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Senior Member of Technical Staff, Voice

Harper

San Francisco, CAFull-time$170–275K/yrTracked 3 days agoVerified open 3 days ago

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At a glance

Compensation
$170–275K/yr
Location
San Francisco, CA
Schedule
Full-time
Work Authorization
Not specified

Job overview

Harper is scaling its voice AI infrastructure for the insurance industry, aiming to handle thousands of calls daily. The senior member will own architecture, implementation, and real‑time scaling of voice agents, improving latency and building outbound and inbound voice solutions.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Production Voice AIVAPIRetellPipecatLiveKitSIPRTPWebRTCLatency OptimizationCursorClaude Code

Qualifications

3-6 Years Software Engineering ExperienceProduction Voice AI Experience at ScaleDeep Knowledge of Voice Infrastructure and Real-Time SystemsExperience With Latency OptimizationBased in San Francisco or Willing to Relocate

Benefits

Medical Insurance
Dental Insurance
Vision Insurance

Full job description

The Problem 36 million businesses in America need insurance—it’s not optional. 77% are underinsured. 40% have no coverage at all. The distribution system failed them: too slow, too opaque, too confusing. Voice is the lifeblood of insurance. Businesses call brokers. Brokers call underwriters. The industry runs on phone conversations—millions of calls per day, most of them repetitive, most of them waiting on hold. We’re adding ~1,000 customers per month. We’ve grown 100x since last year. We’re looking to do even more this year—and that’s why we’re hiring. Voice is how trust gets built. Voice is how deals get closed. Voice is where the industry lives. The Thesis Voice is the hardest part to make computational. Getting voice right is what separates AI demos from AI that operates. Companies like Giga (DoorDash) and HappyRobot (DHL, Ryder) are proving that voice AI can run core operations at enterprise scale. We’re building the same for insurance. The Role You’ll own our entire voice AI infrastructure—architecture, implementation, scaling, continuous improvement. Voice isn’t a feature at Harper. It’s a core system that powers sales, operations, and customer service. Today we have working voice agents. But we’re at 1% of where we need to be. We need to scale from hundreds of calls to thousands. From functional to exceptional. What You’ll Do

  • Build outbound at scale — Lead qualification agents calling thousands of prospects daily

  • Create inbound customer service — 24/7 agents handling policy questions, certificate requests, claims

  • Ship operations and underwriting voice — 20-30 minute insurance applications over the phone

  • Build platform infrastructure — Move to custom infrastructure; sub-700ms latency; 10,000+ concurrent calls

  • Design systems that compound — Every conversation becomes structured decision traces

You Might Be a Fit If…

  • You’ve built production voice AI (not demos—significant production volume)

  • You know both fast deployment (VAPI, Retell) and custom infrastructure (Pipecat, LiveKit)

  • You understand telephony (SIP, RTP, WebRTC)

  • You’ve achieved sub-second latency in production

  • You write code with AI (Cursor, Claude Code)

  • You’re 3-6 years into your career

Requirements

  • 3-6 years software engineering experience

  • Production voice AI experience at scale

  • Deep knowledge of voice infrastructure and real-time systems

  • Experience with latency optimization

  • Based in San Francisco or willing to relocate

Nice to Have

  • Telephony background (SIP/RTP)

  • Experience with specific platforms (VAPI, Retell, Pipecat, LiveKit)

  • Prior startup experience

Compensation

  • Salary: $170,000–$275,000 + performance bonuses & equity

  • Location: San Francisco, in-office

Benefits

  • Health, dental, and vision insurance

  • Commuter benefits

  • Team meals and snacks

The Process

  • 15-min founder call — Alignment on mission and pace

  • If in SF: Super Day on-site

  • If outside SF: Technical phone screen, then on-site

To Apply Voice is the highest-leverage problem in our stack. If that’s the challenge you want—send your resume and links to voice systems you’ve built.

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