Senior Backend Engineer

Meltwater; Toronto; On-site; CAD 130,000 - 174,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible paid time off

Medical, dental, vision options

CalmApp subscription

Hybrid work style

Professional development opportunities

Job summary

Meltwater seeks a Senior Backend Engineer to build and scale the GenAI Lens backend platform in Toronto. Focus on MongoDB data design, durable ingestion/processing pipelines, and reliable, observable systems.

You’ll evolve the API layer (GraphQL/JSON-RPC) with emphasis on data systems and AI tooling integration. Role emphasizes production-grade backend services, high-throughput workloads, and cross-functional collaboration with frontend, product, and UX teams.

Qualifications

• Backend in production with strong ownership.
• Experience designing GraphQL APIs with scalable patterns.
• Solid MongoDB data modeling and indexing experience.
• Proficient in Node.js/JS/TS and Python.
• Experience with AWS serverless architectures.

Responsibilities

• Own backend services end-to-end from design to production support.
• Deliver scalable GraphQL resolvers with performance patterns.
• Build and maintain the JSON-RPC data layer powering GraphQL.
• Optimize MongoDB performance, indexing, and pipelines.
• Develop serverless components with reliability and observability.
• Improve CI/CD, testing, and code quality practices.
• Collaborate with frontend, product, and UX teams.
• Mentor engineers and influence engineering standards.

Skills

GraphQL APIs

MongoDB data modeling

Node.js / JavaScript / TypeScript

Python

AWS serverless / event-driven

Testing & CI/CD

Distributed systems

Tools

Terraform

AWS Lambda

S3

Atlas Search

Vector Search

Kubernetes

Job description

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to build and scale the GenAI Lens backend platform. This is a production-focused role centered on MongoDB data design and performance, scalable/durable data ingestion and processing pipelines, and operating high-throughput systems with strong observability and reliability.

Description

About the Role

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to build and scale the GenAI Lens backend platform. This is a production-focused role centered on MongoDB data design and performance, scalable/durable data ingestion and processing pipelines, and operating high-throughput systems with strong observability and reliability. You’ll also help build and evolve our API layer (GraphQL and JSON-RPC). Experience with GraphQL is a strong plus, but the core focus is data systems and platform engineering. You should be comfortable working in a product that leverages modern AI technologies (embeddings, vector search, LLM integrations) and understand the practical standards that come with them—evaluation, guardrails, observability, and cost controls.

What You’ll Work On

• Maintain and improve our data pipelines to keep data flowing reliably from ingestion to delivery
• Scalable, durable data ingestion and processing pipelines (event-driven, fault-tolerant workflows; retries, idempotency, backfills, and DLQs)
• Own data quality by implementing monitoring, alerting, and validation
• Design MongoDB schemas and query/index strategies for scale (aggregation pipelines, Atlas Search/vector search where relevant)
• JSON‑RPC data layer service that powers GraphQL (designing/maintaining RPC methods, scaling throughput/latency, and evolving contracts safely)
• Support AI‑adjacent platform needs (embedding generation workflows, provider abstractions, prompt/model metadata, evaluation hooks)

Responsibilities:

• Own backend services end-to-end, from design and implementation through deployment and production support
• Deliver scalable GraphQL resolvers with performance‑aware patterns (batching, caching, pagination)
• Build and evolve the JSON‑RPC data access layer for GraphQL, including method design, backward compatibility, and performance tuning.
• Own MongoDB performance: modeling, indexing, aggregation pipelines, and measurable latency/throughput targets
• Build reliable serverless/event-driven components (idempotency, retries, DLQs, backpressure, rate limiting)
• Improve reliability and operational readiness (SLO‑minded engineering, incident response hygiene, runbooks)
• Partner closely with frontend, product, and UX to enable features cleanly and safely
• Drive code quality via testing, reviews, and CI/CD improvements
• Mentor engineers and influence engineering standards across the team

Required Skills & Experience

• Experience building and maintaining backend services in production
• Strong experience with GraphQL APIs (schema design, resolver patterns, authorization, performance)
• Strong experience with MongoDB (data modeling, indexing, aggregation pipelines; Atlas Search and Vector Search, sharding experience is a plus)
• Strong proficiency with Node.js and JavaScript / TypeScript
• Strong proficiency with Python (services, jobs, data processing, or tooling)
• Experience building on AWS, preferably serverless/event-driven architectures (Lambda, SQS/SNS/EventBridge, S3)
• Experience working with high‑traffic or business‑critical systems
• Solid understanding of performance optimization techniques (caching, async processing, data access patterns)
• Experience with Terraform for production infrastructure (IAM, networking, secrets, repeatable environments)
• Experience with testing frameworks and pragmatic test strategy (unit, integration, contract)
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions preferred; alternatives acceptable)
• Experience debugging, monitoring, and operating production systems
• Comfortable working in a distributed team environment
• Strong operational skills: logging, metrics, tracing, dashboards/alerts, and production support practices

Infrastructure & Platform Experience

• Cloud experience, preferably AWS, including:
• Lambda
• SQS / SNS / EventBridge / Kafka
• S3
• CloudWatch
• API Gateway (where applicable)
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code, preferably Terraform
• Experience with private networking patterns (VPC, security groups, PrivateLink/VPC endpoints) is a plus
• Exposure to containerized workloads (EKS/Kubernetes) is a plus, even if the core architecture is serverless‑first

Collaboration & Others

• Prior experience leading projects, features, or technical initiatives
• Ability to influence architecture and design decisions
• Strong ownership mindset and ability to identify and execute improvements independently

AI & Developer Productivity

• Familiarity with embeddings and vector search concepts, and the tradeoffs they introduce (latency, cost, relevance)
• Experience integrating with LLM/embedding providers via clean abstractions (timeouts, retries, fallbacks, rate limits)
• Awareness of AI industry standards/practices: prompt/version management, evaluation/regression checks, basic guardrails, and auditability
• Hands‑on experience using AI tools to improve development workflows and code quality (e.g., Copilot, Claude Code, OpenAI‑based tools)
• Ability to articulate how AI has improved development speed, quality, testing, or maintainability

Nice to Have

• Experience building high‑throughput services (e.g., millions of requests/minute class systems) and tuning concurrency/connection pools
• Experience designing “saved filter” or “materialized view” style performance optimizations for analytics/trends workloads
• Experience with multi‑region data and compliance‑minded architectures
• Experience refactoring legacy systems or consolidating services for efficiency and cost savings

Why Join This Team

• Help build a modern backend platform where quality and scalability are non‑negotiable, enabling a high‑impact product for the company with visible outcomes and real customer adoption.
• Work with cutting‑edge technologies and modern AI tooling (embeddings, vector search, LLM providers, evaluation/guardrails) while staying grounded in strong backend engineering practices.
• Supportive, collaborative team culture—ideas are heard, discussed openly, and improved together as a group

What We Offer

• Flexible paid time off that allows you to have an enhanced work‑life balance
• Excellent medical, dental, and vision options
• Complimentary CalmApp subscription for you and your loved ones, because mental wellness matters.
• Energetic work environment with a hybrid work style, providing the balance you need.
• Thrive within our inclusive community and seize ongoing professional development opportunities to elevate your career.

Compensation Overview

At Meltwater, we believe great impact deserves great reward. Our compensation approach is data‑driven, market‑informed, and built to scale with your growth. We benchmark roles against external market data and use structured leveling frameworks to ensure fairness, consistency, and internal equity across teams and geographies.

These frameworks are based on objective, gender‑neutral criteria in line with applicable pay transparency regulations.

For this role, the annual base salary range is $130,000 – $174,000 CAD.

Actual offers are determined based on job‑related skills, experience, demonstrated capabilities, and work location. We typically hire within the range in a way that supports long‑term growth, recognizing that compensation evolves as scope, performance, and impact expand over time.

We regularly review our compensation practices and conduct pay equity analyses to help ensure our decisions remain fair, objective, and market‑aligned. Employees and candidates may request additional information on how compensation is determined, in line with local legal requirements.

Our Talent Acquisition Team is happy to walk you through the full compensation picture specific to your location and level during the interview process.

Start Date

June/July 2026

Our Story

At Meltwater, we believe that when you have the right people in the right environment, great things happen.

Our best‑in‑class technology empowers our 27,000 customers around the world to make better business decisions through data. But we can’t do that without our global team of developers, innovators, problem‑solvers, and high‑performers who embrace challenges and find new solutions for our customers.

Our award‑winning global culture drives everything we do and creates an environment where our employees can make an impact, learn every day, feel a sense of belonging, and celebrate each other’s successes along the way.

We’re proud of our diverse team of 2,200+ employees in 50 locations across 25 countries around the world. No matter where you are, you’ll work with people who care about your success and get the support you need to unlock new heights in your career.

We are Meltwater. Inspired by innovation, powered by people.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Meltwater is an Equal Opportunity Employer and Prohibits Discrimination and Harassment of Any Kind: At Meltwater, we are dedicated to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where every employee feels valued, respected, and empowered. We are committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity and strive to provide a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment.

All employment decisions at Meltwater are made based on business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, or any other status protected by the applicable laws and regulations.

Meltwater does not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind, and we actively promote a culture of respect, fairness, and inclusivity. We encourage applicants of all backgrounds, experiences, and abilities to apply and join us in our mission to drive innovation and make a positive impact in the world.

AI Hiring Assistance

We may use AI to assist in aspects of our hiring process, such as reviewing candidate information, capturing interview notes, and supporting interview activities. These tools are used only to assist our team through increased efficiencies. Every output continues to be reviewed by humans, and all hiring decisions are made by humans. We remain committed to evaluating candidates fairly, consistently, and in compliance with all applicable laws