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Graduate Junior Software Developer Jobs in California

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an ... Have just graduated or are about to graduate * Can code in Python * Are confident working ...

Showing results 41-60

Graduate Junior Software Developer information

See California salary details

$23.7K

$87.8K

$135.7K

How much do graduate junior software developer jobs pay per year?

As of Aug 20, 2026, the average yearly pay for graduate junior software developer in California is $87,810.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $66,100.00 and $85,900.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What is a graduate junior software developer?

Graduate Junior Software Developers are entry-level professionals who have recently completed their university degrees, typically in computer science or a related field. They are responsible for assisting in the design, development, testing, and maintenance of software applications under the guidance of more experienced developers. This role is designed to help new graduates build practical experience, learn industry best practices, and develop their coding and problem-solving skills in a professional environment.

What types of projects can a graduate junior software developer expect to work on during their first year?

As a Graduate Junior Software Developer, you’ll typically start by supporting senior developers on existing projects, such as fixing bugs, writing unit tests, and implementing small features. Over time, you may be assigned to work on new development projects, collaborate on code reviews, and assist in designing software solutions. These tasks help you become familiar with the company’s technology stack, coding standards, and development processes, while also providing opportunities to learn from more experienced team members.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a graduate junior software developer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Graduate Junior Software Developer, you need a solid understanding of programming languages (such as Java, Python, or C#), problem-solving skills, and a relevant degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with version control systems like Git, basic knowledge of databases, and exposure to IDEs and development frameworks are typically required. Strong attention to detail, eagerness to learn, and effective collaboration set exceptional candidates apart. These skills and qualities are essential for building reliable software, adapting to evolving technologies, and contributing positively to a development team.

What job categories do people searching Graduate Junior Software Developer jobs in California look for?

The top searched job categories for Graduate Junior Software Developer jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Graduate Junior Software Developer jobs?

Cities in California with the most Graduate Junior Software Developer job openings:

Infographic showing various Graduate Junior Software Developer job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 90% Full Time, 6% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $87,810 per year, or $42.2 per hour.

Junior Software Engineer

Mechanize

South San Francisco, CA

$144.23/hr

Full-time

Medical, Dental, Vision, Life

Re-posted 2 days ago


Job description

About Mechanize

Mechanize builds reinforcement learning environments that frontier AI labs use to train and evaluate their coding models. Learn more at mechanize.work.

Why the work matters

AI models have gotten good at narrow coding tasks but still fail at the complex, judgment-heavy parts of software engineering. We build the environments that expose those failures and help models improve.

What you'll do

You'll design, build, and refine RL tasks. Each task is a self-contained software engineering challenge with a prompt, an environment, and an automated grader. You own the full lifecycle: coming up with the idea, implementing the grading infrastructure, running frontier models against the task, analyzing where and why they fail, and iterating until the task is rigorous and fair.

Coming up with good task ideas requires being clever: finding situations where a frontier model will fail in interesting ways, which means seeing gaps that the model itself doesn't see. You will use coding agents heavily, and a large part of the job is directing them well, evaluating their output, and knowing when they are failing in subtle ways.

What makes someone good at this

Strong technical fundamentals combined with an intuition for AI model behavior. You need to anticipate where a model will take shortcuts, distinguish genuine capability gaps from grader issues, and understand how a model will interpret a prompt. Most engineers significantly underestimate what frontier coding agents can already do; candidates who have spent significant time working with them will have a real head start.

Good fit if you:

  • Have just graduated or are about to graduate

  • Can code in Python

  • Are confident working independently

  • Are motivated by problems that require both technical skill and creative cleverness

  • No prior ML or AI experience required

We're happy to hire candidates who are very capable, even if they have no prior professional software experience.

Probably not a good fit if you:

  • Want a product engineering role building features for end users

  • Prefer a highly collaborative team environment with shared ownership

  • Want extensive structured mentorship

This is independent, high-ownership work. You own your tasks from start to finish, with regular check-ins and feedback. Strong performers are recognized and promoted quickly. Benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance. Applying takes less than one minute.

Interview process: https://www.mechanize.work/how-our-interview-process-works

Learn more about the work: https://www.mechanize.work/what-working-here-is-like

About Mechanize. ~20 person team in San Francisco. Backed by Patrick Collison, Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross, Jeff Dean, Dwarkesh Patel, and Sholto Douglas. Featured in the New York Times, the Dwarkesh Podcast and Hard Fork.