Senior Software Engineer, Optimizer

Timely Schools transforms how schools build master schedules: AI-powered optimization plus expert schedulers, now serving 500,000 students across 20+ states with industry-leading renewal rates. Series A (Aug 2025), 60 people, 80% former educators, CTO started as a math teacher. The Optimizer squad is led by a former senior Google engineer with a PhD in math.

Who can apply: REMOTE, BUT US ONLY. You must live in the US and work East Coast hours. Visa transfers accepted (OPT, H1B transfer); no new H1B. Applications from outside the US will be rejected.

What you'll do

• Build and extend the core optimization engine (mixed-integer / linear programming) and the backend systems around it.
• Explore ML and AI approaches to improve scheduling accuracy, speed and accessibility.
• Work across the stack (~80% backend, ~20% frontend).
• Own mission-critical systems end to end, including on-call and customer troubleshooting with the school success team.
• Lead complex technical projects with a path to tech lead.

Requirements

• 4–10 years of software engineering with a track record of shipping production software and leading complex efforts.
• Depth in at least one of: linear optimization / mathematical programming (Gurobi, CP-SAT), production ML, or backend API/infrastructure, with ability to learn the others.
• Has owned a mission-critical algorithm, model or optimization module.
• Python, AWS, Terraform, CI/CD; strong communication with non-technical stakeholders.
• Visa transfers accepted (OPT, H1B transfer).
• US-based, East Coast hours preferred.

Compensation: $160K – $200K base plus equity, health, dental, vision, life insurance, unlimited PTO and professional development. Interview: recruiter screen, CTO interview, 2–3 hour take-home, technical deep dive, culture interview.