Distributed Systems Architect
Gather AI · India
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $170,000 / year
- India
Job highlights
- Architect scalable, reliable SaaS supply chain platform.
- Lead backend, frontend, and infrastructure decisions.
- Modernize and scale production systems.
- Mentor senior engineering talent.
- Solve high-stakes problems with autonomy.
About the role
About Us
Are you ready to build the future of supply chain? At Gather AI, we're not just creating software; we're pioneering a new era of warehouse intelligence. We've developed a groundbreaking, vision-powered platform that uses autonomous drones and existing equipment to capture real-time data, completely digitizing workflows that have historically been manual and error-prone. This means facilities operate smarter, safer, and more efficiently, ultimately redefining "on-time, in full" delivery. If you're looking for an opportunity to contribute to truly transformative technology and make a significant impact in a vital industry, Gather AI is the place for you. We're leading the charge in the rapidly evolving robotics industry, and we invite you to join us in reshaping the global supply chain, one intelligent warehouse at a time.
About You
As a Distributed Systems Architect at Gather AI you will serve as a technical anchor for our engineering organization. This role is for someone who thrives on the challenge of evolving mature, complex SaaS systems, setting technical direction, architecture, and ensuring our platforms remain reliable and perform as we scale. To be successful in this role, you must be able to design, evaluate, and guide decisions across the entire stack—from database internals to distributed service patterns.
What You’ll Do
- Own Architecture: Align backend, frontend, platform, and infrastructure decisions into a coherent, enterprise-grade architecture.
- Reflect Excellence: Replace "firefighting" with predictable execution. You will lead the effort to retire scalability and reliability debt, safely upgrade critical infrastructure, and reduce single-threaded dependencies.
- Set Direction: Set the standard for engineering technical hygiene. You will drive high-level decisions on testing strategies, validation guardrails, and system design concerns that directly impact delivery speed and maintainability.
- Evolve Systems: Modernize and scale existing production systems by applying database-level strategies (schema evolution, replication tradeoffs) and platform primitives (orchestration, runtime constraints) as architectural tools.
- Mentor: Elevate the organization by establishing shared practices, aligning terminology, and mentoring senior talent across the engineering team.
- Exhibit First-Principles Thinking: Establish a deep understanding of data systems, latency-sensitive services, and failure modes.
Requirements
- Distributed Systems: Mastery of performance-sensitive REST APIs, caching strategies, and core distributed systems concepts.
- Relational Data Systems: Expert-level PostgreSQL (upgrades, query tuning, replication tradeoffs, and schema evolution) and advanced SQL.
- Cloud & Containers: Deep experience with Azure and/or AWS and production-grade Kubernetes/Docker.
- Backend Development: Strong production experience in Node.js and/or Python.
- Reliability & Security: Hands-on experience with Observability (logs, metrics, traces), CI/CD, SRE fundamentals (SLIs/SLOs), and security hygiene (IAM, secrets management).
Bonus points for...
- Domain Expertise: Experience in logistics, warehouse systems, or robotics-adjacent platforms is a plus, but not required. We value your ability to apply sound architectural judgment to new problem spaces.
- Future Scale: If you have operated at a slightly smaller scale but can reason clearly about "what breaks next" (e.g., multi-regional architectures or advanced data governance), we will help you bridge that gap.
- Organizational Maturity: While we value experience driving org-wide standards, we don't expect perfection on day one. We look for the intent to elevate our shared practices as you build trust.
- AI-Ready: At Gather, we are at the leading edge of both applied classical ML and next-gen LLM/VLM AI. Come prepared to work with the latest and greatest tooling.
Why This Role?
In this position, you won't just be writing code; you will be designing the future of a scaling organization with the autonomy to solve high-stakes problems.
Key skills/competency
- Distributed Systems Architecture
- SaaS Systems Design
- Scalability and Reliability
- Database Internals and Optimization
- Cloud Platforms (AWS/Azure)
- Kubernetes and Docker
- Node.js and Python Development
- Observability and CI/CD
- Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
- System Design and Mentoring
Skills & topics
- Distributed Systems Architect
- SaaS Architecture
- Supply Chain Technology
- Warehouse Intelligence
- Cloud Architecture
- AWS
- Azure
- Kubernetes
- PostgreSQL
- System Design
- Node.js
- Python
- Observability
- CI/CD
- SRE
- Robotics
- AI
- LLM
- VLM
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight experience with distributed systems, PostgreSQL, cloud platforms, and backend development.
- Showcase your impact: Quantify achievements in scaling systems, improving reliability, and mentoring teams.
- Prepare for technical deep-dives: Be ready to discuss system design, database internals, and distributed patterns.
- Demonstrate architectural thinking: Articulate your approach to evolving complex SaaS environments.
- Research Gather AI: Understand their mission in supply chain intelligence and AI.
Technical preparation
Master distributed systems concepts and REST APIs.,Deep dive into PostgreSQL performance tuning and evolution.,Prepare for Kubernetes, Docker, AWS/Azure scenarios.,Review Node.js/Python backend and SRE fundamentals.
Behavioral questions
Describe a complex system you architected.,How do you mentor other senior engineers?,How do you handle technical debt?,Explain a challenging architecture decision.
Frequently asked questions
- What specific distributed systems concepts are most critical for the Distributed Systems Architect role at Gather AI?
- For the Distributed Systems Architect role at Gather AI, mastery of performance-sensitive REST APIs, robust caching strategies, and fundamental distributed systems concepts are crucial. This includes understanding concepts like concurrency, fault tolerance, CAP theorem, and consensus algorithms as they apply to scaling complex SaaS platforms.
- How does Gather AI handle scalability and reliability debt for its SaaS platform?
- Gather AI actively addresses scalability and reliability debt by having the Distributed Systems Architect lead efforts to retire this technical debt. This involves safely upgrading critical infrastructure, reducing single-threaded dependencies, and implementing architectural strategies for modernizing and scaling existing production systems.
- What is the expected level of expertise with PostgreSQL for this Distributed Systems Architect position?
- The role requires expert-level proficiency in PostgreSQL. This includes deep knowledge of upgrades, query tuning, understanding replication tradeoffs, and experience with schema evolution to ensure data systems can scale efficiently and reliably.
- What are the primary responsibilities of a Distributed Systems Architect in terms of setting technical direction at Gather AI?
- The Distributed Systems Architect at Gather AI sets the technical direction by defining the enterprise-grade architecture across the entire stack, establishing standards for engineering technical hygiene, and driving high-level decisions on testing strategies, validation guardrails, and system design concerns.
- How does Gather AI foster organizational maturity and shared practices among its engineering team?
- Gather AI fosters organizational maturity by having senior talent, including the Distributed Systems Architect, establish shared practices and align terminology. The role involves mentoring across the engineering team to elevate collective understanding and build trust through consistent application of architectural principles.
- What kind of AI/ML experience is relevant for the Distributed Systems Architect role at Gather AI?
- While not strictly required, experience with applied classical ML and next-gen LLM/VLM AI is a strong plus. The ability to reason about and architect systems that leverage these advanced AI technologies is highly valued, placing Gather AI at the leading edge of AI integration.