Junior Backend Software Engineer Jobs in California

You'll join a small, highly collaborative team building the secure cloud platform behind some of the world's most advanced radar systems. Working alongside software, hardware, and systems engineers, you'll design and operate the backend services and cloud infrastructure that ingest, process, and deliver mission-critical sensor data at scale. The systems you build must be reliable, resilient, secure, and performant—enabling operators to depend on them in the environments where they matter most. This is a high-ownership role where you'll influence architecture, build production systems, and help define the engineering foundations of a rapidly evolving platform. We're looking for engineers who enjoy solving hard infrastructure problems, scaling distributed systems, and building software that performs under demanding real-world conditions.

What you'll build:

• Cloud platform – Design, build, and operate secure, scalable Azure infrastructure that powers distributed radar systems and backend services.
• Backend services – Develop high-performance services that ingest, process, and distribute real-time sensor data with low latency, high reliability, and security at scale.
• Infrastructure & automation – Define infrastructure as code, automate deployments, and continuously improve the platform through modern DevOps practices.
• Reliability & operations – Own observability, monitoring, resiliency, and operational readiness, ensuring production systems remain secure, scalable, and dependable in demanding environments.
• Platform architecture – Help shape the technical direction of the platform, making architectural decisions that support new capabilities, increasing scale, and long-term maintainability.
• Cross-functional integration – Partner closely with software, hardware, and systems engineers to deliver secure, reliable end-to-end capabilities from sensor to cloud.

What we're looking for:

• Enjoy building scalable backend systems and taking ownership of production services.
• Enjoy solving complex cloud infrastructure and distributed systems challenges.
• Are eager to learn new technologies and adapt to new technical domains.
• Care deeply about reliability, security, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Communicate well and enjoy collaborating across software, hardware, and systems engineering teams.
• Are motivated by building technology with meaningful real-world impact.

Experience in one or more of the following is a plus:

• Python and modern backend development.
• Azure or another major cloud platform.
• Infrastructure as code (Terraform), Kubernetes, containers, and CI/CD.
• Real-time data pipelines or distributed systems.
• Frontend development using modern web technologies (TypeScript/React) or a willingness to work across the stack when needed.

Requirements:

• Must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen or permanent resident), as required for access to controlled technology.
• Ability to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance.

Why CHAOS?

• Health benefits: Medical, dental, and vision benefits 100% paid for by the company
• Additional benefits: 401k (+ 50% company match up to 6% of pay), FSA, HSA, life insurance, and more
• Our perks: Free daily lunch, 'No meeting Fridays', unlimited PTO, casual dress code
• Compensation components: Competitive base salaries, generous pre-IPO stock option grants, relocation assistance, and (coming soon!) annual bonuses
• Team growth: 250 employees and counting across 5 global offices

$130k-220k

The stated compensation range reflects only the targeted base compensation range and excludes additional earnings such as bonus, equity, and benefits. If your compensation requirements fall outside of the range, we still encourage you to apply. The salary range for this role is an estimate based on a range of compensation factors, inclusive of base salary only. Actual salary offer may vary based on (but not limited to) work experience, education and/or training, critical skills, and/or business considerations.