# Senior/Staff Backend Engineer
**Company:** [Blackbird.xyz](https://hotfix.jobs/companies/blackbird-xyz)
**Location:** New York, NY
**Salary:** $180K-$220K
**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.
**Apply:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/senior-staff-backend-engineer-at-blackbird-xyz-51f4ffef-9fbf-47d6-b85c-938238f6d51f
**Canonical:** https://hotfix.jobs/jobs/senior-staff-backend-engineer-at-blackbird-xyz-51f4ffef-9fbf-47d6-b85c-938238f6d51f