Senior Software Engineer at Helicone (W23)
$130K - $180K  •  0.50% - 2.00%
LLM Observability for Developers
San Francisco, CA, US / Remote (US)
Full-time
3+ years
About Helicone

At Helicone.ai, we’re building the premier platform for LLM (Large Language Model) observability, empowering developers and data scientists with real-time insights and optimizations for their AI-powered applications. Our mission is to bridge the gap between complex AI systems and operational efficiency, providing tools that make it easier to track, analyze, and fine-tune LLM applications at scale.


Why Helicone?

  • Open Source Community:
    We are deeply committed to user-centric development and transparency. Our open-source platform thrives on community-driven innovation, ensuring every contribution shapes the future of AI observability.

  • Purpose-Built for LLM Developers:
    Designed by LLM developers for LLM developers, our tools streamline every aspect of building, deploying, and scaling LLM applications. From custom properties to caching, Helicone provides tailored solutions to enhance your workflows.

  • Right Time, Right Space:
    The LLM ecosystem is rapidly evolving, and in 5 years, there will be unicorns and giants in this space. We’re on track to becoming one of them, and joining us now means you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping this journey.


Culture at Helicone

Our HQ is in the heart of San Francisco, the hub of AI innovation, and our culture reflects the dynamic, fast-paced energy of the industry.

  • Collaborative and Fun:
    Every idea is heard and encouraged, fostering a creative and supportive work environment.

  • Team Building:

    • Weekly Team Lunches: Connect over food and celebrate wins together every Thursday.
    • Monthly Hackathons: Collaborate on creative side projects and compete for mini prizes in a fun, hands-on environment.
  • Flexibility and Autonomy:
    We trust our team to deliver and offer remote work options and flexible hours to balance productivity with personal time.


What We Value

  • Technical Excellence:
    We thrive on building efficient, maintainable systems. Engineers here take ownership of their projects from end to end.

  • Growth Mindset:
    Helicone is a place to solve complex challenges, learn from peers, and continuously improve your craft.

  • Adaptability:
    As a fast-growing startup, we pivot and iterate quickly. We value team members who excel in dynamic environments.


Perks & Benefits

  • Career Development: Opportunities for mentorship, technical ownership, and building a legacy in the LLM space.
  • Competitive Compensation: Includes equity, allowing you to share in the company’s growth.
  • Team Bonding: From hackathons to lunches, we foster an environment where collaboration and fun go hand in hand.

Interested in Building the Future of AI?

As a founding engineer at Helicone, you’ll work closely with the founders and team to build scalable systems, solve critical challenges, and own impactful engineering projects. Join us and make your mark on the rapidly evolving LLM space.

About the role
Skills: TypeScript, PostgreSQL

As a Senior Engineer at Helicone.ai, you will take on a leadership role within the engineering team, driving technical excellence and delivering impactful solutions that enhance the LLM developer experience. This role offers the opportunity to shape the future of AI observability while mentoring others and solving complex technical challenges in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

Key Responsibilities

  • Architect and Develop Solutions: Design and implement scalable systems that enhance the performance, reliability, and usability of Helicone’s platform.
  • Lead Backend Development:
    • Oversee core services, including:
    • Frontend services (**Node.js**)
    • Proxy worker (**Wrangler/Cloudflare**)
    • Application database (**Supabase**)
    • Analytics database (**ClickHouse**)
  • Optimize data pipelines to handle large-scale, real-time observability workloads.
  • Mentor and Guide the Team: Provide technical mentorship to junior engineers, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
  • Drive Technical Excellence: Advocate for best practices in code quality, testing, and architecture to ensure maintainable and efficient systems.
  • Collaborate Across Teams: Work with product managers, designers, and community contributors to develop features, integrations, and documentation.
  • Contribute to the Community: Engage with Helicone’s open-source community to gather feedback, improve the platform, and foster innovation.

Required Skills

  • Strong TypeScript Expertise: Deep experience working with TypeScript, which constitutes the majority of Helicone's codebase.
  • Database Proficiency: Experience with SQL databases and tools like ClickHouse, Supabase, and Postgres.
  • Cloud and Deployment: Familiarity with Kubernetes, Cloudflare Workers, Docker, and cloud platforms like AWS or GCP.
  • Leadership and Mentorship: Proven ability to guide and mentor engineers, fostering growth and collaboration.
  • Problem Solving at Scale: Experience designing systems to handle high-throughput, real-time data processing.
  • AI and LLM Knowledge: Familiarity with LLMs, their APIs, and the current AI landscape.
  • Adaptability and Ownership: A proactive mindset with the ability to own and deliver on complex projects end-to-end.

Helicone Tech Stack

  • Languages: TypeScript, Python
  • Frameworks: Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Express, ShadCN
  • Hosting: Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Vercel, Supabase
  • Services: Docker, Postgres, ClickHouse, Cloudflare Workers, Redis
  • Developer Tools: Unix, CLI, git
  • LLMs: OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, TogetherAI, and more

Why Join Helicone?

As a Senior Engineer, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping Helicone’s technical vision and scaling its impact. You’ll be part of a tight-knit, ambitious team in San Francisco, working on cutting-edge technology at the forefront of AI observability.

  • Technical Leadership: Your expertise will guide the team, influence architecture decisions, and ensure the platform's success.
  • Collaboration and Impact: Work closely with founders, engineers, and the community to drive meaningful improvements.
  • Dynamic Culture: Weekly team lunches, monthly hackathons, and an environment where innovation thrives.
  • Career Growth: Opportunities to lead, mentor, and work on groundbreaking AI challenges in a high-growth startup.

If you’re excited about solving complex technical problems, mentoring others, and driving the future of AI observability, we’d love to hear from you. Join Helicone and make a lasting impact!

Technology

Helicone Tech Stack and Challenges

At Helicone.ai, we combine a cutting-edge tech stack with a focus on solving complex problems in AI observability. Our platform is designed to give developers unparalleled insights into their applications' performance, costs, and behavior, all while being scalable, developer-friendly, and secure.


Tech Stack

  • Languages: TypeScript and Python power our core platform, offering flexibility and reliability for both backend and data-intensive tasks.
  • Frameworks: Next.js, React, Tailwind CSS, Express, and ShadCN form the foundation of our user-facing and backend systems, delivering seamless performance and intuitive interfaces.
  • Hosting: We deploy across Kubernetes, AWS, GCP, Vercel, and Supabase, ensuring scalability and flexibility to meet diverse deployment needs.
  • Services: Core components include Docker, Postgres, Clickhouse, Cloudflare Workers, and Redis, which together enable efficient data storage, processing, and caching for high-throughput systems.
  • LLMs: Our platform supports a variety of large language models, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, TogetherAI, and more, ensuring compatibility and flexibility for developers.
  • Developer Tools: We rely on Unix, CLI, and git to maintain a robust development workflow.

Challenges We’re Tackling

  1. Real-Time Observability at Scale:
    Building a platform that processes millions of events in real time requires highly optimized data pipelines. With Clickhouse and Redis, we ensure low-latency data ingestion and querying to deliver actionable insights instantly.

  2. Unified LLM Integrations:
    Supporting multiple LLM providers means creating unified abstractions that simplify diverse APIs. Developers can seamlessly integrate and switch between providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini without additional overhead.

  3. Prompt Management and Experimentation:
    We empower developers to track prompt versions, run experiments, and analyze metrics like cost, latency, and accuracy. This enables fine-tuned optimizations to improve performance and ROI for LLM applications.

  4. Data Privacy and Security:
    With enterprise customers relying on our platform, we maintain SOC 2 and GDPR compliance while implementing features like rate limiting, access control, and secure caching to safeguard sensitive data.


By joining Helicone, you’ll dive into some of the most exciting challenges in AI observability, from real-time analytics to developer-centric tooling. Our dynamic team is shaping the future of AI performance monitoring, and we’d love for you to be part of it!

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