Backend Engineer

RecSkills; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 130,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

RecSkills in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer / Infrastructure Engineer to build fraud/risk detection infrastructure and scale distributed systems. This role centers on real-time processing, end-to-end feature delivery, and scaling to support billions of events and millions of users.

You will collaborate with engineering and product teams, ship features with urgency, and contribute to a platform designed for rapid growth in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• Experts in distributed systems and real-time processing.
• Experience with NoSQL databases (Cassandra, DynamoDB, BigTable) and streaming.
• Familiarity with scaling vector databases and LLM-based systems.
• Ability to independently own and deliver product features end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Ship end-to-end product features with ownership and urgency
• Scale infrastructure to support high-transaction systems and millions of users
• Develop distributed and real-time systems for fraud/risk detection or similar use cases
• Build scalable fundamentals for the product across industries
• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams

Skills

Distributed systems

Real-time processing

NoSQL databases

Streaming technologies

LLM-based systems

End-to-end ownership

Vector databases

Kubernetes

Tools

Kubernetes

Job description

Position Title: Backend Engineer / Infrastructure Engineer (Senior) Location: San Francisco, CA (in-office ~60 hrs/week; hybrid allowed for long commutes) Position Type: Full-Time (Permanent) Work Policy: Primarily in-person; relocation assistance may be available Start Timeline: ASAP – urgent hire Compensation Base Salary: $130,000 – $210,000 (varies by level, performance, and location) Equity: Generous and meaningful equity package Notes: Competitive compensation with flexibility for exceptional candidates

Role Summary

The Backend Infrastructure Engineer will develop fraud/risk detection infrastructure and scale distributed systems. Responsibilities include building real-time processing systems, shipping end-to-end features with urgency, and expanding platform scalability to handle billions of events and millions of users.

Core Responsibilities

• Ship end-to-end product features with ownership and urgency
• Scale infrastructure to support high-transaction systems and millions of users
• Develop distributed and real-time systems for fraud/risk detection or similar use cases
• Build scalable fundamentals for the product across industries
• Collaborate closely with engineering and product teams

Must-Have Qualifications

• Expertise in distributed systems and real-time processing
• Proficiency with big data technologies (Cassandra, DynamoDB, BigTable, or other NoSQL)
• Experience with streaming technologies (Kafka, Pub/Sub, etc.)
• Familiarity with scaling vector databases and LLM-based systems
• Ability to independently own and deliver product features end-to-end

Preferred Qualifications

• Knowledge of rate-limiting infrastructure
• Experience with Kubernetes or containerized environments
• Experience in observability or data visualization products
• Growth-stage startup experience
• Strong credentials from top companies or top schools

Candidate Red Flags Do Not Submit If

• Consulting-heavy background
• Primarily contract-based experience
• Frequent job hopping with short tenures
• Too much DevOps or internal tools work
• Former CTOs or long-time managers returning to IC roles
• Candidates unwilling to relocate to SF if required
• Experience limited to non-complex projects (internal tools, dashboards, testing)