Senior Backend Engineer, Core Discovery
This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer, Core Discovery based in United States.
This is an opportunity for an experienced backend engineer to build highly scalable systems that shape how users discover people, places, and experiences. The role sits within a core product engineering team responsible for location-based discovery features, search experiences, and critical backend infrastructure. The ideal candidate will take ownership of complex technical challenges, influence architecture decisions, and deliver solutions that directly impact user engagement. Working in a fast-growing environment, this position combines technical leadership, product collaboration, and hands-on engineering execution. The successful candidate will help define the future of discovery technology while contributing to a culture focused on learning, innovation, and meaningful human connection.
This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer, Core Discovery based in United States.
This is an opportunity for an experienced backend engineer to build highly scalable systems that shape how users discover people, places, and experiences. The role sits within a core product engineering team responsible for location-based discovery features, search experiences, and critical backend infrastructure. The ideal candidate will take ownership of complex technical challenges, influence architecture decisions, and deliver solutions that directly impact user engagement. Working in a fast-growing environment, this position combines technical leadership, product collaboration, and hands-on engineering execution. The successful candidate will help define the future of discovery technology while contributing to a culture focused on learning, innovation, and meaningful human connection.
Accountabilities:
- Own and develop key backend components supporting discovery products, with a focus on maps, location-based experiences, and directory search capabilities.
- Design scalable software architectures and contribute to technical decisions that improve performance, reliability, and maintainability.
- Build and operate production backend systems in a fast-paced environment, taking ownership throughout the full software development lifecycle.
- Develop location-based solutions involving geospatial data, geo-indexing, proximity queries, and mapping-related functionality.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including product managers, UX designers, and data scientists, to deliver user-focused solutions.
- Build and improve search systems, including relevance, ranking, indexing, and discovery experiences.
- Advocate for strong engineering practices, including clean code, testing, CI/CD workflows, and operational excellence.
- Monitor system performance, troubleshoot issues, and continuously improve backend reliability and scalability.
- Use data-driven insights and user feedback to refine product features and improve experiences.
- Stay current with emerging technologies, including AI tools and modern engineering practices, and apply them to improve productivity and development workflows.
- Support and mentor other engineers while contributing to a collaborative and growth-oriented engineering culture.
- 6+ years of professional software development experience with demonstrated success building scalable and maintainable systems.
- Strong expertise in backend development, system design, and software architecture.
- Advanced experience with Node.js and TypeScript.
- Proven experience building and scaling production backend systems within startups or fast-moving technology environments.
- Hands-on experience developing location-based systems, including geospatial data, geo-indexing, proximity queries, and mapping technologies.
- Experience building consumer search systems involving relevance, ranking, Elasticsearch, or similar technologies is strongly preferred.
- Strong database fundamentals, including experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL and document databases such as MongoDB.
- Understanding of database indexing, query optimization, and performance tuning.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across engineering, product, and design teams.
- Strong problem-solving skills with a proactive, ownership-driven approach.
- Interest in adopting new AI tools, frameworks, and emerging engineering practices.
- Ability to think strategically about future technology trends and their impact on users.
- Strong empathy for teammates and users, with a collaborative leadership style.
- Growth mindset and enthusiasm for continuous learning.
- Ability to prioritize high-impact work and focus on meaningful outcomes.
- Passion for improving team productivity through effective tools, workflows, and engineering practices.
- Bias toward action, experimentation, rapid iteration, and shipping impactful solutions.
- Competitive annual compensation range of $180,000 - $230,000.
- Comprehensive medical and dental coverage.
- Equity-based compensation opportunities.
- Flexible work environment with unlimited vacation.
- 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
- Daily food delivery budget to support employees.
- Annual travel allowance to explore a new place and experience meaningful human connection.
- Strong focus on learning, professional development, and career growth.
- Collaborative culture centered around innovation, empathy, and impact.
The Senior Backend Engineer will design, build, and operate scalable backend systems that power discovery experiences. This role requires strong technical ownership, a product-focused mindset, and the ability to collaborate across engineering, design, data, and product teams to deliver reliable and impactful solutions.
Requirements:
The ideal candidate is a senior backend engineer with a strong track record of building scalable systems, owning technical initiatives, and delivering production software in high-growth environments. This role requires deep backend expertise, strong architectural thinking, and experience working on consumer-facing products.
Additional qualities that will help you succeed: