Full-stack Software Engineer Jobs in California
Full-stack Software Engineer jobs in California are among the most active in the country, concentrated in enterprise software, fintech, health tech, and consumer applications at every level from junior developer through principal engineer. San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego anchor the bulk of hiring, with well-established employers such as Salesforce, Google, and Apple maintaining large full-stack engineering teams across the state. The most in-demand specialties are React and Node.js development, cloud-native architecture, and API integration work. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 311+ Full-stack Software Engineer jobs
About Shield AI:
Shield AI is a defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We build autonomy systems for air, maritime, space, and other platforms operating in complex and contested environments.
Forge is the engineering platform used to build, integrate, test, and operate Hivemind capabilities. It connects autonomy developers with the applications, services, compute, data, and workflows they need to move from local development to deployed systems.
Job Description:
We are looking for a full-stack engineer interested in customer-facing products, developer tools, and AI-assisted workflows. You will partner with internal subject-matter experts to build an extensible application platform and complete applications on it.
Shield AI’s Hivemind developers are the platform’s primary design partners and proving ground. Forge is also designed for external engineering teams to adopt, extend, and integrate into their own environments.
You will help evolve Forge into an integrated engineering environment with shared foundations for APIs, user interfaces, extensions, model integrations, and agent tools. Working across frontend architecture, backend services, platform contracts, and deployment, you will validate the platform through real workflows. Your work will help engineers understand complex systems, develop autonomy software, investigate failures, and deliver reliable capabilities faster.
What you'll do:
- Build and operate a full-stack platform embedded in the workflows used to train, validate, and deploy the AI Pilot.
- Design a composable UI architecture that lets applications contribute widgets, dashboards, commands, and shared resource context.
- Define typed, versioned contracts between the platform and independently developed Forge applications.
- Create workflows for teams to package, publish, configure, install, upgrade, and disable applications.
- Enable Forge’s native AI experiences and external agent harnesses to understand active context, invoke authorized tools, navigate applications, and compose dashboards.
- Deliver consistent application behavior across local-development and remote-cluster environments.
- Partner with simulation, autonomy, and ML subject-matter experts to build initial applications, validate the platform against real workflows, and incorporate what you learn.
- Work across infrastructure, security, product, and design to shape the platform’s architecture and engineering practices.
Key outcomes:
- Applications behave consistently across local-development and remote-cluster environments, even when their deployment and service lifecycles differ.
- Application developers can move quickly using clear contracts, examples, documentation, and authoring guides.
- Hivemind teams can develop, integrate, test, and diagnose autonomy capabilities more quickly using Forge applications and platform services.
- Users can combine applications, tools, and shared context into persistent workflows tailored to their needs and share those workflows within their organization.
- Internal teams and external customers can build integrated Forge applications that extend these workflows without modifying the core platform.
- Forge’s embedded AI and external agent harnesses can explore and operate the same catalog of platform tools through shared contracts.
Required qualifications:
- Experience owning production full-stack applications from design and implementation through rollout and support.
- Strong proficiency with TypeScript and React or an equivalent modern web stack.
- Experience building production backend services in Go, Python, Rust, or a comparable language.
- Experience designing typed, versioned APIs and contracts between independently deployed components.
- Strong knowledge of web and distributed-system architecture, including state management, routing, asynchronous communication, browser security, authentication, authorization, and failure handling.
- Ability to build intuitive technical tools for engineers and test them at the unit, integration, and system levels.
- Sound judgment about when to extend an existing system, introduce an abstraction, or keep a solution intentionally small.
- Clear communication skills and the ability to work across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product disciplines.
Preferred qualifications:
- Strong proficiency with TypeScript and React or an equivalent modern web stack.
- Experience building production backend services in Go, Python, Rust, or a comparable language.
- Experience designing typed, versioned APIs and contracts between independently deployed components.
- Strong knowledge of web and distributed-system architecture, including state management, routing, asynchronous communication, browser security, authentication, authorization, and failure handling.
- Ability to build intuitive technical tools for engineers and test them at the unit, integration, and system levels.
- Sound judgment about when to extend an existing system, introduce an abstraction, or keep a solution intentionally small.
- Clear communication skills and the ability to work across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product disciplines.
Why join us:
- Connect your work directly to the mission. The platform and applications you build help engineers develop, validate, and deliver the autonomy software behind Hivemind.
- Define human-and-agent workflows. Design how engineers and AI agents use the same platform tools while preserving user control, security, and accountability.
- Own complete workflows. Work across user experience, frontend architecture, backend services, APIs, deployment, and operations.
- Build alongside engaged users. Partner with engineers solving autonomy, simulation, data, and infrastructure problems, and see the direct effect of your decisions.
Full-time regular employee offer package:
About Shield AI:
Shield AI is a defense technology company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. We build autonomy systems for air, maritime, space, and other platforms operating in complex and contested environments.
Forge is the engineering platform used to build, integrate, test, and operate Hivemind capabilities. It connects autonomy developers with the applications, services, compute, data, and workflows they need to move from local development to deployed systems.
Job Description:
We are looking for a full-stack engineer interested in customer-facing products, developer tools, and AI-assisted workflows. You will partner with internal subject-matter experts to build an extensible application platform and complete applications on it.
Shield AI’s Hivemind developers are the platform’s primary design partners and proving ground. Forge is also designed for external engineering teams to adopt, extend, and integrate into their own environments.
You will help evolve Forge into an integrated engineering environment with shared foundations for APIs, user interfaces, extensions, model integrations, and agent tools. Working across frontend architecture, backend services, platform contracts, and deployment, you will validate the platform through real workflows. Your work will help engineers understand complex systems, develop autonomy software, investigate failures, and deliver reliable capabilities faster.
What you'll do:
- Build and operate a full-stack platform embedded in the workflows used to train, validate, and deploy the AI Pilot.
- Design a composable UI architecture that lets applications contribute widgets, dashboards, commands, and shared resource context.
- Define typed, versioned contracts between the platform and independently developed Forge applications.
- Create workflows for teams to package, publish, configure, install, upgrade, and disable applications.
- Enable Forge’s native AI experiences and external agent harnesses to understand active context, invoke authorized tools, navigate applications, and compose dashboards.
- Deliver consistent application behavior across local-development and remote-cluster environments.
- Partner with simulation, autonomy, and ML subject-matter experts to build initial applications, validate the platform against real workflows, and incorporate what you learn.
- Work across infrastructure, security, product, and design to shape the platform’s architecture and engineering practices.
Key outcomes:
- Applications behave consistently across local-development and remote-cluster environments, even when their deployment and service lifecycles differ.
- Application developers can move quickly using clear contracts, examples, documentation, and authoring guides.
- Hivemind teams can develop, integrate, test, and diagnose autonomy capabilities more quickly using Forge applications and platform services.
- Users can combine applications, tools, and shared context into persistent workflows tailored to their needs and share those workflows within their organization.
- Internal teams and external customers can build integrated Forge applications that extend these workflows without modifying the core platform.
- Forge’s embedded AI and external agent harnesses can explore and operate the same catalog of platform tools through shared contracts.
Required qualifications:
- Experience owning production full-stack applications from design and implementation through rollout and support.
- Strong proficiency with TypeScript and React or an equivalent modern web stack.
- Experience building production backend services in Go, Python, Rust, or a comparable language.
- Experience designing typed, versioned APIs and contracts between independently deployed components.
- Strong knowledge of web and distributed-system architecture, including state management, routing, asynchronous communication, browser security, authentication, authorization, and failure handling.
- Ability to build intuitive technical tools for engineers and test them at the unit, integration, and system levels.
- Sound judgment about when to extend an existing system, introduce an abstraction, or keep a solution intentionally small.
- Clear communication skills and the ability to work across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product disciplines.
Preferred qualifications:
- Strong proficiency with TypeScript and React or an equivalent modern web stack.
- Experience building production backend services in Go, Python, Rust, or a comparable language.
- Experience designing typed, versioned APIs and contracts between independently deployed components.
- Strong knowledge of web and distributed-system architecture, including state management, routing, asynchronous communication, browser security, authentication, authorization, and failure handling.
- Ability to build intuitive technical tools for engineers and test them at the unit, integration, and system levels.
- Sound judgment about when to extend an existing system, introduce an abstraction, or keep a solution intentionally small.
- Clear communication skills and the ability to work across frontend, backend, infrastructure, and product disciplines.
Why join us:
- Connect your work directly to the mission. The platform and applications you build help engineers develop, validate, and deliver the autonomy software behind Hivemind.
- Define human-and-agent workflows. Design how engineers and AI agents use the same platform tools while preserving user control, security, and accountability.
- Own complete workflows. Work across user experience, frontend architecture, backend services, APIs, deployment, and operations.
- Build alongside engaged users. Partner with engineers solving autonomy, simulation, data, and infrastructure problems, and see the direct effect of your decisions.
Full-time regular employee offer package:
See All 311+ Full-stack Software Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
Find JobsFull-stack Software Engineer Jobs by City in California
Where California roles are concentrated, by current openings.
Full-stack Software Engineer Job Market in California
A snapshot from current California openings, updated as new roles post.
Who's Hiring
- OpenAI18
- SpaceX16
- Rippling12
- Tesla9
- Apple7
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software41
- Science & Research10
- Aerospace & Defense6
- Consulting & Professional Services6
- Artificial Intelligence3
What California Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in Full-stack software engineer jobs across California.
- Proficiency in at least one frontend framework such as React, Angular, or Vue
- Solid experience with backend languages including Node.js, Python, Java, or Ruby
- Hands-on experience designing and consuming RESTful or GraphQL APIs
- Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Google Cloud, or Azure
- Experience with relational and non-relational databases including PostgreSQL and MongoDB
- Strong understanding of version control workflows using Git and collaborative code review practices
Full-stack Software Engineer Jobs in California: Frequently Asked Questions
How do you become a full-stack software engineer in California?
California requires no state-issued license to work as a full-stack software engineer, so the path runs through education and demonstrated skill. Most California employers accept a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field, though bootcamp graduates with strong portfolios are widely hired, particularly at startups and mid-size tech companies in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Building public projects on GitHub and contributing to open-source work accelerates hiring in California's competitive market.
How much do Full-stack software engineers make in California?
Full-stack software engineers in California earn a median of about $174,410 a year, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics wage data, ranging from around $105,060 for the lowest 10% to over $272,670 for the top 10%. Pay rises with experience, specialty, and employer.
Which companies hire full-stack software engineers in California?
Employers hiring full-stack software engineers in California right now include OpenAI, SpaceX, and Rippling, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 2026. California's density of both established tech giants and fast-growing startups means full-stack openings appear across a wide range of company sizes and industries statewide.
Which California cities have the most full-stack software engineer jobs?
San Francisco, San Jose, and Hawthorne lead California for full-stack software engineer openings. The San Francisco Bay Area dominates because of its concentration of major tech headquarters and venture-backed startups, while Los Angeles draws hiring from its growing fintech and entertainment-technology sectors, and San Diego's openings are driven largely by defense technology contractors and health-tech companies.
Are there remote full-stack software engineer jobs in California?
Yes, and more than most fields. About 66% of full-stack software engineer openings tied to California are remote or hybrid as of September 2026, reflecting how thoroughly this work can be done off-site. Frontend development and API work are the most consistently remote-eligible specialties, while roles requiring close collaboration with hardware or on-site infrastructure tend to require some in-person presence.
How can I get hired as a full-stack software engineer in California with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path is securing a junior or associate software engineer role, which large California employers such as Salesforce, Kaiser Permanente's digital division, and various Bay Area startups post regularly for new graduates. Many candidates move in from adjacent roles such as QA engineer, technical support specialist, or data analyst after adding a relevant project portfolio. California's community college system, including programs at schools like De Anza College in the South Bay, offers affordable courses that help bridge the gap to a first engineering role.
Where can I find and apply to full-stack software engineer jobs in California?
You can find and apply to full-stack software engineer jobs in California on Migrate Mate, which lists current California openings. Find roles that fit your experience and specialization and apply directly from the listing.
See All 311+ Full-stack Software Engineer Jobs in California
Find roles in California that match your experience and apply in just a few clicks.
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