Key Takeaways

  • 75% of U.S. employers use automated applicant tracking systems to screen resumes before a human reviews them (Harvard Business School & Accenture, 2021)
  • The most common ATS failures are missing keywords, incompatible formatting, and incorrect file types
  • ResumeGeni scores your resume across 8 parsing layers — modeled on the same steps enterprise ATS platforms like Workday, Greenhouse, and Taleo use to evaluate candidates

How ATS Resume Scoring Works

Applicant tracking systems parse your resume into structured data — extracting your name, contact info, work history, skills, and education — then score how well that data matches the job requirements. Many ATS rejections happen because the parser couldn't extract critical fields, not because the candidate wasn't qualified.

LayerWhat It ChecksWhy It Matters
Document extractionFile format, encoding, readabilityCorrupted or image-only PDFs fail immediately
Layout analysisTables, columns, headers, footersMulti-column layouts break field extraction
Section detectionExperience, education, skills headingsNon-standard headings cause sections to be missed
Field mappingName, email, phone, dates, titlesMissing contact info is a common cause of immediate rejection
Keyword matchingJob-specific terms, skills, certificationsKeyword overlap affects recruiter search visibility and ATS scoring
Chronology checkDate ordering, gap detectionReverse-chronological order is expected by most ATS
QuantificationMetrics, numbers, measurable outcomesQuantified achievements help human reviewers and some scoring models
Confidence scoringOverall parse quality and completenessLow-confidence parses get deprioritized in results

Frequently Asked Questions

Is ResumeGeni free?
Yes. ResumeGeni is currently in beta — ATS analysis, scoring, and initial improvement suggestions are free with no signup required. Full guidance and saved reports may require a free account.
What file formats are supported?
PDF, DOCX, DOC, TXT, RTF, ODT, and Apple Pages. PDF and DOCX are recommended for best ATS compatibility.
How is the ATS score calculated?
Your resume is processed through an 8-layer parsing pipeline that extracts structured data the same way enterprise ATS platforms do. The score reflects how completely and accurately your resume can be parsed, plus how well your content matches common ATS ranking criteria.
Can ATS read PDF resumes?
Yes, but not all PDFs are equal. Text-based PDFs parse well. Image-only PDFs (scanned documents) and PDFs with complex tables or multi-column layouts often fail ATS parsing. Our analyzer will flag these issues.
How do I improve my ATS score?
Focus on three areas: use a clean single-column format, include keywords from the job description naturally in your experience bullets, and ensure all sections (contact, experience, education, skills) use standard headings.

ATS Guides & Resources

Built by engineers with 12 years of experience building enterprise hiring technology at ZipRecruiter. Last updated .

Platform Engineer

Bem · San Francisco HQ

Who we are

Hi! We're bem. We are building the infrastructure layer for modern enterprise workflows.

For decades, the world's most critical industries, supply chain, insurance, financial services, and healthcare, have been hamstrung by unstructured data. Trillions of dollars in revenue and operational decisions are trapped in messy PDFs, complex emails, and endless spreadsheets. While the AI revolution has promised a solution, most offerings are flashy toys, not the dependable, high-accuracy systems that enterprises can actually trust.

We are changing that.

bem provides a new paradigm: an AI platform that automates the toughest, most unstructured enterprise workflows with a degree of accuracy and control that was previously impossible. We don't just extract data; we deliver reliable, trainable AI functions that can be orchestrated to automate entire end-to-end business processes. We are the trusted, operational infrastructure that turns chaos into structure. Backed by top-tier investors and pulled forward by compounding market demand, we are looking for a foundational member to help us build a generational company.

The opportunity

Software is at an inflection point. Businesses have spent decades patching together workflows, hacking inefficiencies with spreadsheets, RPA, and now AI agents. But those tools weren't designed for the future—they were built to survive the past.

At bem, we're changing the game. We're building ambient business systems—software that doesn't just automate tasks but transforms operations entirely. Our AI-powered platform eliminates the manual, fragmented back-office processes that slow businesses down.

We're not just another automation tool. We're building the foundational infrastructure for the next 100 years of business software. Fortune 500 companies and high-growth startups already rely on bem to replace broken, manual workflows with intelligent, reusable components.

That's where you come in.

Why this role

This is a unique Platform Engineering role that sits at the intersection of software engineering and infrastructure. We're looking for someone who can architect the data and compute infrastructure that powers our AI systems—whether you come from a software engineering background with infrastructure passion or an SRE background with strong development skills.

  • Own the Data Pipeline: You'll be the architect of how data flows through our systems—from ingestion to processing to delivery. Your expertise in schemas, CAP tradeoffs, and transactional guarantees will directly impact customer value.

  • Solve Uncharted Infrastructure Problems: The infrastructure challenges of scaling AI systems are an open sea. You won't be implementing solved problems; you'll be defining the future of scalable GPU compute and AI infrastructure on the cloud and at the edge. No CUDA, shoulda, woulda here!

  • Work with a Veteran Team: You will be working alongside, and learning from, seasoned experts who have built and scaled products to hundreds of millions of users across uses as varied as SaaS for agriculture and grocery stores, AI agents in healthcare, cloud infrastructure, and AI code co-pilots (pre-transformer models!).

  • Product-Obsessed, Not Tech-Obsessed: We are a product-led company, not a consulting firm deploying AI for its own sake. Infrastructure is our product.

What you'll do

  • Architect Data Infrastructure: Design and build robust data pipelines that handle stochastic data with transactional guarantees. Automate DDL evolution, ensure low latency and high durability, and make complex data simple for our customers.

  • Build Multi-Cloud Foundations: Deploy and manage infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP—this is table stakes for our enterprise distribution strategy.

  • Infrastructure as Code: Everything is code. Use Terraform (OpenTofu) and Pulumi to create repeatable, versioned, and auditable infrastructure.

  • Security-First Mindset: Foster a security-first culture that protects user data and reduces GTM friction—from software supply chain security to VPC configurations that satisfy highly secure enterprise requirements.

  • Automate Everything: Apply a software engineering mindset to eliminate manual toil and build self-healing systems.

  • Collaborate and Educate: Work as an embedded expert within the engineering team, guiding best practices in reliability, scalability, and observability.

What we're looking for

  • Data Engineering Expertise: Deep understanding of data systems, including:

    • Schema design and evolution

    • CAP theorem tradeoffs in practice

    • Stream processing and batch processing patterns

    • Experience with modern data warehouses (e.g. Snowflake, Databricks, ClickHouse, or Motherduck) and relational database engines.

  • Multi-Cloud Proficiency: Hands-on experience with at least two major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and understanding their nuanced differences.

  • Infrastructure as Code: Proven experience componentizing and managing infrastructure through IaC tools—this is step zero, not a nice-to-have.

  • Security Implementation: Practical experience with infrastructure security, including container security, network isolation, and meeting enterprise compliance requirements.

  • Networking Skills: Strong expertise in modern cloud networking concepts, including Virtual Network Design, VPC peering, VPN management and the implementation of Zero Trust principles.

  • Software Engineering Foundation: Strong coding skills and ability to build tools, not just configure them. We value your ability to write production code.

Bonus points for…

  • Experience with GPU compute infrastructure and ML model serving

  • Familiarity with edge computing and hybrid cloud architectures

  • Background in high-throughput, low-latency systems

  • Experience with observability platforms and distributed tracing

  • Contributions to open-source infrastructure projects

Your values

  • Deeply curious: You don't just want to help customers implement bem—you want to help them see what's next.

  • You learn quickly: There's a lot to be done. We need someone who can juggle many balls and optimize their critical tasks into processes over time.

  • Comfortable in ambiguity: You thrive in fast-moving environments where playbooks are still being written.

  • You've got creative horsepower: …and you're not chasing the latest "thought leadership" or “building in public” trends.

  • Excited about the future of enterprise software and interfaces: You believe that RPA, agents, and manual integrations are relics of the past—and you want to help build what's next.

Why bem?

  • Work directly with founders & leadership on high-impact, strategic projects.

  • Competitive comp, including early equity.

  • Hybrid work environment (3 days in-office) with flexibility to balance work and life.

  • Be part of a fast-moving, high-growth startup backed by top investors (Uncork Capital, Kevin Mahaffey, Garry Tan).

  • Help build a new category of software—not just another SaaS tool, but the infrastructure for the next generation of business computing.