AI-Accelerated Backend Engineer - Voice & Messaging

512Financial; Raleigh (NC); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, 100% coverage for employee

PTO and holidays

401(k) with match

Competitive salary

Team-building and volunteer days

Job summary

Gilder Search Group's client, a cloud communications API platform, is seeking a Software Engineer focused on AI-accelerated development. You will build across Voice, Messaging, and Platform Services, integrating AI coding assistants into daily workflows and ensuring production-ready code.

You should have 3–5 years of backend/API experience, strong data-structures and testing fundamentals, and comfort with Node.js (primarily) with Python or Java as needed.

Qualifications

• 3–5 years of professional software engineering experience, backend/API work or distributed systems preferred.
• Regular use of AI coding tools and eagerness to improve with AI-assisted development.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures, testing, and system design to identify AI-generated code issues.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship features across Voice, Messaging, and Platform Services (APIs, routing, carrier integrations).
• Integrate AI coding assistants into daily workflows for scaffolding, review, and documentation.
• Run tests, perform code migrations, and contribute to documentation with senior support.
• Rotate weekly on-call for production systems handling live voice and messaging traffic.
• Collaborate with product management on scoping and estimation.
• Document learnings, including what works and what doesn’t with AI-assisted development.

Skills

Backend/API

Distributed systems

Data structures

Testing

Documentation/writing

AI tooling

Node.js

Python

Tools

Node.js

Python

Go

Java

Job description

Software Engineer, AI-Accelerated Development

Picture your typical Tuesday: you're pairing with an AI assistant to knock out a feature, catching what it gets wrong, and shipping code that's actually production-ready by lunch. If that sounds like your kind of day, keep reading.

About the Company:

Our client is a cloud communications API platform (CPaaS) that powers voice and text messaging for more than 1,500 companies, ranging from contact centers to fintech platforms to mobile carriers. Their lineup spans voice APIs, SMS/MMS messaging, RCS for Business, branded calling tools, and bring-your-own-carrier (BYOC) options, engineered around carrier redundancy, compliance, and U.S.-based support. Their customers depend on this team to make sure every call and text gets where it's going.

The Role:

This team needs a Software Engineer who's already folding AI tools into daily development and wants to get even sharper doing it. You'll build across the Voice, Messaging, and Platform Services stack, leaning on AI coding assistants for scaffolding, review, testing, and documentation, all while learning when to trust the output and when to catch its mistakes. It's an ideal next step for someone early in their AI-assisted development path who wants to level up fast, working alongside engineers who live in this world every day.

Your Day-to-Day:

• Build and ship features across Voice, Messaging, and Platform Services (APIs, routing logic, carrier integrations, messaging pipelines)
• Bring AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or similar) into your everyday workflow
• Get hands-on with AI agents for real engineering tasks like testing, documentation, and code migration, with support from senior teammates
• Rotate through weekly on-call for production systems carrying live voice and messaging traffic
• Partner with product management on scoping and estimation
• Document what you learn, including what works (and doesn't) with AI-assisted development

What Gets You In the Door:

• 3 to 5 years of professional software engineering experience, backend/API work or distributed systems preferred
• You already use AI coding tools regularly and want to get better at it, not just dabble
• Solid fundamentals in data structures, testing, and system design so you can spot when AI-generated code is wrong
• Comfort with a modern backend language/framework (Node.js, Python, Go, or Java); this team runs primarily on Node with some Python
• Strong writing skills for documentation and team communication
• Able to be onsite in Raleigh, NC Wednesdays and Thursdays each week; this role cannot sponsor work visas
• Nice to have: exposure to telecom protocols (SIP, SMPP) or messaging standards (SMS/MMS/RCS)

Perks That Come With It:

• Medical, 100% fully covered for employee, plus dental and vision for you and your family
• Generous PTO and 10+ paid company holidays
• 401(k) with a 4% match
• Competitive salary plus commission
• Team-building events, volunteer days, and a genuinely collaborative culture

Why This Role, Why Now:

• Real infrastructure, real stakes: your code carries actual calls and texts for real customers
• A front-row seat in the fast-growing CPaaS space
• A small, senior team where your work is visible, not buried
• Room to grow your AI fluency quickly, with people around you who can teach it
• Genuinely open-ended career path from here
• Hybrid setup in Raleigh, onsite Wednesday and Thursday

Interested? Send over your resume along with a short note on how AI already shows up in the way you build software.