# Team Lead Backend Engineer (Core Applications)

**Company:** [Hockeystack](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/hockeystack)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Engineering Management
**Salary:** $200k – $240k/yr
**Experience:** 5+ years
**Skills:** Node.js, ClickHouse, AWS, API Design, Query Optimization, Distributed Systems, Rate-Limiting, Authentication, Caching, Large-Scale Data Systems
**Posted:** 2026-02-24

> Leads backend team architecting and scaling core API infrastructure for high-volume GTM data (60+ TB), powering low-latency services for sales, marketing, and customer success. Requires 5+ years backend experience with Node.js, ClickHouse, AWS, and distributed systems expertise; fully onsite in SF.

## Job Description

## What You’ll Do
- Lead the design and development of APIs that expose GTM data to internal and external users.
- Own end-to-end architecture for large-scale data access patterns, optimizing for performance, cost, and reliability.
- Collaborate closely with AI, data, and frontend teams to ensure seamless integrations and clean API contracts.
- Tackle complex problems like versioning, rate-limiting, auth, query complexity, and cache invalidation across a fast-evolving product surface.
- Build internal tooling to improve engineering velocity and observability for our backend systems.
- Drive engineering best practices, code quality, and testing in a fast-paced, high-output environment.
- Mentor engineers and set the technical direction for the team.

## What We’re Looking For
- Ownership-first mindset — you take initiative, move fast, and figure things out.
- Thrive in early-stage, high-urgency environments where speed and impact matter.
- Fully committed to working in-person 5 days/week at our SF HQ.
- Curious, self-aware, and feedback-driven — you bring energy, not ego.
- See this role as a defining chapter — not a stepping stone or side quest.
- **5+ years of backend engineering experience**, ideally with exposure to high-scale systems.
- Deep experience with modern backend stacks – **Node.js, ClickHouse and AWS**.
- Strong understanding of **API design principles, query optimization, and distributed systems**.
- You’ve worked with large-scale data systems (think TBs of data) and know how to manage performance, cost, and uptime at scale.
- Startup mindset – you move fast, figure things out, and don’t wait to be told what to do.
- Comfortable owning ambiguity – you define the problem, architect the solution, and ship the result.

## Compensation
Salary range: **$200,000–$240,000 USD base pay annually**, depending on experience and qualifications.

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