Senior Software Engineer, Build - NYC at Astronomer
New York, NY
$200,000–$230,000from the description
Jul 23, 2026
New York, NY
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A software engineering role focused on building an AI-powered context layer for data pipelines — covering semantic search, metadata-driven code generation, and automated root cause analysis. The work sits across applied research and product engineering, requiring hands-on experience with Python or Go and familiarity with LLMs, embeddings, or vector databases. The role suits engineers comfortable with ambiguity and early-stage product development, based hybrid in New York City.
Senior level · 5+ years · New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 10,300 people in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 7,700–13,400
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $170,499 (middle half $133,523–$210,499). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (5)
The title is simply 'Software Engineer' with no level modifier, so advertised seniority is Unspecified; the 5–8 year experience range and scope of work (designing a context/intelligence layer, influencing architecture) support a Senior classification.
Python and Go are presented as interchangeable options in the requirements section ('Python or Go'); Python is listed as the primary name with Go in alternatives.
LLMs, vector databases, and embeddings appear in the requirements section but are softened with 'or a strong desire to dive in', suggesting they are not hard rejection criteria — treated as preferred.
Apache Airflow, agentic systems, open-source contributions, search/IR experience, and startup/R&D exposure all appear under the explicit 'Bonus points if you have' section — treated as preferred.
The $200,000–$230,000 range is stated as total compensation (inclusive of equity and benefits); the base salary component alone may be lower. The figures are reported as stated.
Read the full posting
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