Senior Software Engineer

Senior Software EngineerFull-Time Position | Portland, OregonAbout UsRapta is revolutionizing precision US manufacturing with an agentic native AI Platform trusted by the nation's top defense primes. Backed by top investors and growing 521% year-over-year, we're a Portland-based team building computer vision and robotics technology that keeps America's most critical production lines running flawlessly. If you want to do meaningful work at the intersection of AI and advanced manufacturing, we'd love to meet you.Position OverviewWe're seeking an experienced Senior Software Engineer to join our team in developing distributed, cutting-edge applied AI systems. This is a full-time position working directly with our engineering team to drive technical innovation and mentor mid-level and junior engineers.What You'll DoContribute to the architecture and development of production-grade distributed microservice systems running on LinuxDrive technical initiatives to advance our service mesh, contract-first APIs, and inter-service communication patternsBuild scalable data processing pipelines and high-throughput service infrastructureDesign and evolve protobuf contracts and gRPC service definitions across the platformProvide technical guidance to junior team membersWhat We're Looking For10+ years of professional experience developing distributed backend systems on LinuxDeep curiosity for all software and systems architecture topicsExpert-level Python programming and software architecture skillsStrong system design skills with a focus on service boundaries, API contracts, and fault toleranceFluency operating in Linux environments — comfortable living in the shell, reading logs, and reasoning about process, network, and filesystem behaviorExcellence in technical communication and documentationRequired Technical SkillsExpertise in prompt engineering and AI-assisted development as a daily practice — Claude Code, Augment, Copilot, or equivalent is a force multiplier in your workflow, not a noveltyExpertise in designing and operating microservice architectures at scaleDeep experience with gRPC and Protocol Buffers — schema evolution, streaming RPCs, interceptors, and contract-first developmentProficiency with version control and CI/CD practicesExperience with containerized deployments (Docker on Linux hosts), service discovery, and distributed computingStrong grasp of observability: distributed tracing, structured logging, and metricsHighly Competitive Candidates Will Also BringPrevious experience in manufacturing, industrial automation, or quality control systemsExperience with monorepo build systems (Bazel, Buck, Pants) and polyglot protobuf code generationFamiliarity with backwards/forwards compatibility patterns and API versioning at scaleExperience with real-time processing and edge computing constraints on resource-constrained Linux devicesExperience with configuration management and infrastructure-as-code (Ansible, Terraform) for Linux fleet operationsWhy Join Us?Work with cutting-edge technology in a high-impact industryMeaningful early-stage equity at a late seed-stage companyCompetitive compensation and benefits packageProfessional development and learning opportunitiesOpportunity to shape manufacturing technology that impacts American industryLocation RequirementsCandidates local to the Portland, Oregon metro area will be considered highly competitive for this role. While we will consider remote applicants on a case-by-case basis, local presence is strongly valued and may be a deciding factor.Equal OpportunityRapta is committed to hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer, making decisions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.How to ApplyNo recruiters or agencies — we only accept applications directly from applicants.