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Competitive Programming Jobs in California (NOW HIRING)

Nexla

Software Engineer (Bay Area)

San Mateo, 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.

interface.ai

Software Engineer

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$135K - $175K/yr

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 ...

interface.ai

Software Engineer II

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$170K - $215K/yr

Open-source contributions or competitive programming * Experience in fintech or banking infrastructure Benefits 100% paid health, dental & vision care 401(k) & financial wellness perks Daily meals on ...

Listen Labs

Engagement Manager

San Francisco, CA · On-site

Over 30% of our team are former founders, and multiple are competitive programming medalists. * Hypergrowth : Since launching, Listen has grown annualized revenue 15x and completed over 2 million ...

interface.ai

Software Engineer II

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$120 - $190/hr

Open-source contributions or competitive programming * Experience in fintech or banking infrastructure Benefits 100% paid health, dental & vision care 401(k) & financial wellness perks Daily meals on ...

Pragmatike

Member of ML Technical Staff

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$200K - $350K/yr

Competitive programming * Building large-scale ML systems from first principles A strong undergraduate degree is expected, ideally from a highly selective technical university. Advanced degrees are ...

Goaly

Member of Technical Staff, New Grad

Menlo Park, CA · On-site

$120 - $170/hr

Strong results in research, competitive programming, systems or ML competitions, technical internships, or early-stage startup work. * Evidence that you can turn an idea into a working artifact ...

Listen Labs

Insights Strategist

San Francisco, CA · On-site

Over 30% of our team are former founders, and multiple are competitive programming medalists. * Hypergrowth : Since launching, Listen has grown annualized revenue 15x and completed over 2 million ...

Listen Labs

Customer Success Manager

San Francisco, CA · On-site

Over 30% of our team are former founders, and multiple are competitive programming medalists. * Hypergrowth: Since launching, Listen has grown annualized revenue 15x and completed over 2 million ...

Listen Labs

Customer Success Manager

San Francisco, CA · On-site

$110 - $190/hr

Over 30% of our team are former founders, and multiple are competitive programming medalists. * Hypergrowth : Since launching, Listen has grown annualized revenue 15x and completed over 2 million ...

Hark

Member of Technical Staff, Mid-training

San Jose, CA · On-site

$180K - $450K/yr

We expect strong candidates to come from a range of backgrounds - RL research, robotics, competitive programming systems, compilers, formal methods, or large-scale ML - rather than post-training ...

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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.

Software Engineer (Bay Area)

Nexla

San Mateo, CA • On-site

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Retirement, PTO

Posted 14 days ago

Job description

About Nexla
Nexla is the leading Integration platform, built with AI, for AI. Nexla takes a metadata driven approach to converge diverse integrations across Data, Documents, Agents, Applications, and APIs into a single design pattern. We accelerate the development of solutions for GenAI, Analytics, and Inter-company data. Nexla makes data users and developers up to 10x more productive by delivering a true blend of no-code, low-code, and pro-code interfaces.
Leading companies including DoorDash, LinkedIn, Johnson & Johnson, and LiveRamp trust Nexla for mission-critical data. Named in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Data Integration Tools and top-rated by customers on Gartner Peer Insights, headquartered in San Mateo, California.
At Nexla, our culture is built around our core values: Have Empathy, Be Curious, Be Intellectually Honest, Achieve Excellence, and Remember to Relax. We put our customers at the heart of everything we do, foster a data-driven mindset, take ownership of our work, and believe in the power of teamwork to achieve ambitious goals.
RoleWe process 500+ billion rows daily, and we are now building the next generation of our platform around AI-native connectors, distributed Python runtimes (Ray), and LLM-powered data workflows. We operate with the intensity of a seed-stage startup and we aren't looking for "cogs in a machine." We are looking for builders who move fast, own outcomes, and don't wait to be told what to do.
As an early-career engineer at Nexla, you will write core code, debug production systems, and help us ship intelligent, context-aware connectors and agentic workflows that power the GenAI revolution.
Responsibilities
  • Build AI-native connectors (70%): Implement intelligent connectors that combine traditional integration primitives (pagination, schema evolution, rate-limiting, retries) with LLM-driven capabilities (semantic understanding, agentic recovery, natural-language tool design). You own your code from the first line to the final deployment.
  • Work with LLMs in production: Design prompts, tool schemas, evaluation harnesses, and guardrails for LLM-backed features.
  • Build on distributed Python runtimes: Dive into Ray, Arrow, and modern data-processing stacks (Polars, DuckDB) as part of our agentic runtime initiative. You'll learn how to tune them for throughput, latency, and cost.
  • Solve "dirty" data problems: Real-world data is messy. You'll build self-recovery mechanisms, agentic probes, and automated retries that keep massive pipelines running without human intervention.
  • Work across the stack: Move fluidly between backend services, runtime code, agent orchestration, and the occasional frontend touch-up. We don't believe in narrow swim lanes.
  • Architectural growth: Work directly with our CTO and senior leads to understand why we make certain tech choices and how to design for multi-tenancy, low latency, and AI-native workflows.
  • Documentation & quality: "Done" means documented. You'll write SDK docs and RFCs so the rest of the platform and our customers can build on what you ship.

Qualifications
Must-Haves
  • 2-5 years of software engineering experience.
  • Polyglot fluency: Strong in at least one modern backend language (Python, Java/Kotlin/Scala, C++, Go, Rust) and comfortable picking up others as needed. We don't care which language you started in - we care that you can pattern-match across them.
  • Full-stack range: Comfortable working across backend, data/runtime, and at least dipping into frontend or infra when the problem calls for it. Specialists who refuse to leave their lane are not a fit.
  • CS fundamentals: Data structures, algorithms, concurrency, REST/HTTP, and a working mental model of distributed systems.
  • High agency, high urgency, high ownership: You don't wait for a perfectly groomed ticket. You diagnose, you decide, you ship, and you communicate. You treat production issues as your problem regardless of whose code it was.
  • The "builder" spirit: A GitHub repo, side project, technical blog, or open-source contribution that shows you love to tinker and learn.
  • AI-native: You already use AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, agentic workflows) as a multiplier on your own work, and you have opinions about where LLMs help and where they don't.
  • Global collaboration window: Ability to overlap with evening PST working hours for syncs, design reviews, and collaboration with our India/Europe-based leadership and engineering teams.

Nice-to-Haves
  • Experience with Ray, Arrow, Polars, DuckDB, or other modern Python-native data stacks.
  • Hands-on experience building with LLMs - RAG pipelines, agentic systems, tool/function calling, evals, or MCP servers.
  • Exposure to Kafka, JVM stacks (Java/Kotlin/Scala), Snowflake, Databricks, or Spark - useful context for our existing platform, but not required.
  • Experience with Docker or Kubernetes.
  • 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.
  • Direct mentorship: Work in a small, elite team with direct access to senior leadership.
  • AI-first engineering: We aren't just "using" AI; we are building the infrastructure that makes AI possible for the enterprise - connectors, runtimes, and agentic workflows.

Compensation:
Compensation for this role will be determined by overall skills, experience, and location. The salary range for a US-based Software Engineer will be $150,000-$180,000 USD. The package will also include benefits such as Medical, Dental, and Vision, 401k, and flexible PTO.
Location - San Mateo, CA
Workplace type - Hybrid
Why Build Your Future at Nexla? We are standing at the precipice of the GenAI revolution, but the biggest bottleneck isn't the models, it's the data. By joining Nexla, you aren't just entering a company; you are stepping into the critical layer of the modern data stack that powers the AI economy. We are the Data Fabric that enables industry titans like LinkedIn, DoorDash, and J&J to turn messy, siloed data into ready-to-use products for RAG and predictive models. This is your opportunity to move beyond simple tooling and build the actual infrastructure that democratizes data access for the next decade of innovation. If you want to solve the hardest problems in data engineering and own a piece of a market projected to hit billions, your career belongs here.

Apply