Job description
Join Axon and be a Force for Good.
At Axon, we’re on a mission to Protect Life. We’re explorers, pursuing society’s most critical safety and justice issues with our ecosystem of devices and cloud software. Like our products, we work better together. We connect with candor and care, seeking out diverse perspectives from our customers, communities and each other.
Life at Axon is fast-paced, challenging and meaningful. Here, you’ll take ownership and drive real change. Constantly grow as you work hard for a mission that matters at a company where you matter.
Your Impact
Axon Productivity is a new and growing business unit within Axon building modern software for law enforcement professionals—tools that empower officers, detectives, analysts, and reviewers to work smarter, faster, and more safely. We built Axon Records to replace legacy RMS systems (“brain” of police departments where it stores, searches and processes information) with intuitive, mobile-first workflows, and Axon Standards to bring transparency and accountability to officer conduct and incident review. Now, we’re investing in deep AI integrations, real-time collaboration, and scalable infrastructure to power the next decade of public safety innovation.
Within Axon Productivity, the Knowledge Systems & Insights area is responsible for the backbone of our data ecosystem. We manage the Knowledge Graph (people, vehicles, locations, and more), enable powerful search and analytics, handle secure data exchange with external agencies, and power Axon’s data warehouse and migration systems. From real-time 911 data ingestion to historical RMS imports, making data available through search & analytics, we ensure that law enforcement has access to the right data—at the right time—with the right guarantees of privacy, accuracy, and availability.
As a Staff Software Engineer, you will be the technical steward for all aspects of data architecture, integrity, engineering, and governance across the business unit. You’ll lead architectural decisions, design scalable and secure data systems, and collaborate closely with engineers across teams to shape how data is modeled, moved, and leveraged to deliver product value. From real-time data pipelines to entity resolution for our Master Index, you’ll architect unified, reliable, and cost-efficient solutions that power mission-critical features—while meeting strict requirements for availability, data privacy, and cloud efficiency. Your work will directly impact how public safety agencies make life-saving decisions by ensuring the integrity, accessibility, and trustworthiness of their data.
This role combines deep technical responsibility with strategic impact. You’ll operate across domains—architecture, privacy, cost efficiency, and developer experience—while mentoring other engineers and shaping the future of public safety software. Come work in an exciting environment where you can use your passion, experience, and leadership skills to bring new solutions to public safety and positively impact the world.
What You’ll Do
Work Location: This role is based out of our Seattle Office and follows a hybrid schedule. We rely on in-person collaboration and ask that team members work onsite Tuesdays through Fridays, with the flexibility to work remotely on Mondays, unless there is an approved workplace accommodation. We believe that connection fuels innovation, and our in-office culture is designed to foster meaningful teamwork, mentorship, and shared success.
Reports to: Director of Engineering, Axon Records
- Lead design and development of scalable, high-availability data platforms supporting mission-critical features such as real-time 911 data ingestion,
- Knowledge Graph Index resolution, analytical workloads etc.
- Drive architectural strategy across the data lifecycle, including storage, schema evolution, ingestion pipelines, retention, search, and warehousing—ensuring resilience, extensibility, and cost-efficiency.
- Own end-to-end data integrity and embed compliance (CJIS, agency-specific) and observability into platform infrastructure in partnership with security and product teams.
- Develop and evolve our next-generation storage solutions, leveraging modern data storage patterns to support both transactional and analytical workloads.
- Drive cross-functional architectural strategy, resolving systemic bottlenecks and aligning data models across domains.
- Mentor engineers across multiple squads, act as a design reviewer, and help grow a culture of technical rigor, operational excellence, and ownership in data-intensive engineering.
What You Bring
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, designing and operating large-scale, distributed data systems spanning OLTP, OLAP, and real-time processing domain
- Deep expertise in data architecture and infrastructure, including scalable storage systems, stream processing (e.g., Kafka, Kinesis), data lakes or lakehouses, and search platforms (e.g., Elasticsearch, OpenSearch).
- Fluency in modern cloud-native technologies, including Kubernetes, infrastructure-as-code (e.g., Terraform), CI/CD pipelines, and observability stacks.
- Strong programming skills in both systems and data-oriented languages (e.g., Go, Java, Scala, Python, SQL) and familiarity with Spark/Databricks for large-scale transformations.
- Proven experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives, including driving architecture reviews, defining SLOs, resolving incidents, and mentoring senior engineers.
- Good understanding of data governance, security, and compliance with a bias for automation and auditability.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence architecture across multiple teams and align stakeholders toward long-term data strategy.
Benefits that Benefit You
- Competitive salary and 401k with employer match
- Discretionary paid time off
- Paid parental leave for all
- Medical, Dental, Vision plans
- Fitness Programs
- Emotional & Mental Wellness support
- Learning & Development programs
- And yes, we have snacks in our offices
Benefits listed herein may vary depending on the nature of your employment and the location where you work.
The Pay: Axon is a total compensation company, meaning compensation is made up of base pay, bonus, and stock awards. The starting base pay for this role is between USD 171,000 in the lowest geographic market and USD 273,600 in the highest geographic market. The actual base pay is dependent upon many factors, such as: level, function, training, transferable skills, work experience, business needs, geographic market, and often a combination of all these factors. Our benefits offer an array of options to help support you physically, financially and emotionally through the big milestones and in your everyday life. To see more details on our benefits offerings please visit www.axon.com/careers/benefits(http://www.axon.com/careers/benefits).
Don’t meet every single requirement? That’s ok. At Axon, we Aim Far. We think big with a long-term view because we want to reinvent the world to be a safer, better place. We are also committed to building diverse teams that reflect the communities we serve.
Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they check every box in the job description. If you’re excited about this role and our mission to Protect Life but your experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification listed here, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
Important Notes
The above job description is not intended as, nor should it be construed as, exhaustive of all duties, responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with this job. The job description may change or be supplemented at any time in accordance with business needs and conditions.
Some roles may also require legal eligibility to work in a firearms environment.
Axon’s mission is to Protect Life and is committed to the well-being and safety of its employees as well as Axon’s impact on the environment. All Axon employees must be aware of and committed to the appropriate environmental, health, and safety regulations, policies, and procedures. Axon employees are empowered to report safety concerns as they arise and activities potentially impacting the environment.
We are an equal opportunity employer that promotes justice, advances equity, values diversity and fosters inclusion. We’re committed to hiring the best talent — regardless of race, creed, color, ancestry, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship status, marital status, disability, gender identity, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances — and empowering all of our employees so they can do their best work. If you have a disability or special need that requires assistance or accommodation during the application or the recruiting process, please email [email protected]. Please note that this email address is for accommodation purposes only. Axon will not respond to inquiries for other purposes.
