Software Engineer - Distributed Simulation Systems

About Astera

Astera is a private foundation on a mission to steer science and technology toward an abundant future. We believe the coming years will bring an era of unprecedented scientific and technological advancement as exponential progress in AI converges with central advances in other fields to dramatically accelerate innovation. This inflection point provides an unparalleled opportunity to fundamentally rethink the institutions, systems, and tools that drive scientific progress.

Unlike traditional non-profit research organizations, projects supported by Astera operate like high-velocity startups, allowing us to focus on ambitious goals, match structure to problem, and attract strong technical talent and leadership. You can read more about our mission, vision, and programming here.

Position Summary

The Astera Institute is seeking a software engineer to build the core infrastructure for large-scale distributed simulation systems, including biological systems and physics-based environments.

This role focuses on distributed computation, high-performance networking, scalable simulation pipelines, and biological and 3D physics simulation systems.

You will work at the intersection of:

• distributed computing
• high-performance C++
• biological system simulation
• 3D physics simulation
• networking infrastructure

Responsibilities

• Design and implement distributed simulation systems
• Build networking infrastructure for synchronized multi-node simulation
• Build and optimize MuJoCo-based 3D physics environments
• Develop infrastructure for large-scale biological system simulations
• Engineer communication systems for distributed simulators and agents
• Optimize simulation throughput across CPUs, GPUs, and clusters
• Develop distributed execution systems
• Profile and eliminate bottlenecks in networking, scheduling, memory, and synchronization
• Work on infrastructure spanning simulation, networking, orchestration, visualization, and tooling

Qualifications and Experience

• Strong C++ systems programming experience
• Experience with distributed systems
• Experience with networking protocols and distributed communication
• Experience with MuJoCo or other 3D physics simulators
• Understanding of concurrency, multithreading, synchronization, and performance optimization
• Experience building performance-critical systems on Linux
• Familiarity with cluster or distributed compute environments

Strong Plus

• Experience with Python and PyTorch
• Biological or neuroscience simulation experience
• Simulation engine development
• High-performance networking experience
• CUDA or GPU systems programming
• ECS / data-oriented engine architectures
• RDMA, shared memory, zero-copy networking, or custom transport layers
• Experience scaling simulations across many machines
• Experience with UI frameworks such as wxWidgets
• Experience building visualization or simulation tooling interfaces

Location

This position is hybrid at our office in Emeryville, CA. Some travel may be required from time-to-time for in-person collaboration and work.

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or in the future.

Compensation

The posted salary range is based on location in the Bay Area. The successful candidate will receive a competitive compensation package, commensurate with their experience and location.

• Benefits summary

Cultural Alignment

• Surprising problem-solver - you love finding unexpected solutions to problems we don't even know we have, and see options where others only see constraints.
• Flexible by default - you don't draw hard lines around your job description and expect your role to evolve significantly over 6-12 months.
• Bias to action - you launch and iterate on thoughtful experiments rather than waiting for perfect plans, and you're energized by novel problems.
• High standards, internally driven - you believe you can build the world's best vehicle for unleashing extraordinary individuals to create public goods, and you hold yourself to that bar without benchmarking against others.
• Open to feedback - You create opportunities to give and receive honest feedback, staying focused on both personal and team growth, and committing to transparency even when it's uncomfortable.
• Operate with the highest levels of integrity, judgment, and stewardship -- you treat residents, peers, and vendors with genuine respect for their time and contributions.
• Embrace the tools that define great work today - Astera is building for an AI-driven future and equips the team accordingly. We see these as genuine force multipliers, not optional extras, and we expect our people to use them