Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

TL;DR

Senior Software Engineer (Backend): Building and optimizing core backend systems and infrastructure for an AI-powered educational platform with an accent on scalability, reliability, and developer tooling. Focus on designing robust APIs, managing cloud infrastructure, and partnering with product teams to ship high-impact end-to-end features.

Location: Must be based in San Francisco, CA or New York City, NY and able to work in-office 4 days a week.

Salary: $170,000 – $230,000

Company

An early-stage, VC-backed startup dedicated to harnessing transformative AI technologies to make world-class teaching and learning accessible to everyone.

What you will do

• Own core backend systems and infrastructure to power critical product workflows.
• Set technical direction, translating business objectives into pragmatic engineering plans.
• Improve engineering foundations, including code quality, observability, CI/CD, and developer tooling.
• Ensure operational excellence, including scalability, security, reliability, and incident response.
• Partner with product managers and designers to execute on UX and interaction design.
• Provide technical leadership through design discussions, code reviews, and mentorship.

Requirements

• 5+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Strong backend experience (Kotlin, Python, Go, or Rust).
• Hands-on experience operating production systems and cloud infrastructure (AWS).
• Proven ability in designing APIs and working with relational databases like MySQL.
• Experience with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and reliable deployment practices.
• Must be available for in-office work 4 days a week in San Francisco or New York City.

Nice to have

• Extensive experience contributing to frontend codebases with React and TypeScript.
• Experience with integrating LLM-backed services, including evaluation and operational considerations.

Culture & Benefits

• Competitive compensation package including equity.
• Comprehensive medical, dental, vision, and life insurance coverage.
• Flexible Paid Time Off (PTO) policy and company holidays.
• Daily DoorDash lunch credit.
• Work in a fast-paced, mission-driven startup environment.