Senior Backend Engineer

We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to take a lead role on our Python/FastAPI backend, the system that powers everything our clients see and that increasingly powers our internal data and AI workflows too. You'll own architecture decisions, performance, and the day-to-day quality of a backend that's serving 300+ VC and PE funds and is the foundation for the next generation of product surfaces we're building on top of our data.

What you'll build:

Production APIs that power both the client-facing product and an expanding set of internal tools

High-performance queries and data access patterns across Postgres (user data) and ClickHouse (entity data, billions of rows)

The backend infrastructure for new real-time product experiences, including AI agents, network tracking, and deep-search workflows

Clean integration boundaries with the frontend (RemixJS) and our data pipelines, so the rest of the team can move fast on top of you

Whatever else needs to exist for the system to stay fast, reliable, and easy to extend as the product surface grows

You'll work closely with other backend, data and AI engineers. Postgres and ClickHouse query performance is a significant part of the role, so a real interest in making databases sing is important. We also love engineers who enjoy getting involved across the stack, frontend or data engineering experience is a strong plus.

Here are a few of the key people you'd be interacting with the most

Do you have experience in TypeScript?, We're looking for someone who gets excited about building systems that deliver real value to users. You take ownership and care deeply about the real-world impact of what you build.

You have:

Strong experience with Python and FastAPI (or similar async Python frameworks)

Solid SQL and Postgres skills, with a real interest in query performance and database internals

Experience designing and shipping production APIs that other teams depend on

A track record of moving fast and building products end-to-end, not just owning a narrow service

A big plus:

Experience with ClickHouse or similar column-oriented databases

Comfort working on frontend features directly when the situation calls for it

Experience leading or mentoring other engineers

A plus:

Experience with infrastructure architecture and DevOps

Familiarity with data engineering principles and modern data stacks

Previous work in data-intensive products

Some TypeScript experience (RemixJS is a plus) so you can collaborate effectively with the frontend team

We started Specter with a vision of building the Bloomberg of private markets. We acknowledge that is a lofty ambition and are still very much at the beginning of our journey. However, you won't find many companies that spend as much time as we do - thinking about the edge in the private markets. We can't really say, but it may be one of the reasons why over 300 leading VC and PE firms use Specter every day to discover actionable insights. Engineering at Specter As a small, fast-moving team, we take pride in our ability to ship quickly and effectively. You'll be joining us at an exciting time as we need to both scale to meet increasing demand and have the opportunity to create magical new product experiences on top of our industry-leading data with AI. We're proud to move fast. Check out our release notes to see what's new on the product side-but there's just as much happening behind the scenes. We also love AI both in our products and workflows, and take testing pretty seriously as with 20+ data sources there are otherwise always problems that sneak in. We are also proud that our data is used to find & invest in some truly awesome companies by our clients., Henry has architected Python backend and all client-facing APIs. With his vast experience he's a true unicorn, working across databases, frontend, backend, and infrastructure to make sure everything ties together nicely. Josh leads the frontend team and has built and designed the majority of the product over the course of his close to 3 year tenure at Specter. Adrian is a backend engineer on the team and a strong all-rounder. He recently launched our MCP server and is consistently one of the people pushing the backend forward across the stack.