Software Engineer, Backend (Release Engineering) at Benchling
San Francisco, CA
$148,000–$200,000
Jul 22, 2026
San Francisco, CA
Jul 24, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A software engineering role focused on building and maintaining internal developer tooling — covering the full pipeline from development and testing through to production release. The work centers on improving engineering workflows through new frameworks and iterative feedback, in close collaboration with product and engineering teams. Suited to engineers with at least two years of experience and comfort in Python or Node.js who care about developer experience.
Mid level · 2+ years · San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA · 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 13,800 people in the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 10,400–18,000
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 $190,744 (middle half $167,095–$224,501).
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 role sits at the intersection of software development and developer tooling/release engineering (CI/CD, packaging, build systems). It is classified as Software Developers (15-1252) because the primary day-to-day work is writing and shipping code — building internal tooling and frameworks — rather than operating existing infrastructure. 15-1244 is noted as a runner-up given the release/platform engineering framing.
The web framework requirement lists 'node or python' as interchangeable options under the Qualifications (required) section. Both are captured as a single requirement with alternatives, since the JD treats them as substitutes for the same gate.
No compensation range is disclosed in the posting.
Location is inferred as San Francisco, CA based on the reference to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. The role is hybrid (3 days/week on-site), not fully remote.
The posting carries no explicit seniority level in the title. With only 2+ years required and responsibilities scoped to a single team's tooling, this maps to Mid-level.
Read the full posting
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