Software Engineer, Developer Productivity

Chalk chalk.ai Open

Remote Worldwide Full-time Mid-level Software Engineering

At a glance

Mid-level Software Engineering role at Chalk. Remote · full-time · $170,000–$280,000 base.

SalaryStated by Chalk

$170,000 – $280,000

Base salary for this role, in USD per year, as published in the posting.

RoleSoftware Engineering

SeniorityMid-level

LocationWorldwide

WorkplaceRemote

EmploymentFull-time

Base pay$170,000–$280,000

PostedAug 13, 2026

Role brief

remoteroles summary, based on the employer's posting.

What you'll do

Take charge of Bazel setup, including compiler toolchains, dependency handling and remote execution
Create a shared container-based development workflow so engineers can run and build Chalk consistently
Set testing and benchmarking practices, then keep CI fast and dependable while reducing flaky tests
Speed up C++ and Rust builds and tests through caching, toolchain changes and cleaner dependencies

What you bring

At least five years working professionally as a software engineer, with C++ coding experience
Strong background in distributed systems
A computer science degree or equivalent experience; practical experience carries more weight than the credential
You communicate well across engineering teams and can set priorities and make practical tradeoffs independently

Who this fits

This mid-level, remote role suits an engineer who wants to own developer tooling across the engineering organization. Developer productivity experience is welcome, but the role is open to someone who can grow into that specialty.

From the employer

About Chalk

Chalk (chalk.ai) is the platform for production AI. Trusted by enterprises including Whatnot, Grindr, Mission Lane, Turo, and Apartment List, Chalk brings together context, runtime, and learning for agents and models. Chalk’s Context Engine delivers live context by querying data across warehouses, databases, streams, and APIs, straight from the source. Chalk’s runtime powers agents and models with infrastructure and governed access to LLMs and tools. Together, these capabilities help teams build AI that understands their business, continuously improves, and runs reliably in production. We've recently raised a $50 million Series A, led by Felicis. Learn more at chalk.ai.

About the role

We are hiring a Software Engineer to make every other engineer at Chalk move faster. You will be responsible for building our internal developer platform, from Bazel and CI through to release automation, and the tooling engineers use locally.

Today this work is spread across the engineering team alongside everything else people are shipping. You would be the first person to own it outright, set the priorities, and build the function from here.

Our product runs inside customers' airgapped environments, meaning we need our code deployments done right the first time. Chalk's engine is C++ and Rust with a Python interface, and it is held to a demanding latency bar of 100k QPS in 5ms. That means CI has to catch performance regressions, not just correctness bugs.

We run a mix of GitHub Actions and Buildkite today and are currently consolidating on Buildkite and Bazel. Bazel and containerized dev environments are where the next gains will come from.

To be successful in this role, C++ and distributed systems experience matter most. You will also need strong communication skills to work across an engineering org. Developer Productivity specific experience is highly desirable but we're open to ramping someone up.

What you will do

Own our Bazel build system, including toolchains, dependency management, and remote execution.
Work across the engineering organization to create a consistent experience for engineers to run and develop Chalk in containerized dev environments.
Establish test and benchmark patterns.
Own CI health, which includes speed and reliability.
Drive down test flakiness.
Make C++ and Rust builds and tests faster through toolchain work, caching, remote execution, and dependency hygiene.

What we're looking for

5+ years of professional experience as a Software Engineer, ideally in developer productivity.
C++ coding experience as a Software Engineer.
Strong Distributed Systems experience.
Ideally have hands-on Bazel experience. You have written and debugged BUILD files and Starlark, configured toolchains, and worked through either a real migration or in a large existing workspace.
Ability to work autonomously and to make pragmatic tradeoffs with an eye towards business outcomes.
Strong communication skills.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience. Strong experience matters more here than the credential.