Principal Software Engineer

About Motion

Given the speed of AI advancement, we operate under two assumptions about the future of work:

1. AI will do 100x more work over the next decade

2. Humans will always be needed for oversight, strategy, and the toughest decisions

To manage this future, there must be a system that lets a single human manage 100x more work, done by both AI and people. That’s what we’re building at Motion.

We spent the past 5 years building the best automated project management software—an AI project manager that eliminates reactive project management—Motion predicts what will get done early or late, automatically coordinates the right person to do the highest impact task at the right time, and ensures no steps are missed.

The real moat in AI agents is context: whoever has the most data to let the system think and work exactly like their users will win. Motion already has a lead: tasks, projects, docs, meetings, calendars, and communication all live in one place, making us best equipped to swap out human work for AI technology improves. Integrating all these systems seamlessly is incredibly hard, but we're uniquely capable of doing this because we are one of the most operationally excellent companies in the world.

With backing from YC and Sam Altman, a $500M+ valuation, and hundreds of thousands of users, we’re well positioned to lead. Now we’re building agents that work with extreme accuracy and unlock an order-of-magnitude boost in productivity.

Motion isn’t a 9–5. It’s intense, fast, and not for everyone. But if you want to work with top talent, learn fast, and help redefine how work gets done—you’ll thrive here.

Location: North America & Canada (remote)

Base Salary: $375,000

Total Compensation: $815,000 - $965,000

The range listed reflects compensation for U.S.-based employees working in our San Francisco or New York City offices. For remote U.S. hires or candidates outside the U.S., compensation will be adjusted to align with the local market and cost of living.

About The Role

Motion is hiring an experienced software engineer who can make key technical decisions and implement large software projects to help Motion scale the next 2 orders of magnitude. The role may be frontend, backend, or full-stack, whichever suits your background.

We work hard to ensure Motion’s engineering team is one of the highest talent-density teams in the world. We have accomplished in weeks or months what it would take larger teams years to do. There are many initiatives on our product roadmap we know will make Motion deliver orders of magnitude more value to customers. As an engineer on our team, you will work on Motion's highest impact projects and have ownership over major parts of the product code.

You will be a successful engineer at Motion if:

• You are ambitious and always looking for ways to improve. For most engineers, this role will give you the most responsibilities you’ve ever had, while holding you to higher standards than other companies you’ve worked at. Don’t rest on your past achievements — expect to work your hardest and do the best work of your career at Motion. You will receive lots of coaching and feedback that you should seek to grow from

• You can take ownership of projects and lead them to completion while dealing with ambiguity and finding the right balance between speed and quality. You don’t need every detail and edge case spelled out for you because you can figure out the goals of the project and fill in the blanks

• You are a fast learner and can quickly familiarize yourself with a complex product and code base. You aren’t afraid to tackle any part of the stack or learn a new unfamiliar technology. You are comfortable with the fact that working in a startup means working around tech debt

• You have a strong understanding of how you can create the most impact, and don’t get lost in the weeds in details that don’t matter. You’re excited to work on whatever solves the biggest customer problems, not just the coolest technical challenges

• You can collaborate effectively with other talented engineers and work well in an environment where the best ideas win. The median engineer at Motion has 9 years experience. You should expect your ideas to get challenged and to learn a lot from your coworkers

Technology Stack

We prefer candidates who are familiar with the Javascript ecosystem and can hit the ground running when they join us. We don’t expect you to know all of our technologies, but enough of them to pick up the rest quickly. Our tech stack: Typescript, Node.js, React, React Query, Nest.js, Postgres, Temporal.

About Motion’s Engineering Culture

Here are some helpful videos from Chander Ramesh , our cofounder and CTO:

Motion is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone is treated with respect and given equal opportunities. We do not discriminate based on gender identity, race, ancestry, disability, religion, sexual orientation, pregnancy status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. We welcome and encourage all qualified candidates to apply for our job openings. 

Helpful Links:

Compensation

$375K – $965K • Offers Equity • Offers Bonus • Multiple Ranges