Backend Engineer

Golden Gate Recruiting; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Golden Gate Recruiting partners with a fast-growing AI startup backed by Browder Capital—an early investor in Wander.com and Owner.com. We seek a Backend Engineer to design and build scalable services powering the platform.

You’ll work with Python/Go/Java, PostgreSQL, Redis, Kafka, Docker and Kubernetes, in a cloud-first environment (AWS/GCP) with Terraform, Datadog, and on-call responsibility to keep systems reliable for real customers.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of backend engineering experience.
• Experience with at least one backend language (Python/Go/Java).
• Hands-on experience with relational or distributed databases.
• Comfort with cloud infrastructure and containerized deployments.
• Strong communication skills for a distributed team.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs that scale.
• Push system reliability, performance, and scalability further.
• Own data models and infrastructure decisions for core services.
• Team up with ML and product engineering on shared systems.
• Take part in an on-call rotation for production systems.

Skills

Backend development

Distributed systems

Cloud deployments

Tools

PostgreSQL

Redis

Kafka

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Datadog

Job description

Golden Gate Recruiting is thrilled to be partnering with a fast-growing AI startup backed by Browder Capital - one of the earliest investors in breakout companies like Wander.com and Owner.com. This team is putting AI to work solving real problems for real customers, and momentum is building fast across engineering, go-to-market, and design.

THE ROLE

Our client is looking for a Backend Engineer ready to design and build the scalable services that power its entire platform.

TECH STACK & TOOLS

• Python, Go, or Java powering core services
• PostgreSQL and Redis handling data and caching
• Kafka driving event streaming
• Docker and Kubernetes for deployment
• AWS or GCP, provisioned with Terraform
• Datadog keeping watch with monitoring and alerting

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs that scale
• Push system reliability, performance, and scalability further
• Own data models and infrastructure decisions for core services
• Team up with ML and product engineering on shared systems
• Take part in an on-call rotation for production systems

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• 3+ years of backend engineering experience
• Strong experience with at least one backend language (Python, Go, Java, etc.)
• Hands-on experience with relational and/or distributed databases
• Comfort with cloud infrastructure and containerized deployments
• Strong communication skills for thriving on a distributed team

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience scaling systems through rapid, high-growth periods

COMPENSATION

$150,000-$220,000 base salary + equity. Target pay generally maps to years of directly relevant experience: 3-4 years $150,000-$170,000; 5-7 years $170,000-$195,000; 8+ years $195,000-$220,000. Bands reflect 2026 early-stage startup market data (seed/Series A-B) for this role and location; final offers may vary based on the candidate's specific background.