Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development

Client Overview:
Our client is a profitable, rapidly growing technology company operating a digital marketplace that connects consumers and businesses through innovative technology solutions. The organization continues to expand its platform, product offerings, and engineering team to support increasing demand. With a strong focus on technical excellence, collaboration, and innovation, the company offers engineers the opportunity to take ownership of critical technical initiatives and contribute to long-term architectural decisions. Our client is currently looking to add a Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development to join their team.

Salary/Hourly Rate:
$220k - $240k

Position Overview:
Our client is seeking a Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development to lead the architecture, development, and scalability of its core platform and external API infrastructure. This is a highly hands-on individual contributor position offering significant technical ownership and the opportunity to influence engineering decisions across multiple projects and teams. The ideal candidate has extensive backend engineering experience, strong computer science fundamentals, and a proven ability to design complex transactional systems while providing technical leadership to other Engineers. This individual will work closely with senior engineering leadership to establish architectural standards, guide technical initiatives, and build scalable systems supporting continued business growth.

Responsibilities of the Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development:

• Own the architecture, design, and technical roadmap for core backend systems and API infrastructure.
• Design and develop scalable backend services supporting complex transactional workflows.
• Build and maintain external-facing APIs and integrations with third-party platforms.
• Lead the development of reliable systems involving payments, reservations, inventory, and order processing.
• Make foundational architectural decisions involving distributed systems, relational databases, and API design.
• Lead complex technical initiatives from initial design through production deployment.
• Establish reusable engineering patterns, technical standards, and best practices.
• Provide technical guidance and mentorship to engineers while remaining hands-on with production code.
• Collaborate with engineering leadership, Product Managers, and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities to improve system performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Troubleshoot complex production issues, system migrations, and performance challenges.

Required Experience/Skills for the Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development:

• Typically 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated technical impact.
• Extensive hands-on backend engineering experience developing production-level applications.
• Proven experience designing, developing, and launching complex transactional systems.
• Strong experience building external-facing APIs and third-party integrations.
• Deep understanding of relational databases, data modeling, distributed systems, and transactional consistency.
• Demonstrated ability to lead technical initiatives and influence architectural decisions across multiple engineers or teams.
• Experience establishing engineering standards and architectural patterns adopted by other developers.
• Strong computer science fundamentals and technical problem-solving abilities.
• Experience managing production challenges, system migrations, and reliability improvements.
• Background working within a high-performing engineering organization with established technical standards.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate with technical and business stakeholders.
• Ability to remain hands-on with coding while providing Staff-level technical leadership.
• Ability to work onsite in NYC four days per week.

Preferred Experience/Skills for the Staff Software Engineer, Backend - Platform & API Development:

• Experience with Ruby on Rails, Node.js, PostgreSQL, and AWS.
• Familiarity with Redis, Kafka, Datadog, and OpenSearch.
• Experience developing high-volume transactional platforms, marketplaces, or payment systems.
• Experience building scalable API infrastructure and complex external integrations.
• Previous experience as a Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, Lead Engineer, or Senior Engineer operating at a comparable technical level.
• Background at a well-established technology company or rapidly growing startup.
• Experience influencing architecture and technical strategy across multiple engineering teams.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools and modern engineering workflows.

Education Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field is preferred.
• Equivalent professional experience and demonstrated technical expertise will also be considered.

Benefits:

• Equity compensation.
• Hybrid schedule with remote Fridays.
• Significant technical ownership and architectural decision-making opportunities.
• Direct collaboration with experienced engineering leadership.
• Opportunity to lead complex engineering initiatives and influence long-term technical strategy.
• Collaborative, high-performing engineering environment.
• Client-provided benefits available, upon eligibility.

Job Wrapping ID: #LI-AJ3

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EOE/M/F/D/V/SO

Position ID: 411169