Staff Backend Engineer

David Joseph & Company
San Francisco, United States of America
19 days ago

Role details

Contract type
Permanent contract
Employment type
Full-time (> 32 hours)
Working hours
Regular working hours
Languages
English
Experience level
Senior
Compensation
$ 350K

Job location

San Francisco, United States of America

Tech stack

Artificial Intelligence
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Software as a Service
Code Review
Cursor (Graphical User Interface Elements)
Distributed Systems
Django
Python
PostgreSQL
Node.js
Next.js
Systems Architecture
TypeScript
Backend
FastAPI
Kubernetes
Virtual Agents

Job description

We're a fast-growing, venture-backed AI company building real-time AI agents for enterprise customer experience - agents that resolve issues instantly and operate across voice, chat, and email in high-stakes, regulated environments. Our product is already in market with major enterprise customers, processing over a million customer sessions every month., We're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer to help shape the technical direction of our backend systems. You'll lead complex projects, make architectural decisions that affect the whole platform, and raise the bar for engineering quality across the team. This is a role for someone who wants to build, not just advise - you'll write code, own systems, and ship, while also identifying what the team should be building next and how., * System architecture - design how our agent infrastructure evolves as we scale, making tradeoffs between speed, reliability, and complexity.

  • Hard technical problems - own the most ambiguous, highest-stakes projects where getting it wrong would hurt the business.
  • Technical strategy - identify gaps in our systems before they become problems and build the case for addressing them.
  • Engineering quality - set standards for code review, system design, and operational excellence through your own work, and mentor other engineers through collaboration on real work rather than formal management.

Tech stack: Python, Django, FastAPI, TypeScript, Node.js, AWS, Modal, Kubernetes, Postgres, Next.js, * Technical Interview: System Design (1 hour) - an architectural interview to assess your ability to design complex, scalable backend systems and articulate technical tradeoffs.

  • Final Round (3-4 hours) - a series of interviews with key team members and leadership to evaluate team fit and engineering alignment, including a hands-on AI agent-building exercise.

Requirements

Do you have experience in Team leadership?, * 7-15 years of backend/infrastructure engineering experience, with strong Python and distributed systems

  • A clear track record of growth and increasing scope/seniority over your career
  • Experience at high-growth SaaS startups or top-tier technology companies
  • A history of independently owning and driving initiatives to completion without oversight
  • System design expertise for scalable, reliable backend platforms
  • Strong Python backend development (Django/FastAPI)
  • Currently at, or recently promoted to, staff level (L6/E6 equivalent)

Nice to Have

  • CS, Math, or Stats degree from a top university
  • Active use of AI coding tools (e.g. Cursor or Claude) in your day-to-day workflow

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