Best Startups for Software Engineers

Software engineers are in high demand, but finding the right opportunity takes time. On this list you’ll find the best startups that are actively hiring software engineers. These startups are all funded to date.

There is tons of demand in Silicon Valley for software engineers. The pay can be very high, but competition for talent is fierce, so it’s important to choose the right startups to apply for. For anyone looking to move to Silicon Valley in the next two years, here are some of the hottest startups, along with their contact information.

Outreach

Outreach Manny Medina
Outreach CEO Manny Medina. 

INTERNET

Headquarters: Seattle

Year founded: 2014

US headcount: 500*

Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Support

Most common skills: SalesforceCloud ComputingCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)

What you should know: Outreach, a platform that helps sales reps optimize their client engagement and track performance, plans to grow its team to 450 employees by the end of this year, helped by its $114 million funding round in April (which also helped vault it to Unicorn status). The startup has doubled its revenue growth every year since 2016 and boasts 3,500 customers, including Adobe, DocuSign and eBay.

 Plaid

Plaid cofounders  Zach Perret and William Hockey
Plaid cofounders Zach Perret (right) and William Hockey (left). 

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Headquarters: San Francisco

Year founded: 2012

US headcount: 380

Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Human Resources

Most common skills: SQLPython, Financial Services

What you should know: Plaid, the software powering well-known fintech apps such as Venmo and Coinbase, has raised $310 million in venture capital funding to date. Head of people McKenna Quint said the company is “Growing quickly but carefully”: It’s added about 200 employees over the past year and has over 100 positions open now. What is the startup looking for? “The most successful Plaid employees are those who ask hard questions, take smart, calculated risks, own mistakes and learn from them and bring a deep sense of humility,” says Quint.

 Enso Security

The idea behind this startup: Enso is an information security startup that offers an application security posture management solution.

Headquarters: Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel

Industries: Cyber Security, Information Services, Network Security, Software, Software Engineering

Founders: Barak Tawily, Chen Gour Arie, Roy Erlich

Mozart Data

The idea behind this startup: Mozart Data specializes in data stack, SaaS, data-visualization and engineering solutions for companies.

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Industries: Analytics, Data Visualization, SaaS, Software, Software Engineering

Founders: Dan Silberman, Peter Fishman

 Ethos Life

family of four
Ethos Life gets customers life insurance. 

INTERNET

Headquarters: San Francisco

Year founded: 2015

US headcount: 90

Largest job functions: Marketing, Support, Engineering 

Most common skills: Analytics, Insurance, SQL 

What you should know: Life insurance startup Ethos appeals to its customers with a tech-savvy approach — an app and no paperwork. The startup has raised $100 million in total funding and boosted its headcount from 35 to 90 this year alone. It has 35 open roles with a focus on growing engineering, and jobseekers don’t need insurance industry expertise. “Please don’t shy away because of your lack of experience or exposure,” says Brittany Yoon, VP of operations. “Most of us didn’t know much about life insurance before joining Ethos.”

Drift

GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney (C) applauds after ringing the opening bell before the company's IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York April 4, 2014. Shares of GrubHub Inc, the biggest U.S. online food-delivery service, rose as much as 57 percent in its market debut as investors scrambled for a piece of the fast-growing consumer internet company.
Drift counts Grubhub among its clients. 

INTERNET

Headquarters: Boston

Year founded: 2014

US headcount: 280

Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Support

Most common skills: SalesforceDigital MarketingAnalytics

What you should know: Drift calls itself “the world’s first and only conversational marketing platform.” Over the past year, sales platform Drift scaled from 65 employees to a team of almost 280, and the startup is now looking to fill over 40 open roles with plans to “double down” on its products and sales teams. Don’t see a role that’s quite the right fit? “You can apply to the future Drifter role,” says Lacey Berrien, a company spokesperson. “We are continuously hiring and will eventually have the right role.

PostHog

The idea behind this startup: PostHog provides open source product analytics for your infrastructure, featuring hedgehogs.

Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States

Industries: Analytics, Open Source, Software, Software Engineering

Founders: James Hawkins, Tim Glaser

Spackle

The idea behind this startup: Spackle is a developer of an application intended to create and manage work orders for service work and construction projects.

Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States

Industries: Apps, Construction, Consulting, Software, Software Engineering

Founders: Unknown

ThoughtSpot

ThoughtSpot

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Headquarters: Sunnyvale, California

Year founded: 2012

US headcount: 310

Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Business Development

Most common skills: AnalyticsCloud ComputingBusiness Intelligence (BI)

What you should know: ThoughtSpot, a simple-to-use business analytics platform, went on a hiring spree with 248 new hires globally over the past year, and not all are in the Bay Area. ThoughtSpot has offices in Seattle, Dallas and five international cities. For job seekers looking to nab one of its 46 open roles, Marta Molina Paul, VP of global people operations recommends, “If you don’t have the perfect experience — still apply! If you’re smart, adaptable and motivated, we’ll find a way to leverage your talent.

Scale AI

waymo google alphabet
Scale AI counts Waymo among its clients. Waymo is Google’s self-driving tech arm, with a branded car pictured above. 

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Headquarters: San Francisco

Year founded: 2016

US headcount: 100

Largest job functions: Operations, Engineering, Quality Assurance

Most common skills: Data AnalysisPythonJava

What you should know: Scale AI, a data platform that helps computer vision teams process their work faster, is used by companies such as Google’s Waymo and Lyft to super-charge their self-driving efforts. The startup nabbed $100 million in funding in August, making it one of Silicon Valley’s latest Unicorn breakouts. Scale AI is now scaling itself and has 35 positions open across its marketing, operations and technical teams.

Confluent

FILE PHOTO: An Audi logo is displayed at the 89th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, Switzerland March 5, 2019.  REUTERS/Pierre Albouy
Confluent counts Audi (logo pictured) as one of its clients. 

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

Headquarters: Palo Alto, California

Year founded: 2014

Global headcount: 800

Largest job functions: Engineering, Sales, Information Technology

Most common skills: Cloud ComputingJavaSoftware Development 

What you should know: Confluent, which developed a platform that processes data as a real-time stream, is valued at $2.5 billion following its Series D funding in January. The startup has more than 150 positions open across the company and is looking for candidates with the right skills, not just degrees: “We want to hire people with a forward-thinking perspective and skill set they can use to grow fast with us,” says CFO Cheryl Dalrymple. “That includes people who don’t get their experience in a college classroom.

Conclusion

The purpose of this list is to help you find and join a startup as a software developer. The companies on this list have one thing in common: they use software as their core business.

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