Staff Backend Engineer

Location: Remote, US (SF Bay Area, Chicago, NYC preferred)

Compensation: $180K – $230K + Equity

Who We’re Looking For

Seeking a Staff Backend Engineer with 10+ years of experience in fast‑paced startup environments. This role requires deep backend expertise, strong database management skills, and hands‑on leadership in serverless architecture.

About the Role

You’ll be a critical member of a small, senior engineering team working on a modern serverless stack. This is a hands‑on role where you’ll drive technical strategy, lead projects, and make architecture decisions that directly impact scalability and reliability. You’ll collaborate closely with leadership and cross‑functional teams to deliver innovative features while elevating engineering standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive technical strategy and architecture decisions focused on scalability and reliability.

• Lead backend and infrastructure initiatives, including DevOps and cloud systems.

• Architect and implement scalable backend systems to support rapid growth.

• Manage the full lifecycle of code, from development to production.

• Champion performance profiling, automated testing, and observability.

• Mentor teammates and elevate engineering practices.

• Distill complex initiatives into executable milestones and drive cross‑team delivery.

What It’ll Take to Land an Interview

Must‑Haves (100% required):

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong focus on backend development and database management.

• Proven success in startup environments.

• Staff‑level backend engineering experience.

• Hands‑on engineer capable of leading projects as a tech lead/team lead.

• Strong communication and collaborative problem‑solving skills.

• Passion for mentoring and growing senior engineers.

• Obsession with quality, performance measurement, and managing technical debt.

• Product sense—able to influence what is built and how it’s built.

• Continuous learner, eager to expand skills on the job.

Nice‑to‑Haves (70% required):

• Strong database management and scalable backend systems experience.

• Familiarity with AWS serverless architecture (Lambda, AppSync, DynamoDB, API Gateway).

• GraphQL backend development experience.

• Knowledge of authentication services (Cognito, Auth0, Okta).

• Familiarity with frontend frameworks (React, Vue, Svelte) for occasional full‑stack contributions.

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (AWS CDK, Serverless Framework).

• Experience operationalizing LLM or vector‑search features in production.

• Expertise with Chrome extensions or DOM integrations.

• Track record optimizing relevance in search and recommendation systems.

Tech Stack

• AWS Lambda, AppSync, API Gateway, DynamoDB, IAM

• GraphQL

• TypeScript

• Node.js

Tools:

• AWS CDK or Serverless Framework (Infrastructure as Code)

• Jest / Playwright (testing frameworks)

• Auth0 / AWS Cognito / Okta (authentication)

About the Organization

Focused on building an AI‑powered platform designed to automate and streamline workflows directly within the browser. By integrating seamlessly with existing tools, the platform captures on‑screen activities to generate step‑by‑step guides, automate data entry, and assist in decision‑making. The mission is to reduce manual tasks, enhance efficiency, and improve accuracy without requiring complex setups.