Staff Backend Engineer, Core

About this role

We're looking for an experienced backend engineer to join our Core Engineering team. This team owns essential user experiences in Scribe — including viewing and editing Scribes, managing Pages, Embeds, Exports, and supporting key Integrations. Your work will impact how users create, share, and consume documentation.

You can expect to

• Lead development of new features in our Django monolith, focusing on the core experience of viewing and editing Scribes — including pages, embeds, exports, and related integrations
• Optimize database queries, endpoints, and caching layers to improve performance and scalability across critical user workflows
• Collaborate with product and design to deliver intuitive, reliable editing and rendering experiences at scale
• Make architectural decisions about when to extend the monolith and when to invest in service extraction for high-scale systems
• Set a high bar for engineering excellence through code reviews, mentorship, and best practices in testing, observability, and performance

You could be a great fit if

• You have 8+ years of experience building backend applications at high scale and availability
• You have extensive experience with Python
• You know how to optimize endpoint performance and database queries
• You're a strong advocate for automated testing
• You've seen and can implement engineering best practices
• You're user-centric, empathetic, and passionate about your work

Bonus

• Experience with Django (not required, but a big plus)
• Startup experience (not required, but we build and move fast!)

Our backend tech stack

• Python + Django
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Celery + AmazonMQ
• Infrastructure in Terraform (AWS)

Compensation

$205-$235k base + equity