CLI Engineer
Builds and maintains backend APIs with NestJS/TypeScript (80%) and cross-platform CLI tools (20%) for local development experience. Requires 5+ years backend experience, strong TypeScript, and hands-on CLI development skills.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and operate backend APIs and services in TypeScript using NestJS patterns, prioritizing security, performance, and clear contracts.
- Design and develop CLI tooling consistent, secure, and performant across Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Collaborate with product and platform teams to define end-to-end behavior from HTTP/API design to CLI and local development stack.
- Implement unit, integration, and end-to-end tests across backend and CLI.
- Create documentation and help content for API consumers, CLI users, and contributing developers.
- Participate in releases, versioning, and backwards compatibility.
- Monitor usage and feedback; work with customers and open source community to improve API/backend and CLI experiences.
Requirements
- 5+ years of software development experience with strong track record in backend systems and/or developer-facing tooling.
- Strong TypeScript and professional experience shipping production API and server-side code; NestJS experience strongly preferred.
- Hands-on experience with command-line tools (building, maintaining, or owning CLIs), including cross-platform concerns: filesystem access, subprocess management, terminal UX, platform-specific behavior.
- Proficiency in TypeScript/Node (essential); other CLI/backend languages (Rust, Python, Go, C++).
- Experience building CLIs with strong UX: intuitive command structure, clear output, actionable error messaging.
- Familiarity with package distribution (npm, yarn, Homebrew, APT, Snap, Scoop, Chocolatey).
- Solid Git workflow and CI/CD experience.
Nice to Haves
- Contributions to open-source CLI tools, libraries, or backend frameworks.
- Experience with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes).
- Familiarity with database migration management, Postgres, and related drivers.
Skills
TypeScript, Nestjs, Cli, Node.js, Git, CI/CD, Docker, Kubernetes, Postgres, Npm
Similar jobs
Backend Engineering jobs
PrizePicks
United States
Build and scale Ruby on Rails backend services for rewards, incentives, and loyalty features in a high-throughput platform. The role owns complex feature delivery, contributes to architecture, mentors junior engineers, and requires 3+ years of professional software engineering experience.
Twilio
United States
Build and operate backend capabilities for a cloud identity platform, including authentication flows, APIs, and developer experiences. The role requires 3+ years of experience with high-scale production systems and RESTful API development, with Go, TypeScript, and DynamoDB as preferred skills.
Anthropic
San Francisco, CABuild and scale reliable research infrastructure and distributed systems for evolving AI research workflows. The role independently leads complex technical projects, makes foundational architectural decisions, and partners with researchers and engineering teams.
Cloudflare
Austin, TXBuild and operate Internet-scale HTTP and TLS infrastructure, migrate services to a Rust-based proxy, and improve protocol performance. The role requires systems programming experience, strong reliability and security practices, and interest in open-source standards.
Instacart
Canada
Build and operate publisher-facing backend features for Instacart’s Carrot Ads platform, spanning APIs, serving, reporting, and partner tooling. The role requires 3+ years of backend experience, distributed-systems and API expertise, and operational ownership.