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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Staff / Principal Backend Software Engineer - **Company:** TWENTY TECHNOLOGIES INC. - **Location:** Staten Island, United States - **Experience:** Experienced - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Query Performance, Java (Programming Language), Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), Artificial Intelligence, Amazon Web Services, Business Logic, Big Data, C Sharp (Programming Language), C++ (Programming Language), Code Review, Continuous Integration, Relational Databases, Distributed Systems, Graph Database, Python (Programming Language), PostgreSQL, MariaDB, MySQL, Neo4j, Operational Data Store, Object-Oriented Software Development, Secure Coding, HybridCloud, Backend, Kotlin, Event Driven Architecture, Kubernetes, Graphql, Front End Software Development, Cyber Warfare, Serverless Computing, Docker, Golang - **Published:** September 4, 2026 - **Apply:** https://startup.jobs/staff-principal-backend-software-engineer-twenty-8101965 ## About the Role * You're motivated by high-stakes, real-world outcomes-especially in national security and cyber operations. * You take ownership: you push projects from ambiguous problem to shipped, measured capability. * You bring calm, high-judgment leadership during incidents, tradeoff discussions, and tight timelines. * You hold a high bar for reliability, security, and maintainability-and you help others meet it. * You communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical partners. * You prefer simple, scalable designs and know when complexity is justified. * You enjoy mentoring and leveling up engineers through feedback, pairing, and strong technical direction., * You have 10+ years building scalable backend systems in production environments. * 4+ years of experience in Golang, or 4+ years writing server-side business logic in an object-oriented language (Java, Kotlin, C#, Python) or systems language (C, C++, Rust) with strong system design aptitude. * You have led technical initiatives end-to-end, including architecture, execution, and delivery. * You have experience designing distributed systems (e.g., event-driven architectures, messaging, consistency tradeoffs). * You have built cloud-native services and operated them in production (AWS preferred). * You have strong security fundamentals: secure coding, threat modeling, and defensible design choices. * You have a track record mentoring engineers through code reviews, technical guidance, and feedback. * You have strong communication skills and can align teams around clear technical decisions. Nice To Have * You have experience designing data models and queries in graph databases (e.g., Neo4j, AWS Neptune). * You have used relational databases (ex: Postgres, MySQL, or MariaDB) to solve business problems and are able to reason about query performance. * You've worked on defense, intelligence, or security-focused products with real operational users. * You've shipped large-scale data processing systems (streaming, near-real-time analytics, or similar). * You've integrated ML/AI capabilities into production systems in a practical, measurable way. * You have open-source contributions or personal projects that demonstrate strong engineering craft. Tech Environment (You Might Work With) * Go (Golang) business logic * AWS and hybrid cloud/on-prem deployments * Event-driven messaging (e.g., NATS) * Containers and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes) * GraphQL and service-to-service APIs * Graph databases (Neo4j, AWS Neptune) and complex relationship data ## Description You'll design and build backend systems that turn real-time operational data into mission-critical capabilities. This role owns core services that need to be fast, reliable, and secure-operating across cloud and on-prem environments. You'll make high-leverage architecture decisions, drive technical execution, and raise the bar through mentorship and engineering standards. You'll partner closely with product, operations, and frontend teams to ship systems that work under real-world constraints., * Architect and build high-throughput backend services that process real-time operational data. * Lead technical design reviews and choose pragmatic approaches for new features and system improvements. * Design event-driven and distributed systems that are resilient, observable, and performance-tuned. * Define stable APIs for internal and external consumers, partnering with frontend for seamless integration. * Improve engineering excellence through code reviews, standards, testing strategy, and incident practices. * Build and maintain CI/CD workflows that enable rapid, secure delivery. * Troubleshoot complex production issues, lead incident response, and drive durable fixes. * Partner with product and operational stakeholders to translate needs into deliverable technical plans. * Contribute to technical strategy and roadmap planning across backend services. * Support hiring by participating in interviews and helping define what "great" looks like. ## Related Videos - [Build and Deploy a Fullstack App with Open Source Tooling](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/775-build-and-deploy-a-fullstack-app-with-open-source-tooling) - [Go with the Flow: Stop the Leaks Before Your Memory's a Waterfall!](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100073-go-with-the-flow-stop-the-leaks-before-your-memory-s-a-waterfall) - [Putting the Graph In GraphQL With The Neo4j GraphQL Library](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/257-putting-the-graph-in-graphql-with-the-neo4j-graphql-library) - [MySQL Protocol Features You Should Be Aware Of](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100267-mysql-protocol-features-you-should-be-aware-of) - [Cyber Sleuth: Finding Hidden Connections in Cyber Data](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/893-cyber-sleuth-finding-hidden-connections-in-cyber-data) - [How building an industry DBMS differs from building a research one](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/768-how-building-an-industry-dbms-differs-from-building-a-research-one) ## Related Articles - [How We Built a Worry-Free System That Runs for 10+ Years – And What We’d Do Again](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/751-how-we-built-a-worry-free-system-that-runs-for-10-years-and-what-we-d-do-again) - [Dev Digest 120 - Apple and peers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/455-dev-digest-120-apple-and-peers) - [Dev Digest 121 - AI goes offline](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/456-dev-digest-121-ai-goes-offline) - [20 Essential Tools For Backend Development](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/218-20-essential-tools-for-backend-development) - [Highest Paying Tech Companies for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/220-highest-paying-tech-companies-for-developers) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated)