Staff Software Engineer (Government)

Who We Are

At TwelveLabs, we are pioneering the development of cutting-edge multimodal foundation models that have the ability to comprehend videos just like humans do. Our models have redefined the standards in video-language modeling, empowering us with more intuitive and far-reaching capabilities, and fundamentally transforming the way we interact with and analyze various forms of media.

With a remarkable $107 million in Seed and Series A funding, our company is backed by top-tier venture capital firms such as NVIDIA’s NVentures, NEA, Radical Ventures, and Index Ventures, and prominent AI visionaries and founders such as Fei-Fei Li, Silvio Savarese, Alexandr Wang, and more. Headquartered in San Francisco, with an influential APAC presence in Seoul, our global footprint underscores our commitment to driving worldwide innovation.

We are a global company that values the uniqueness of each person’s journey. It is the differences in our cultural, educational, and life experiences that allow us to constantly challenge the status quo. We are looking for individuals who are motivated by our mission and eager to make an impact as we push the bounds of technology to transform the world. Join us as we revolutionize video understanding and multimodal AI.

About the Role

We're looking for a Software Engineer with strong backend expertise to join our Government pod, helping deliver state-of-the-art TwelveLabs' models and products for U.S. public-sector customers. You'll play a key role in designing, building, and scaling systems that power our platform end-to-end — from robust APIs and data pipelines to custom model inference engines.

You will ensure that our platform can deploy in both secure cloud and on-premise environments as a self-managed containerized solution. The work blends deep engineering with security and compliance understanding designed to meet FedRAMP, CMMC, and DoD SRG Impact Levels. You'll build for constrained networks and hardware, rigorous supply-chain practices, and high-reliability operations.

This role is only eligible for US citizens; prior top-secret clearance is a plus though not required. While this role is remote eligible for candidates residing in the United States, remote employees will need to travel to the office for team meetups or other events as needed.

In this role, you will

Backend Systems & APIs: Design and implement scalable RESTful APIs (OpenAPI-compliant) that power features such as embedding, indexing, search and video analysis, integrating with model inference pipelines.

System Architecture: Architect and optimize high-throughput, service-oriented backend systems for enterprise-grade Kubernetes deployments to ensure low latency, high availability, and scalability.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with Machine Learning engineers, Infrastructure Engineers and Forward Deployed Engineers to deliver end-to-end solutions, ensuring smooth integration between backend systems, AI pipelines, and user interfaces.

Quality & Standards: Drive adherence to coding standards, best practices, and optimization techniques across the stack, delivering high-quality, reliable, and maintainable systems.

You may be a good fit if you have:

Required Experience

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience building applications and tools for government customers, with features such as auditable workflows, secure authentication, and role-based access controls.

• Backend: Deep knowledge of service-oriented architecture (SOA), RESTful APIs, microservices, and distributed systems. Strong understanding of scalable database design (relational and NoSQL). Familiarity with industry standard authentication and authorization techniques.

• AI Inference: Deep knowledge and experience building and integrating with custom model inference engines using the Torch framework in Python, Rust, or Go.

• Polyglot: Familiar with developing polyglot microservices in a monorepo using GitFlow best practices.

• Infra: Familiar with Docker, Kubernetes, and infrastructure scaling for containerized applications using GPUs. Exposure to IaC tools (ex. Helm, Docker Compose, Terraform), and observability tools (ex. Prometheus, OpenTelemetry, Grafana).

Collaboration & Mindset

• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and first-principles thinking for tackling complex technical challenges.

• Exceptional communication skills, able to clearly articulate technical concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Thrives in agile, fast-paced environments, demonstrating adaptability, resilience, and a strong ownership mindset.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with video technologies (FFmpeg, AWS Media Services) and integrating backend systems with AI/ML pipelines for video analysis (e.g., object detection, motion tracking, summarization).

• Startup Agility: Experience thriving in fast-paced startup environments, with a demonstrated ability to adapt quickly and deliver results with agility

Even if there are a few checkboxes that aren’t ticked through your prior experience, we still encourage you to apply! If you are a 0-1 achiever, a ferocious learner, and a kind and fun team player who motivates others, you will find a home at TwelveLabs.

We are a global company that values the uniqueness of each person’s journey. It is the differences in our cultural, educational, and life experiences that allow us to constantly challenge the status quo. We are looking for individuals who are motivated by our mission and eager to make an impact as we push the bounds of technology to transform the world. Join us as we revolutionize video understanding and multimodal AI.

Benefits and Perks

🤝 An open and inclusive culture and work environment.

🧑‍💻 Work closely with a collaborative, mission-driven team on cutting-edge AI technology.

🦷 Full health, dental, and vision benefits.

✈️ Flexible PTO and parental leave policy. Office closed the week of Christmas and New Years.

🛂 VISA support (such as H1B and OPT transfer for US employees).