Senior Product Engineer Discourse Graphs
Astera Institute is an active nonprofit research institute and foundation that operates in-house neuroscience-informed AI research and funds, operates, and supports open-science programs and public goods.
About Astera Institute
Astera operates three divisions: Neuro-AI, Radial life-sciences research, and its Foundation. Its AI work pursues neuroscience-informed approaches to artificial general intelligence, while its foundation and Radial activities support open scientific infrastructure, datasets, research programs, and residencies.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will prototype, build, test, and maintain tools that help researchers document, connect, and evaluate claims and evidence. You will improve plugins, turn promising product ideas into usable software, work across interfaces, data layers, and APIs, and use researcher feedback to guide what progresses into maintainable products. You will make reversible technical decisions independently and discuss higher-cost decisions with the tech lead.
Requirements
- Record of shipping user-facing products from early prototype to products people rely on
- Fluency in TypeScript and a modern front-end stack
- Comfort working across interfaces, data layers, and APIs
- Experience building with large language models, such as agent tools, MCP servers, or retrieval over structured data
- Experience talking with users and working alongside designers and engineers
- Use AI coding tools regularly and take responsibility for production code
Responsibilities
- Build and test early product versions for researchers
- Develop tools for claims, evidence, manuscripts, and research knowledge bases
- Improve plugins so new users receive useful results quickly
- Turn promising ideas into prototypes and maintainable products
- Work across user interfaces, data layers, and APIs
- Use researcher feedback to prioritize and refine products
- Collaborate with the designer, product manager, engineers, and tech lead
- Make technical decisions and discuss expensive decisions with the tech lead
Benefits
- Flexible working hours and remote working
- Astera-sponsored health, vision, and dental benefits for employees
- Onboarding help from peer product teams
Hiring Process
30-minute introductory call; up to 90-minute working session with two interviewers; founder discussion about product priorities and success measures; two reference checks from an engineer and a designer or product manager.