# Senior/Staff Backend Engineer

**Company:** [Blackbird.xyz](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/blackbird-xyz)
**Location:** New York, NY
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $180k – $220k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Kotlin, REST APIs, SQL, Spring, Hibernate, AWS, Terraform, Domain-Driven Design, Payments, Blockchain
**Posted:** 2025-05-07

> Designs, builds, and maintains core backend APIs for payments and loyalty platforms using Kotlin and RESTful services. Collaborates cross-functionally, mentors engineers, and scales systems in a fast-paced environment. Requires 5+ years experience.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain core backend APIs
- Collaborate with product, design, and engineering peers to deliver features aligned with business goals
- Contribute to system architecture and implement scalable, robust solutions
- Uphold and promote backend best practices, with a focus on code quality, testing, and performance
- Mentor junior and mid-level engineers and foster a collaborative, growth-oriented team culture
- Participate in product and design discussions, offering backend perspectives on implementation and feasibility

## Requirements
- 5+ years of experience building and deploying backend APIs
- Strong proficiency in **Kotlin** or another statically typed JVM language
- Deep experience designing and maintaining **RESTful APIs** using domain-driven design principles
- Solid understanding of **SQL** databases, including schema design and performance tuning
- Strong attention to detail and commitment to delivering high-quality user experiences
- Ability to work autonomously and make sound decisions in a fast-moving environment
- Experience mentoring engineers and contributing positively to team culture
- Comfortable working cross-functionally with product, design, and other stakeholders

## Nice to Haves
- Experience with the **Spring** framework and database abstraction layers such as **Hibernate**
- Familiarity with the U.S. payments ecosystem, including debit, credit, and **ACH** processing
- Exposure to **DevOps** practices, including **AWS** infrastructure and **Terraform**
- Interest or experience in **blockchain**, especially with cryptography fundamentals
- Experience productionizing generative **AI** features (e.g. retrieval-augmented generation, prompt engineering, or model integration)

## Compensation
Target annual salary: **$180,000-$220,000 USD** (depending on work location and experience). Full time offers may include stock options, benefits (medical, dental, vision, flexible time off, 401(k)), and perks.

## Similar roles

- [Senior or Staff Back End Engineer, AI Features](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/eb15b9b4-07b2-4a7a-8658-05be550c3104) - Skylight - Remote - $180k – $240k/yr
- [Senior Staff Software Engineer - Integration](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/d197b65c-eaa9-4e78-822f-5fe7fb212022) - Stellar Cyber - Remote - $180k – $245k/yr
- [Member of Technical Staff, Core Backend](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/3c6b8c2b-f828-42ce-8e66-23ddf5ba053c) - Vapi - San Francisco, CA - $180k – $265k/yr
- [Staff Backend Software Engineer](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/1801b6b4-0118-40a4-ba9d-45e8f0742019) - Lumafield - San Francisco, CA - $180k – $225k/yr
- [Software Architect](https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/f054032e-77ce-4890-929a-e8dd3f5cdca7) - Fusion Health - Woodbridge Township, NJ - $180k – $200k/yr

**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/51f4ffef-9fbf-47d6-b85c-938238f6d51f
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/51f4ffef-9fbf-47d6-b85c-938238f6d51f