Software Engineer, Backend & Data

About this role

About Vital LyfeVital Lyfe is a tech company redefining water autonomy through innovation, creating a new category of personal water making technology built to scale where infrastructure can’t.

The MissionWe’re looking for a Software Engineer to help build the software behind a high-demand consumer hardware product. We’re spinning up manufacturing from scratch, scaling fast, and the software you work on will directly affect how we build, track, and deliver thousands of units. This is the first full-time hire on our software team. You’ll work directly with our Head of Software, take ownership of a substantial area of our backend and data systems, and contribute across the tools and infrastructure that power our operations and help us scale. What You’ll DoBuild and maintain data pipelines that bring test and production data off the manufacturing line, validate and store it, and turn it into views our teams use to track yield and failures

Build, extend, and maintain backend services and system integrations on our established cloud platform, keeping data reliable across the company

Own what you build end to end: design, test, ship, debug, and keep it running in production

Help shape design and implementation decisions that advance our technical roadmap

Build and improve internal tools that give our engineering and operations teams real-time visibility into production and manufacturing workflows

Contribute across the rest of our software, including our manufacturing execution system (MES) and the handheld app our floor teams use

Our stack includes TypeScript, Python, React, and AWS. What We’re Looking ForBachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field, or equivalent experience

2 to 4 years building software professionally

Experience building and maintaining backend services or APIs in production

Strong programming fundamentals and comfort learning new systems quickly

Deep experience with at least one modern language, such as Python or TypeScript

Working knowledge of SQL and structured data

Comfortable in a codebase you didn’t write, and able to debug problems on your own

Practical and curious, with a habit of taking ownership and following through

Able to break down a problem, work through it, and know when to ask for help

Excited to work where software and hardware intersect

Preferred QualificationsExperience building data pipelines, including validating and cleaning messy real-world data

Background in building user-facing interfaces with React or a similar frontend framework

Experience with dashboards or data visualization tools

Experience with AWS, especially serverless and infrastructure as code

Experience with ERP, MES, or other manufacturing systems

Interest in manufacturing, hardware-software integration, or IoT systems

Why Join Vital Lyfe?Be the first full-time hire on a new software team, with a hand in shaping how the team works

Work on high-impact problems with global relevance

Help scale breakthrough technology in water security and climate resilience

Early ownership in a high growth, engineering led startup

Join a tight knit, mission driven team in a fast-paced environment

Build long term career equity as we grow

Location Requirement: Ability to work 100% onsite in Torrance, CA (remote or hybrid work will not be considered)

Vital Lyfe is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Vital Lyfe is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.