# Software Engineer, Marketplace

**Company:** [Mercor](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/mercor)
**Location:** San Francisco, CA
**Role:** Backend Engineering
**Salary:** $130k – $500k/yr
**Skills:** Python, Go, Kafka, Postgres, Redis, Elasticsearch, Kubernetes, Terraform, Distributed Systems, APIs, Search, Matching Systems
**Posted:** 2026-06-30

> Software Engineer building core backend systems for a high-volume AI talent marketplace, including matching, allocation, search, and real-time decisioning infrastructure. Requires strong production backend experience with high-throughput APIs and distributed systems.

## Job Description

## Responsibilities
- Build backend services that power candidate-job matching, routing, and marketplace workflows.
- Develop APIs and internal systems for search, eligibility, scoring, allocation, and fulfillment.
- Design data models and system abstractions for a rapidly evolving labor marketplace.
- Create infrastructure for real-time and asynchronous decisioning at high volume.
- Build operational systems and tooling that keep product-critical workflows reliable, observable, and easy to evolve.

**Example Problems**
- Build the systems that determine which candidates are eligible for which opportunities.
- Design matching and allocation infrastructure that balance speed, quality, and fill rate.
- Improve the performance and reliability of APIs serving marketplace decisions in real time.
- Develop workflow engines for onboarding, vetting, routing, and placement.
- Design backend abstractions that let product and ML teams iterate quickly without degrading system quality.

## Requirements
- Track record of building and operating reliable backend systems in production.
- Strong judgment in system design, performance, reliability, and data modeling.
- Comfort working on high-throughput APIs, distributed systems, and asynchronous workflows.
- Ability to translate product and marketplace requirements into clean technical systems.
- High engineering standards and a bias toward simple, durable abstractions.

## Nice-to-Haves
- Experience with search, recommendation, matching, scheduling, or marketplace systems.
- Experience supporting ML-powered products or integrating model inference into production systems.
- Familiarity with event-driven architecture, queues, caching, and observability tooling.

## Tech Stack
- Python
- Go
- Kafka
- Postgres
- Redis
- Elasticsearch
- Kubernetes
- Terraform

## Benefits
- Bi-annual performance bonus structure.
- Generous equity grant vested over 4 years.
- Up to $15k relocation bonus.
- $10K housing bonus (if you live within 0.5 miles of our office).
- $1.5K monthly stipend for meals.
- Free Equinox membership.
- $200 monthly laundry reimbursement.
- $200 monthly personal wellness reimbursement.
- Health, Dental, Vision insurance.

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**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/ba27ff48-8073-433a-9faf-3bd55baa59c6
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/ba27ff48-8073-433a-9faf-3bd55baa59c6