About us
Encord is the universal data layer for AI that helps 300+ AI teams train and run models on the right data. Our platform indexes, curates, annotates, and evaluates data across the full AI lifecycle, from development through production.
Trusted by Woven by Toyota, AXA, UiPath, Zipline, and more. We're an ambitious team of 100+ working at the frontier of AI and have raised $60M in Series C funding from Wellington Management, CRV, Next47 and Y Combinator.
The role
We're looking for a great engineer to join a small, highly collaborative team building the backbone of a highly performant, large-scale data platform. You'll join us at a crucial stage of accelerated development, with end-to-end ownership of core product infrastructure — from design and architecture through to deployment and measuring impact.
What you'll do
Build and maintain highly performant, reliable systems that handle billions of items of structured data at scale
Take end-to-end ownership of projects — from product, design, and architectural decisions through to deployment, monitoring, and measuring user impact
Operate with a high degree of autonomy while collaborating closely with a lean, high-trust team
Tackle complex technical problems and solve them with simple, maintainable solutions
Take initiative, be proactive in problem-solving, and continuously seek improvement
Who we're looking for
A highly experienced engineer who has personally built and maintained systems from scratch, with a deep understanding of the trade-offs involved in building reliable, performant software at speed
Demonstrated experience building and maintaining relational DB systems like PostgreSQL at large scale (10⁸+ rows) in mission-critical settings
Bonus: prior experience with large-scale columnar storage systems such as ClickHouse and/or vector stores like Vespa
Someone who seeks high impact — you want your work to have a tangible outcome and aren't satisfied by work that doesn't move the needle
Comfortable with uncertainty — happy to tackle problems without a predefined solution and excited to make decisions autonomously
A team player who helps others contribute their best and enjoys levelling up those around them
Experience requirements
Strong experience with a proven track record building and scaling high-performance backend systems
Strong experience with relational databases at scale (PostgreSQL preferred)
Familiarity with Python and/or TypeScript; experience with Rust a plus
Experience with Kubernetes and cloud infrastructure (GCP preferred)
Prior experience at a fast-paced startup or high-growth tech environment preferred
Tech stack
We are technology agnostic at Encord and not looking for experience across all of these — as long as you're open to learning, please apply.
Backend: Python
Frontend: TypeScript and React
Deployment: Kubernetes
Infrastructure: GCP
Machine Learning: PyTorch, CUDA, Ray
Why Encord
Competitive salary and meaningful equity in a high-growth startup
Strong in-person culture — most of the team works from our London office 4+ days/week
25 days annual leave + UK public holidays
Annual learning & development budget
Travel for customer visits, events, and conferences across the UK and Europe
Company lunches twice a week
Monthly socials & bi-annual team offsites
Encord