Software Engineer – Applications and User Interface

ABOUT US: Salience Labs is building an industry-defining approach to optical circuit switching for AI infrastructure, engineered for real latency reduction and cost savings. We're moving towards real-world deployment, and joining at this stage means genuine ownership over that next chapter, working alongside a highly technical team on one of the most consequential problems in AI infrastructure today. We’re looking for a Software Engineer – Applications and User Interface to join our Software team at a critical point in our growth. This role is central to how users interact with our technology, helping turn complex underlying systems into intuitive, reliable and effective software experiences. You’ll work closely with software, hardware and system test teams to develop the applications and user interfaces that bring our products to life. We’re looking for someone who enjoys building software that people actually use, has strong problem-solving instincts, and is curious about how systems work beyond the boundaries of their own code. This is a hands-on role in a fast-moving engineering environment. You’ll be expected to get up to speed quickly, take ownership of features and improvements, and contribute meaningfully across the product. Experience with embedded systems is a bonus and will give you useful context when working with the underlying hardware and software stack, but it is not essential. THE ROLE - Develop and maintain user-facing software, interfaces, APIs for our products - Build intuitive, responsive and reliable frontend experiences for complex technical systems - Work with backend and systems software to integrate UI functionality with the underlying product - Contribute to application architecture, software design and technical decision-making - Take ownership of software features from initial requirements through development, testing and deployment - Work closely with hardware, embedded software and system test teams to understand system behaviour and deliver effective user experiences - Debug issues across the software stack and work with other engineering disciplines to identify and resolve problems - Build a strong understanding of the overall product, rather than focusing solely on the UI layer - Help improve development workflows, tooling and software quality as the team scales - Contribute to product development, production readiness and customer-facing technical activities where required - Quickly get up to speed with our development tools, environment and product architecture - Support demonstrations and technical activities with customers and partners where required WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR: - Strong experience developing frontend or user-facing software - Python programming skills, although others languages are beneficial this is the most widely used - Experience with modern web technologies such as JavaScript/TypeScript and their respective frameworks - Experience building software that interacts with APIs, backend services or other system components - Familiarity with Linux - Proven ability to contribute to an existing codebase and become productive quickly - Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a structured approach to debugging - A pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset with good judgement around speed, quality and maintainability - Clear communication skills and the ability to work effectively across technical disciplines - An interest in understanding how software works end-to-end, beyond the immediate frontend - Good software engineering fundamentals, including version control, testing, code review and maintainable code - A generalist engineering attitude, with curiosity and willingness to learn new technologies Useful additional experience The following aren't prerequisites, but would be valuable: - Experience with C or C++ or other lower-level software - Experience developing software for embedded systems or microcontrollers - Familiarity with platforms such as STM32 or Xilinx - Understanding of interfaces and protocols such as PCIe, AXI, SPI, I2C, or Ethernet - Experience working alongside hardware engineers or interpreting hardware schematics - Familiarity with networking or IT infrastructure - Experience with Python or other backend/scripting languages - Exposure to machine learning concepts or ML-enabled products - Experience working in an early-stage, startup or deep-tech environment - Optics / optical fibre handling Most importantly, we're looking for someone who enjoys solving problems, takes ownership of their work, and is excited by the opportunity to work across the boundaries between software, hardware and the user experience.