: Develop infrastructure for computing import graphs and shadow linting systems

Scalability Solutions: Address scaling challenges to support millions of programmers using the platform

System Monitoring: Implement monitoring and alerting systems for infrastructure health

Cross-team Collaboration: Work closely with research and product teams to support AI functionality

What we look for

Technical

Distributed SystemsStrong experience with designing and implementing distributed systems

Database SystemsProficiency with various database technologies and data modeling

Performance OptimizationExperience with performance profiling and optimization techniques

Cloud PlatformsExperience with AWS, GCP, or Azure cloud infrastructure

ContainerizationKnowledge of Docker, Kubernetes, and container orchestration

Education

Computer Science DegreeBachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience

Systems ProgrammingStrong foundation in systems programming and computer architecture

Experience

Infrastructure Engineering3-5 years of experience in infrastructure or backend engineering

Large-Scale SystemsExperience building systems that handle high traffic and large datasets

Production SystemsExperience maintaining and debugging production infrastructure

Skills

Required skills

Systems ProgrammingProficiency in systems-level programming languages

Distributed SystemsUnderstanding of distributed system design patterns and trade-offs

Database ManagementExperience with various database technologies and optimization

Performance AnalysisAbility to profile and optimize system performance

Cloud InfrastructureExperience with cloud platforms and infrastructure as code

Nice to have

AI/ML InfrastructureExperience building infrastructure for AI/ML applications

Large-Scale Data ProcessingExperience with big data processing frameworks

Search SystemsKnowledge of search and retrieval system architectures

Startup ExperiencePrevious experience in fast-paced startup environments

Open Source ContributionsActive contributions to relevant open source projects

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 150,000 – 250,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity Package

Significant equity stake in a high-growth AI company

In-Person Culture

Cozy offices in North Beach SF and Manhattan NYC with well-stocked libraries

Learning Environment

Work with a small, talent-dense team focused on cutting-edge AI research

Flexible Work Style

Flat organizational structure encouraging creativity and innovation

Professional Development

Exposure to latest AI/ML technologies and distributed systems

Interview process

1
Initial Screening — Resume review and initial fit assessment
2
Technical Interviews — 2-3 short technical interviews covering system design and coding
3
Onsite Interview — Full-day onsite in SF or NYC office including small project work, team discussions, and cultural fit assessment