Platform Engineer, Security Senior/Staff

About Pallet

Pallet is building AI Agents to transform logistics - a $12 trillion global industry. We've raised $50M from top investors, including General Catalyst, Bessemer Venture Partners, and Bain Capital Ventures. In under two years, we've achieved 700% revenue growth and are just getting started.

Our mission is to increase the efficiency of the global supply chain by automating the manual workflows that slow logistics teams down - from scheduling and appointment setting to data entry and load management. Our flagship platform provides end-to-end visibility, control, and optimization, while our newest product, CoPallet, introduces AI Agents that can understand and execute requests in real time, and integrate directly with customer systems.

As logistics providers look to generative AI to drive efficiency, many are turning to Pallet to lead the way. With deep industry expertise and cutting-edge AI capabilities, we're positioned to build the next $10B company in logistics.

Join us and work alongside leaders from Google, DoorDash, YC, and more to shape the future of logistics tech.

About the Opportunity

Pallet is building infrastructure for AI-powered logistics, systems that operate real-world workflows across warehouses, freight, and supply chains. We are looking for engineers to define the foundations: the abstractions, tools, and guardrails that make systems reliable, scalable, and easy to change. You will partner closely with a team that has built and scaled systems at companies like Google, Ramp, Scale AI, DoorDash, and Rippling to define how AI-native infrastructure should work from first principles.

Why This Role Is Different

This role is as much about how we build as what we build.

• High agency: we don't wait for direction, we identify what matters, take ownership, and drive it to completion
• Leverage over activity: we focus on eliminating entire classes of problems through better systems, not managing them with process or manual effort
• Build the right defaults: we design systems where reliability, security, and correctness are built in, not bolted on later
• Pragmatic engineering: every decision is a tradeoff; we value engineers who optimize for simplicity and effectiveness over theoretical perfection
• Velocity with direction: we move quickly on reversible decisions while staying disciplined about solving the problems that matter
• Direct collaboration: we work closely with founders and other engineers with minimal layers or overhead

What You'll Work On

• Drive reliability and resilience across systems
• Own and evolve observability to make production transparent and debuggable
• Diagnose and resolve complex performance and correctness issues
• Design and operate multi-region and multi-cloud infrastructure with strong isolation boundaries, failover, and global scalability
• Establish security guardrails and primitives that enforce security by default
• Develop systems to train, operate, and evaluate world-class AI models/agents
• Improve developer velocity without sacrificing safety or correctness
• Help define engineering standards and best practices as an early team member
• Take ownership of high-impact problems across the stack, including areas beyond those listed above, aligned with your strengths and interests

What We're Looking For

• 6+ years in backend or platform engineering
• Strong software engineering fundamentals - this is a coding-heavy role
• Experience building systems, abstractions, or internal tools with real leverage 
• Ability to own projects end-to-end from design to rollout
• Comfort working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments
• Clear, pragmatic thinking around system design and tradeoffs

Nice to Have

• Infrastructure fundamentals, such as cloud, containers, and networking
• Experience improving reliability through design and code, not just operations
• Practical security knowledge, such as auth and common vulnerabilities
• Experience at early-stage or high-growth startups

Our tech stack

• Database: PostgreSQL
• Backend: Node.js + TypeScript, Encore for server-side development and managed DevOps, hosted on GCP
• LLMs: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google (foundation models), Browserbase (browser automation)
• Frontend: React + TypeScript, hosted on Vercel

Interview Process

• Intro Chat with Head of Talent (30 mins)
• Technical Screen + Meet and Greet with an Engineer (60 mins) 
• Executive Chat - Nilkanth, CTO (30-45 mins)
• Final Interview, visit our Fidi office, and deep dive into technical and behavioral interviews (~3.5 hours)

Location

• San Francisco: Since we're a small team building 0-1 products, we prefer candidates to be comfortable working in an in-office environment in San Francisco. We typically come into the office 5 days a week. Relocation assistance can be provided for interested candidates.
• New York: Satellite Office with ~8 Pallet employees across engineering, operations, and success - we are seeking to hire and grow out the team more here. The team typically comes into the office 4-5 days a week. Relocation assistance is not provided for our New York office.

Compensation

The estimated salary range for this role is $195,000 - $265,000, depending on experience and skill set. In addition to base salary, we offer competitive equity, benefits, and opportunities for growth. Final compensation will be determined based on a combination of factors, including experience, qualifications, and location.

Top-Tier Benefits

Health, Vision, and Dental benefits 

️ Flexible PTO

Life Insurance and Accidental Insurance 

️ Short-Term Disability Coverage

Generous salary and equity for all staff

401k option; helping you save for the future

Yearly learning and development stipend

Commuter benefits 

Uber ride stipend if you ever have to work late in the office 

Office home stipend to get you comfy in your space

Daily catered lunches provided by Sharebite (every meal you order, one meal gets donated)

Monthly happy hours

Annual Company Offsites; this year we'll be headed to Palm Springs  

Pallet is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.