Software Engineer - Backend/Distributed Systems

Emerald AI is a green technology company operating at the intersection of artificial intelligence infrastructure and power grid management. The company develops software and platform solutions that make AI data centers flexible electricity consumers, enabling them to dynamically adjust their power demand in response to grid conditions. This approach transforms data centers from passive power users into active grid partners, helping utilities and grid operators manage stress on existing infrastructure without requiring costly new transmission or generation capacity. Emerald AI's flagship product, the Conductor platform, serves as an intelligent operating layer between power grids and data centers, coordinating real-time power flexibility while guaranteeing AI workload performance. Emerald AI's mission is centered on enabling the continued scaling of AI infrastructure without triggering grid crises, blackouts, or prohibitive energy cost increases for consumers. The company estimates that intelligent demand flexibility can unlock up to 100 GW of latent capacity on existing grid infrastructure, dramatically accelerating AI deployment timelines while also supporting grid reliability and clean energy integration. By reducing the need to build redundant generation and transmission assets, Emerald AI contributes directly to climate and sustainability goals in the energy sector. The company has achieved significant recognition and commercial traction, being named a 2026 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer and a 2026 TIME100 Most Influential Company. Emerald AI has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA on its DSX Flex deployment with Silicon Valley Power, and is working within ERCOT's new framework for grid-responsive AI infrastructure in Texas. These milestones position Emerald AI as a pioneering force in the emerging field of grid-interactive AI infrastructure.

About Emerald AI

We’re at a pivotal moment for AI and energy. Demand for compute is skyrocketing, but power constraints are becoming a critical bottleneck. Emerald AI sits at the intersection of these two worlds, enabling AI data centers to scale without overwhelming the grid.

Our Emerald Conductor software platform makes data centers flexible and responsive, allowing them to adjust power usage dynamically. This unlocks massive AI growth without major new infrastructure, while also strengthening the grid and supporting the expansion of renewable energy.

We’re a team of experts across AI, cloud, software, and energy—on a mission to scale AI sustainably. We’re backed by leading investors and partners including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

Learn more about our vision, team, and backers at https://www.emeraldai.co/.

About the Role

We’re hiring a Distributed Systems / Backend Engineer to serve as a key contributor on the core backend platform powering Emerald AI. This is a high-impact role: you will drive architectural decisions, introduce best practices, build foundational infrastructure, and help guide the evolution of our real-time energy intelligence engine.

You’ll work across ingestion, compute, storage, and system orchestration—designing components that must be highly reliable, resilient, and capable of operating at scale. As one of the early engineering hires, you’ll have a major influence on our stack, roadmap, and long-term technical direction.

We hire across levels, from early-career to staff+, with expectations and scope aligned to your ability to drive outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Designing and scaling systems that interact with real-world energy infrastructure

• Building high-performance services and APIs that power core product workflows

• Tackling hard problems in reliability, data modeling, and system design

• Shipping end-to-end features—from idea to production

• Improving system observability, performance, and fault tolerance

• Partnering closely with product to turn ambiguous problems into shipped solutions

For senior candidates, you’ll have immediate opportunities to:

• Drive architecture and technical direction

• Lead ambiguous, high-impact initiatives

• Mentor and elevate other engineers

Who Thrives Here

• Engineers who want to build, not just maintain

• People who take ownership without waiting for permission

• Those who enjoy figuring things out when the path isn’t obvious

• Engineers who care about both technical excellence and real-world impact

• People who prefer high trust, high accountability environments

Preferred requirements

• Experience with distributed systems or data-intensive applications

• Experience building and operating backend or infrastructure systems with a focus on reliability, performance, and scalability

• Interest in grid systems, energy orchestration, and applying AI to real-world infrastructure

• Experience working on real-time or near real-time systems

• Comfort operating in ambiguous environments and turning open-ended problems into production systems

• Strong system design skills, including tradeoffs across latency, consistency, and scalability

• Ability to work across the stack when needed to unblock progress

What We Offer

• Make an impact. Solve the AI power bottleneck and shape how data centers scale sustainably.

• Join a world-class team of AI, cloud, software, and energy experts in a collaborative, low-ego environment.

• Build from 0→1. Influence strategy, GTM, org design, and customer/investor engagement from day one.

• Competitive pay + equity. Stock options let you share in the value you help create.

• Comprehensive benefits, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) matching.

• Flexible location. Work from D.C., Boston, or the Bay Area, with 1 WFH day/week.

• Backed by top investors, including Radical Ventures and NVIDIA.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, and any other protected ground of discrimination under applicable human rights legislation.

Emerald AI strives to respect the dignity and ‎independence of people with disabilities and is committed to giving them the same ‎‎opportunity to succeed as all other employees.

Inclusiveness is core to our culture at Emerald AI, and we strive to ensure you get the most from your interview experience. Emerald AI makes reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities. If a reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, please reach out to the Talent team.