Staff Software Engineer, Backend
Leads architectural direction and hands-on backend development for high-scale, AI-powered products, including production LLM integrations and 0-to-1 initiatives. Requires 7+ years of engineering experience, deep Kotlin expertise, and strong AWS and Kubernetes skills.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Set architectural direction for AI-powered products and 0-to-1 builds, balancing long-term trade-offs and maintaining a build-ready technical backlog.
- Integrate AI models and large language models into reliable, production customer-facing systems.
- Write high-quality backend code and rapidly build proof-of-concepts to validate architectural options.
- Partner with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership to turn ambiguous business goals into well-architected, sequenced initiatives.
- Identify and resolve systemic technical debt, unblock engineers, raise engineering quality, and provide technical leadership.
Requirements
- 7+ years of professional engineering experience with a strong backend focus.
- Experience owning system design and architectural decisions for high-scale or high-growth products.
- Production experience integrating LLMs and using AI tooling in software development.
- Deep Kotlin expertise and strong backend architecture, service design, and performance instincts.
- Strong command of AWS and Kubernetes.
- Ability to make architectural decisions with incomplete information and iterate rapidly.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, including explaining architectural trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Nice-to-haves
- TypeScript experience.
Benefits
- Health and dental insurance options.
- Flexible paid time off.
- Professional development and continued-learning stipend.
- $5,000 bonus for high performers at five years.
- Paid parental leave.
- Fertility and adoption benefits via Carrot.
- Local events and in-person gathering opportunities for the distributed team.
Skills
Kotlin, TypeScript, AWS, Kubernetes, LLMs, Ai Models, Backend Architecture, System Design, Proof Of Concepts, Cloud Infrastructure
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