Software Engineer (Early Career)
Lightfield
San Francisco, CA · $160k–$180k a year · Posted July 16, 2026
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Where San Francisco, CA ranks
Where San Francisco, CA placed in our monthly rankings, month by month. Each month stays online at its own address.
November 2026
- #1Best cities for security jobs316 openings · of 20
- #1Best cities for technology jobs7,178 openings · of 100
- #1Best cities for financial services pay after cost of living$173k · of 33
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills35% · of 100
- #1Best cities for entry-level jobs that want AI skills in the West Coast35% · of 54
- #1Cities with the most jobs that do not need a four-year degree in the West Coast902 jobs · of 47
Rankings about engineering jobs
- Best cities for software and engineering jobs #1 San Francisco (3,412 openings)
- Best cities for engineering pay after cost of living #1 San Mateo ($216k)
- Most requested AI skills in engineering jobs #1 AI tools in daily work (6.1%)
- AI tools named most often in engineering jobs #1 Claude (1.7%)
- Employers with the most engineering jobs #1 Amazon (2,992 roles)
Pay compared with the market
This listing pays about $170,000 a year. Across 475 open software engineer listings that state pay, the middle half runs $159,500 to $238,500 and the median is $197,500. That is inside the middle half of those listings, 14% below the median.
Listed pay is what employers advertise, not what people are paid.
How AI is used in this kind of work
Among software developers, AI is already used for some of the tasks. Measured exposure for software developers: 29% (some).
Share of this job’s tasks that AI is already used for at work, from real usage. It is not a forecast of job loss, and a low number means no use seen yet. Source: Anthropic Economic Index.
Skills this job asks for
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About the job
ABOUT LIGHTFIELD
Lightfield is reimagining CRM as a world model of a business. By learning from emails, meetings, and customer conversations, we’re building a living understanding of how a company works—so AI can help teams anticipate what comes next, make better decisions, and take action.
More than 5,000 companies have used the product since its November launch. We’ve raised more than $70M from Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Maverick Ventures, and Greylock to attack the biggest software category in the world. We previously built Tome, which reached more than 25 million users, and our team brings experience from Llama, Instagram, Google, and Salesforce.
ABOUT THE ROLE
We’re looking for a creative, and versatile engineer who is eager to tackle the challenge of building scaled, performant features and systems that deliver exceptionally innovative AI product experiences.
At Lightfield, engineers take ownership of projects from inception to impact, collaborating across functions and pushing the envelope on what’s possible in applied AI systems development. You’ll work alongside a talented team to deliver industry-leading solutions and contribute to Lightfield product and technical vision
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Collaborate with product leaders to identify customer problems, scope requirements, and implement solutions.
- Build and maintain full-stack product features and systems, end-to-end, ensuring reliability, scalability, and performance.
- Develop observability and metrics to enable smooth operation, proactive issue detection, and continuous improvement.
- Mentor teammates, participate in code reviews, and help shape engineering culture and practices.
- Contribute to building a world-class engineering team through recruiting, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing.
WHO YOU ARE
- You’re excited about Large Language Models (LLMs) and the opportunity to build systems that support and leverage them.
- You have the ability to ramp quickly on tech stack that features TypeScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, Apollo GraphQL, and PostgreSQL.
- Strong fundamentals in software engineering, with a degree in Computer Science or a related field.
- Thrives in ambiguity, able to independently drive projects and deliver results in a fast-moving environment.
- Clear communicator, capable of articulating technical decisions to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Passionate about building products customers love, ensuring our CRM is intuitive, intelligent, and indispensable.
BENEFITS & PERKS
- Competitive salary
- Meaningful early equity
- Health insurance (medical, dental, vision)
- 3 weeks of PTO
- 11 paid company holidays + we enjoy a winter holiday break
- 3 months of paid family leave
- Wednesdays work from home
- Regular team dinners, events, offsites, and retreats
- 401k plan
- Other perks include: commuter and lunch stipend