Software Engineer, Infrastructure Resident

About Persona

Persona is the configurable identity platform built for businesses in a digital-first world. Verifying individuals and organizations is harder — but more important — than ever, with AI enabling fraudsters to launch sophisticated accounts at scale and regulations evolving rapidly.

We’ve built Persona to support practically every use case and industry — that’s why we’re able to serve a wide range of leading companies. For example, Reddit relies on Persona for age assurance and verification to comply with online safety regulations, protecting younger users while maintaining a seamless experience. Meanwhile, OpenAI relies on Persona to keep bad actors out, protecting one of the world’s most powerful AI platforms from large-scale abuse in a time when AI is reshaping the way we work and live.

We’re growing rapidly and looking for exceptional people to join us!

About the role

Persona's infrastructure team builds the foundation that everything else runs on: cloud platforms, Kubernetes, databases, CI/CD pipelines, networking, and observability. As an Infrastructure Engineering Resident, you'll work on real production systems from day one, contributing to the reliability and performance of our identity platform alongside seasoned engineers.

This position is based in San Francisco. The team is in the office Tuesday through Thursday, with the option to work from home on Monday and Friday. We offer relocation support for those based outside of the San Francisco Bay Area.

About the Program

Persona's Infrastructure Engineering Residency is a 3-month program for folks early in their career who are ready to get their hands on real systems from day one.
You won't be doing tutorial work. You'll embed with one of our infrastructure teams, pick up starter tickets, and build working knowledge of the tools that actually run production, such as cloud platforms, container orchestration, CI/CD, and more.
By the end, you'll have the fundamentals and a clear path to a full-time infrastructure engineering role.

What you'll bring to Persona

• Engineers who are early in their careers or entering the industry for the first time

• Systems-level curiosity: You want to know how things work, whether it's containers, networking, or deployment pipelines.

• Independent thinking: You unblock yourself, learn from mistakes quickly, and drive toward solutions rather than waiting for direction.

• People first: You care about more than just the systems; you care about the engineers who depend on them and the customers they serve.

• Continuous learner: You are excited to pick up new tools, understand new services, and get comfortable not knowing everything yet.

• Collaborative spirit: You thrive in team environments, value diverse perspectives, and are willing to pair, ask questions, and learn across functions.

What you'll gain from the Program

• Hands-on experience: Solve real problems on production infrastructure, not simulations

• Mentorship: You'll be paired with a dedicated mentor on your host team who owns your ramp, meets with you regularly, and is your first stop when you're blocked. You'll also learn from engineers who have built and operated infrastructure at some of the fastest growing or largest technology companies in the world

• Fast-track to full-time: Excel in the program and join us as a full-time infrastructure engineer

• Collaborative culture: Work across infrastructure, product engineering, and security teams to see how infra enables the entire business

• Why this is exciting: You'll join a small, high-impact infrastructure team at a fast-growing startup where the systems you touch underpin everything Persona does. If you're driven, curious, and excited about building the foundation other engineers depend on, we want to hear from you.

What success looks like

By the end of your three months, you will have:

• Built a working mental model of your team's slice of the stack, enough to explain it to the next new engineer

• Shipped at least one change to production with guidance, and written up what you changed so the next person can follow it

• Found and named at least one rough edge, a gap in tooling, docs, or observability, and proposed a concrete fix

• Built working relationships with the engineers and partner teams you depend on, and know where to go when you're stuck

APPLICATIONS CLOSE MONDAY, JUNE 29TH AT 11:59 PM PT

Benefits and Perks

For full-time US-based employees (excluding internship and contractor opportunities), Persona offers a wide range of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision, 3% 401(k) contribution, unlimited PTO, quarterly mental health days, family planning benefits, professional development stipend, wellness benefits, among others.

For full-time UK employees, Persona offers a wide range of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, a 6% employer pension contribution, unlimited PTO, a monthly wellness stipend, professional development stipend, co-working stipend, and more.

As part of our interview process, all candidates will be asked to verify their identity with Persona. This step is used solely to confirm that candidates are who they say they are, and will have no impact on hiring decisions.