Staff Backend Architect: API Platform & Data Modeling

Tome; Cambridge; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Meaningful equity

Health insurance

3 weeks PTO

11 holidays + winter break

Work from home Wed

Team events and retreats

Family leave

401k plan

Commuter and lunch stipend

Job summary

Lightfield is seeking a Staff Engineer to be a senior technical contributor, driving architecture and execution of backend systems powering the core product. You will shape API design, data models, and platform decisions in a fast-moving, early-stage environment with autonomy.

The role emphasizes ownership of multi-tenant SaaS backend systems, performance tuning, and mentorship, with opportunities to influence product direction and hiring as the team scales.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience building and scaling backend systems with leadership roles (tech lead, staff engineer or equivalent).
• Experience shipping APIs/platform-level systems used by engineers and external customers.
• Strong PostgreSQL/query optimization and data modeling for scalable SaaS.
• Ability to design multi-tenant architectures with isolation and performance in mind.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture and execution of Lightfield’s backend work streams: API platform, data model, and product capabilities.
• Scale the API platform with multi-tenant isolation, versioning, rate limits, quotas, and performance goals.
• Translate product direction into backend architecture decisions in collaboration with founders and product leadership.
• Mentor engineers, review designs, and contribute to hiring as the team grows.

Skills

Backend architecture

Leadership

Multi-tenant SaaS

PostgreSQL

Tools

Node.js

TypeScript

AWS

Job description

Lightfield is seeking a Staff Engineer to be a senior technical contributor, driving architecture and execution of backend systems powering the core product. You will shape API design, data models, and platform decisions in a fast-moving, early-stage environment with autonomy.

The role emphasizes ownership of multi-tenant SaaS backend systems, performance tuning, and mentorship, with opportunities to influence product direction and hiring as the team scales.