BACKEND ENGINEER — BUILD FROM 0 → 1 — NYC

Initi8 Recruitment; New York (NY); On-site; USD 200,000 - 225,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

On-site work

Performance bonuses

Job summary

Initi8 Recruitment in New York seeks a sharp backend engineer who will own core infrastructure from day one. You design, build, and scale high-growth systems in production, deploying your own code with real ownership and accountability.

You’ll work with modern cloud platforms, defend technical decisions, and use AI tools to tackle deep problems. This is not a ticket‑pushing role; you’ll shape the architecture and impact the company’s growth early on.

Qualifications

• Proven backend ownership and system design experience.
• Strong fundamentals in object-oriented programming and scalable architecture.
• Experience deploying and maintaining production-grade backend services.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and scale backend infrastructure from scratch.
• Own features from idea to production and deploy your own code.
• Make technical decisions and defend them with data and reasoning.
• Leverage AI tools to solve deep technical problems, not just automate tasks.

Skills

Backend experience

Cloud infrastructure

OOP fundamentals

Problem solving

AI tooling

Ownership

Fast learner

Decision making

Education

CS degree from a top university

Tools

AWS/GCP/Azure

Docker/Kubernetes

Job description

You know that feeling when you find the thing before everyone else does? This is that.

We're looking for a sharp, hungry backend engineer who wants real ownership from day one. This isn't "join a team and pick up tickets." This is get in early at one of NYC's fastest-growing start-ups and help build the backend from the ground up. Billions of interactions. Serious funding. A rocket-ship trajectory people will brag about being part of, years from now.

What you'll actually be doing

You're not maintaining someone else's spec. You're designing, building, and scaling high-growth backend infrastructure from scratch. You own features and systems from idea to production. You deploy your own code. You'll make real technical decisions and be trusted with them — and you're comfortable using AI tools to work through deeper technical problems, not just the easy ones. Full-send, no red tape.

Who we need

• Strong backend engineering experience — but you already operate like a senior: strong judgment, high ownership, low need for supervision
• Comfortable with cloud infrastructure — you've deployed and worked with production systems, not just tutorials
• Strong fundamentals, solid OOP, real backend experience — you've owned features end-to-end
• You've made real technical decisions and can defend them
• You're fluent in using AI tools to solve deeper technical problems, not just autocomplete
• You learn fast and solve hard problems without needing a map
• You spot the problem and fix it — you don't wait to be told
• CS degree from a top university, ideally. But mostly: you're clearly bright, sharp, and built for this

Why this is different

This is a red-hot platform in a niche that's exploding — connecting users with commercial opportunities through authentic content. You're not employee #3,000 buried in Slack. You're one of the early senior engineers, with real influence and responsibility that most people don't get until much later in their career. Your code ships, your decisions matter, and the line from your work to the company's growth is direct. That's rare at this stage.

The money talk

$200K–$225K base — and that's before it gets good. Stack a bonus on top. Then real equity, in a company that's about to be worth a lot more than it is today. Total package: $300K–$400K. Get in now, and the upside is yours to ride.

The vibe

Financial District, Manhattan. In-office, full-time — the whole team's there, shipping together. Not in NYC yet? No problem — they'll cover your interview and support you the whole way.

So — you in?

If you're a bright engineer who wants real ownership and to stop shipping other people's roadmap — this is your moment. One of NYC's fastest-growing start-ups is hiring right now, and this timing won't repeat.