About this role.
Quilter is hiring a mid-level Software Engineer to build and maintain integrations between its PCB-design automation platform and leading CAD tools. The role centers on Python development, reverse engineering proprietary binary and text file formats, and translating vendor data into an internal board model. The engineer will own features from design through rollout while producing robust, well-tested code for complex customer data. The team strongly emphasizes AI-assisted engineering, including agent harnesses, model evaluations, prompting, context engineering, and MCP server design. Candidates need 3–7 years of backend or systems engineering experience, strong Python skills, and comfort with ambiguous technical problems.
Role DNA
A quick view of the complexity, pace, ownership and collaboration implied by the job description.
Job Complexity
5/5Pace & Pressure
5/5Autonomy Level
5/5Communication Load
4/5Salary analysis
Estimated compensation compared with the broader US market for similar roles.
Core skills
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Sample interview questions
I would explain how I first created representative test fixtures, inspected the format or system behavior incrementally, documented assumptions, and built a small parser or adapter with validation at each stage. I would emphasize adding regression tests for edge cases discovered during investigation and isolating vendor-specific logic behind a stable internal interface.
I would begin by collecting known-good files and identifying structural patterns through byte-level inspection, vendor SDK references where available, and differential testing between similar files. I would define a layered parser with explicit bounds checks and typed intermediate structures, then map those structures into the internal model while preserving unsupported data where feasible. I would validate results through round-trip tests, visual comparisons, and targeted fixtures for malformed or unusual inputs.
I use clear domain models, strict input validation, defensive parsing, meaningful exception handling, and comprehensive unit and integration tests. For external formats, I include corpus-based regression tests and fuzz or property-based testing where appropriate. I also prioritize observability so unexpected input can be diagnosed without exposing sensitive customer data.
I use agents for bounded tasks such as generating investigation scaffolding, comparing schemas, proposing test cases, and summarizing code paths, while retaining human review for correctness. I evaluate them with representative tasks, measurable acceptance criteria, and comparisons against baseline workflows for accuracy, time saved, and rework. I would avoid relying on subjective impressions and would build repeatable evals around real integration problems.
I translate ambiguity into explicit questions, write down assumptions, and propose a small staged plan that delivers useful increments early. I communicate risks and decision points proactively, seek feedback at appropriate milestones, and use tests and instrumentation to validate decisions. This allows me to move quickly without making hidden assumptions difficult to unwind.
About Quilter
At Quilter, we are helping electrical engineers save time and accomplish more by automating the tedious and time-consuming task of designing printed circuit boards (PCBs). Our small team is composed of experts in electrical engineering, electromagnetic simulation, ML/AI, and high-performance computing (HPC). We are inventing and leveraging novel techniques to solve the decades-old problem of automating circuit board design where today hundreds of billions of dollars are spent. We have raised $25 million in Series B funding from some of the very best and are charging full-speed toward our goal.
No matter where we come from, we’re united by a common vision for the future and a core set of values we think will get us there:
Focus on the mission
Build great things that help humans
Demonstrate grit
Never stop learning
Pursue excellence
Quilter’s File I/O team builds the bridges between Quilter and the world’s leading PCB CAD tools—Altium, Cadence Allegro, and Siemens Xpedition. You’ll work primarily in our Python File I/O codebase: parsing, translating, and generating complex (and often undocumented) CAD formats, and mapping them into Quilter’s internal “board” model.
This is a genuinely AI-native team—and we’ll make you dangerous with it. A lot of companies say “we use AI.” Here, we will pay for you to master it:
Build your own agent harnesses for the kind of reverse-engineering we do—parsing undocumented binary formats, mapping vendor schemas, automating the tedious parts of integration work.
Run real model evals on our actual problems—not vibes or Twitter threads.
Develop genuine craft in prompting, context engineering, and MCP server design—skills that compound over your whole career.
Operate with the leverage of a team of ten. Work that used to require a squad of engineers, you’ll learn to ship solo.
You’ll leave this job a substantially more capable engineer than you arrived. That’s the deal.
What You’ll Do
Build and extend integrations with CAD vendors’ file formats and scripting systems.
Reverse-engineer proprietary binary and text-based formats, with support from senior engineers.
Help shape Quilter’s internal PCB representation as we expand support for new tools.
Write robust, well-tested code that holds up against messy real-world customer data.
Use—and help build—the next generation of agent-powered workflows for CAD reverse engineering.
Own features end-to-end: design, implementation, testing, rollout.
What We’re Looking For
3-7 years of software engineering experience, with meaningful backend or systems work.
Strong Python proficiency. This is the language you’ll spend nearly all your time in, and real expertise here matters more than anything else on this list. A track record of writing clean, maintainable code in real production codebases.
Genuine excitement about coding agents and a real hunger to get great at them—you want a team that will invest in that growth, not throttle it.
Comfort with ambiguous, reverse-engineering-flavored problems: unfamiliar code, undocumented formats, weird edge cases.
General knowledge of binary formats.
Solid fundamentals in design, testing, and debugging.
Strong communication and high ownership in a fast-moving startup environment.
Nice to Have (genuinely nice-to-have — none of these are required, and we don’t expect any one candidate to have most of them)
A little C or C++ — not required at all, but occasionally helpful for skimming vendor SDKs or binary formats.
Familiarity with PCB / EDA / CAD workflows or hardware tinkering.
Experience with binary or large-scale serialization formats (protobuf, custom binary, XML, JSON).
Experience building tooling around coding agents (evals, harnesses, MCP servers, etc.).
Cloud infra (AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform).
Open-source contributions in developer tooling, CAD, or simulation.
Please note: We are an equal opportunity employer. At this time, we are focused on hiring primarily within the US, with occasional exception to accommodate exceptional talent.
What we offer:
Interesting and challenging work
Competitive salary and equity benefits
Health, dental, and vision insurance
Regular team events and offsites (~4x / year)
Unlimited paid time off
Paid parental leave
Want to learn more about Quilter, our vision, and our investors? Visit our About page and visit our Blog.
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