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Competitive Programming Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Phonic

Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

Competitive programming or olympiad background Benefits * Top-tier compensation: in order to get the best talent, we provide salary and equity that recognize your skillset * Meals: free breakfast ...

AI Talent Now

Forward Deployed Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120 - $150/hr

If no CS degree, must demonstrate deep coding experience starting early (e.g. competitive programming, open source) * Can solve algorithmic/logic coding problems under pressure -- this is where most ...

Phonic, Inc.

Research Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$100 - $140/hr

Competitive programming or olympiad background Benefits * Top‑tier compensation: in order to get the best talent, we provide salary and equity that recognize your skillset * Meals: free breakfast ...

Visa Hunt

Research Engineer (General)

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$140 - $200/hr

A background in competitive programming, Olympiad medaling, research, or unusually strong independent project experience * Thrive in unstructured problem spaces * Strong communication skills for ...

Fuku

Member of Technical Staff Backend

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $280K/yr

... Competitive programming background. - Open-source contributions or strong GitHub projects. - Experience in AML/KYC/financial crime domains. Red Flags (Avoid) - Pure data scientists without ...

Nexla

Software Engineer (Bay Area)

San Mateo, CA · On-site

$150K - $180K/yr

A background in competitive programming or contributions to open-source projects. Why This Might Be Worth It * Unmatched scale: Your code will process billions of rows for global brands on day one.

Entravision Communications

Brand Manager

Burbank, CA · On-site

S. Hispanic audiences and the cultural nuances between Latin genres, while ensuring the station consistently delivers compelling, compliant, and competitive programming. Essential Functions • ...

Fuku

Member of Technical Staff Backend

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$150K - $280K/yr

... 280,000 + Competitive Equity Type: Full-Time Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT Priority: High ... The company is experiencing rapid growth and is expanding its engineering team to accelerate ...

interface.ai

Software Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$110 - $150/hr

Competitive programming (Codeforces, ICPC, USACO) -- a plus, not a requirement * Experience in fintech or banking infrastructure Benefits * 100% paid health, dental & vision care * 401(k) & financial ...

Nexla

Software Engineer (Bay Area)

California City, CA · On-site

A background in competitive programming or contributions to open-source projects. Why This Might Be Worth It * Unmatched scale: Your code will process billions of rows for global brands on day one.

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All JobsCompetitive Programming JobsCompetitive Programming Jobs in California

Competitive Programming information

See California salary details

$24.7K

$87.8K

$147K

How much do competitive programming jobs pay per year?

As of Sep 7, 2026, the average yearly pay for competitive programming in California is $87,782.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $61,700.00 and $114,500.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is competitive programming?

A Competitive Programming job typically involves problem-solving, algorithm design, and coding challenges similar to those found in programming contests. These roles are common in organizations that focus on algorithm-intensive domains, such as tech giants, fintech firms, and research labs. Professionals in this field often work on optimizing code performance, developing efficient solutions, and sometimes contributing to training competitive programming teams. While it is not a conventional job title, competitive programming skills are highly valued in software engineering, algorithm development, and technical interview preparation roles.

What does a competitive programmer do?

In a professional environment, a Competitive Programmer often spends their days solving algorithmic challenges, participating in coding contests, and refining their skills through practice and learning new techniques. They may also collaborate with teammates to prepare for team-based competitions or share strategies for tackling particularly difficult problems. While much of the work is individual, there are frequent knowledge-sharing sessions and team meetings to discuss solutions and approaches. This role generally requires staying up-to-date with the latest trends in algorithms and optimizing code for both speed and efficiency, making continuous learning an integral part of the job.

What skills and qualifications are needed to thrive in competitive programming?

To thrive as a Competitive Programmer, you need advanced problem-solving abilities, strong algorithmic knowledge, and proficiency in programming languages such as C++, Java, or Python. Familiarity with online competitive programming platforms (e.g., Codeforces, LeetCode, HackerRank) and participation in recognized contests or earning relevant certifications are valuable. Resilience, time management, and the ability to work well under pressure set standout candidates apart in this role. These skills are crucial for consistently solving complex problems efficiently and performing well in high-stress, time-limited competitions.

What are the most commonly searched types of Competitive Programming jobs in California?

The most popular types of Competitive Programming jobs in California are:

What are popular job titles related to Competitive Programming jobs in California?

For Competitive Programming jobs in California, the most frequently searched job titles are:

What job categories do people searching Competitive Programming jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Competitive Programming jobs in California are:

Competitive Programming jobs near you
Infographic showing various Competitive Programming job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 79% Full Time, 16% Part Time, and 4% Contract. Highlights an 89% Physical, 2% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $87,782 per year, or $42.2 per hour.

Research Engineer

Phonic

San Francisco, CA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement

Re-posted 28 days ago

Job description

About Phonic
Phonic is a product and research lab focused on powering the most realistic, human-like voice AI conversations. We've re-thought the entire stack in pursuit of this goal, from models to product, to create voice agents that feel like they truly understand you, respond emotionally and perform agentic tasks with frontier intelligence.
Our team includes top-tier AI researchers, international olympiad medalists, and former founders.
Our customers include companies that are building voice-native AI products in industries such as customer support, healthcare, and logistics. We have raised over $30M from tier 1 VCs.
About the Team
Phonic has a very talent-dense and close-knit team. We collaborate with high trust and are constantly trying to improve how we work to deliver world-class research and product. Everyone takes ownership in what they do and they aren't afraid to dive in headfirst into new problems. Our team includes top-tier AI researchers, international olympiad medalists, and former founders and we're fully in-person in our SF office.
About The Role
As a Research Engineer at Phonic, you'll sit at the intersection of cutting-edge ML research and production engineering, working directly on the core systems that make Phonic's voice AI feel genuinely human. You'll design, train, and iterate on models across the voice stack (speech, audio, language, and beyond), while also building the infrastructure and tooling needed to move fast from research idea to deployed product.
This is a role for someone who thrives in ambiguity, moves with urgency, and takes full ownership of problems. You'll work closely with researchers and product engineers in a high trust, in-person environment in our SF office to push the frontier of what voice AI can do.
What You'll Do
  • Design, implement, and iterate on models across the voice stack from audio and speech to language and beyond
  • Build the training pipelines, evaluation frameworks, and tooling that let us experiment and iterate quickly
  • Translate research results into production-grade systems alongside our engineering team
  • Form hypotheses, chase down interesting results, and take ownership over the problems you work on

What You'll Bring
  • Hands-on experience in ML research or research engineering, industry or PhD-level academia
  • Proficiency in Python and PyTorch (or JAX), and the ability to implement models cleanly from papers
  • Experience running ML experiments end-to-end: data processing, training, evaluation, and iteration
  • Comfort in fast-moving, ambiguous environments - defining the problem is part of the job
  • The ability to clearly explain what you tried, what worked, and why
Nice To Have
  • Research experience in speech, audio, or language modeling (ASR, TTS, LLMs, codec models)
  • Familiarity with diffusion, flow matching, or autoregressive generative models
  • Experience with distributed training, quantization, or inference optimization
  • Competitive programming or olympiad background
Benefits
  • Top-tier compensation: in order to get the best talent, we provide salary and equity that recognize your skillset
  • Meals: free breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided in the office
  • Healthcare: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision
  • We have regular off-sites and team celebrations
  • 401(k) - Let us help you plan for the future. We've got you covered.

Apply