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Senior Software Engineer, Backend Platform

Handshake· Engineering
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San Francisco, CA$208k - $260kFull-timePosted 4w ago

About the role

Senior Software Engineer to join Backend Platform, focusing on Handshake AI (HAI) and internal AI initiatives. Build and maintain backend services, shared platform capabilities, and developer tooling with emphasis on core backend platform concerns, APIs, data systems, performance, reliability, and developer experience in a large full-stack TypeScript repository.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs that support HAI products and internal AI initiatives, primarily within our full-stack TypeScript repository.
  • Develop shared libraries, services, and architectural patterns that reduce duplicated work and make backend systems easier to extend and operate.
  • Improve the performance, scalability, reliability, and observability of HAI's backend systems.
  • Lead work involving database design, data access patterns, query performance, indexing, caching, and the evolution of data models as products grow.
  • Identify recurring product-engineering problems and turn the right ones into reusable platform capabilities and well-understood patterns.
  • Make sound architectural decisions across mature systems and new services, balancing delivery speed, performance, maintainability, and operational cost.
  • Contribute directly to internal AI initiatives, including shared capabilities used to build, evaluate, and operate LLM-powered and agentic systems.
  • Partner with other teams in our Developer Platform group, including ML and Cloud Engineering, on model and service integration, orchestration, evaluation, observability, and failure handling.
  • Participate in technical planning, design and code reviews, operational support, and incident response.
  • Mentor other engineers and help establish practical backend engineering standards across HAI and internal AI initiatives.

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of professional software engineering experience, primarily in backend or platform engineering.
  • Experience designing, building, and operating production services and APIs.
  • Strong understanding of distributed systems, data modeling, service boundaries, common backend architecture patterns, and reliability and performance tradeoffs.
  • Deep TypeScript and Next.js experience preferred; comfortable navigating a full-stack TypeScript repository and contributing across boundaries.

Skills

Required:TypeScriptBackend API designDistributed systemsCloud & container tooling
Nice to have:Next.jsPostgreSQL

Benefits

  • Ownership: Equity in a fast-growing company
  • Financial Wellness: 401(k) match, competitive compensation, financial coaching
  • Family Support: Paid parental leave, fertility benefits, parental coaching
  • Wellbeing: Medical, dental, & vision, mental health support, $500 wellness stipend
  • Growth: $2,000 learning stipend, ongoing development
  • Remote & Office: Internet, commuting, & free lunch/gym in our SF office
  • Time Off: Flexible PTO, 15 holidays + 2 flex days
  • Connection: Team outings & referral bonuses
Last updated Oct 1, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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