Senior Backend Python Engineer

The enterprise is going agentic and we are creating a unique operating system for an automated future.

Most AI agents break the moment they hit real business complexity. That’s why we built a platform that models a company's policies, workflows, and operational logic into an AI Data Model. Shelf enables AI Agents to reliably reason and deliver precise and reliable outcomes at scale.

We already have what most AI startups are still trying to earn: Enterprise customers such as Glovo, Nespresso, and HelloFresh, real production data, and tens of thousands of users. Customers trust us with operational knowledge: Our platform is highly reliable and secure with SOC2, HIPAA-ready security practices, and mature integrations in place.

This role is for a senior backend engineer who can design and own business-critical systems.

We want someone who is strong technically, communicates clearly, and has the judgment to make systems simpler, safer, and easier to evolve over time. Expect real ownership from system design through production.

The team is small enough for engineers to make real decisions. Career growth comes from ownership. Titles matter less than the scope you can carry. The people who grow fastest take responsibility for larger systems, drive customer outcomes, and strive to develop better engineering practices.

You solve ambiguous problems by shaping the right architectural approach, then ship, iterate, and keep it healthy in production.

We build AI-native. Engineers use Codex, Claude Code, and agents they build themselves. We invest in harness engineering through skills, CLIs, logs, traces, and orchestration.

This is a role for someone in a high-growth chapter of their career, who wants to do the best work of their life, learn fast, and win as part of a team going all-in on a hard mission.

• →Becoming one of the defining companies of the AI age is a hard plan, and our leadership team has the rare mix of deep AI, knowledge-management, and enterprise SaaS experience to actually execute it
• →We have raised over $60 million in funding; our investors include Tiger Global, Insight Partners, Base10, and others
• →Recognized by Gartner as a Cool Vendor, with high-velocity growth powered by the most innovative product in our category
• →We love our customers and our customers love us. Ask a Shelf customer why, and they'll tell you it's our innovative capabilities and rock-solid reliability, that they enjoy working with our people, and most of all, the improvements they see in their business KPIs
• →We're building fast across three hubs: our New York HQ and our Product and Engineering centers in Warsaw and Lviv

• Quality. We're united by a focus on world-class Quality, in all things, starting with everything that leaves your desk. Every email, report, and piece of code should be outstanding, the kind of work that makes people say "Wow." How you do anything is how you do everything. Focus on craftsmanship: your ability to make things better.
• Momentum. Know that the things you're responsible for are moving forward, and when something has stalled, get it moving again. We pride ourselves on "ball movement": leave someone with something and they should return to measurable progress. We initiate solutions, ideas, and progress rather than waiting for them, creating movement continuously.
• Accountability. We feel accountable for more than anyone might normally expect, taking real responsibility even at the edge of our control. We align on expectations, give open and respectful feedback, and make every agreement clear and complete, and when we commit, we follow through.
• Hard Work. We're here to do something difficult together, and we care intensely about the mission. That care shows up as intense effort and real ownership, and it comes with real opportunity at Shelf. We support each other, drive the mission forward, and sustain that effort together to win.
• Learning Agility. We work in one of the fastest-moving spaces in history, which asks each of us to commit fully to learning every day. None of us knows everything; all of us can learn anything. Staying open and curious, with the humility to make mistakes and grow from them, is a key driver here. Learning is itself a skill, and we get really good at it.
• Adapt and Thrive. Overcoming challenges lives deep in our DNA: obstacles are opportunities. Change is constant, and fighting it is counterproductive. We get comfortable being uncomfortable, knowing discomfort is the key to growth, and we "struggle well" together through real difficulty.
• Win Together. We win or lose as a team, always. Everything here is connected to the rest of the organization. That shared environment demands full honesty, real candor and directness, and constant attention to how we support our teammates and do what's best for the whole company.