Backend Engineer (Intern / Early Contributor)

Cornerstone; United States; Remote; USD 28,000 - 50,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Mentorship

Letter of recommendation

Remote internship

Job summary

Cornerstone is seeking an internship or early-career backend engineer in the United States to help build and maintain APIs and services powering digital payments and related financial features.

You will collaborate with frontend and product teams, focusing on performance, security, and scalable design, with hands-on engineering tasks that reach live users. Mentorship and practical experience are provided, with potential for a full-time opportunity based on performance.

Qualifications

• At least one year of backend development experience.
• Proficiency in Node.js, Python, Go, or a comparable language.
• Understanding of API design and SQL or NoSQL databases.
• Care for code quality, performance, and scalability.
• Experience with a cloud platform such as AWS or GCP, or a similar service.
• Willingness to learn in a startup environment.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain backend APIs and services.
• Work with frontend and product colleagues to deliver features.
• Consider performance, security, and scalability in implementation.
• Write code that is maintainable and can be tested.
• Join discussions about system architecture, design, and deployment.
• Investigate defects and improve engineering tools and workflows.

Skills

Node.js

Python

Go

API design

SQL

NoSQL

Cloud (AWS/GCP)

Testing

Code quality

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

DevOps tools

Job description

Role overview

Help build and maintain backend systems that support digital payments and related financial services. This internship or early-career role contributes to APIs, services, and operational improvements, with work reaching live users and an opportunity to learn through practical engineering tasks.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain backend APIs and services.
• Work with frontend and product colleagues to deliver features.
• Consider performance, security, and scalability in implementation.
• Write code that is maintainable and can be tested.
• Join discussions about system architecture, design, and deployment.
• Investigate defects and improve engineering tools and workflows.

Requirements

• At least one year of backend development experience.
• Proficiency in Node.js, Python, Go, or a comparable language.
• Understanding of API design and SQL or NoSQL databases.
• Care for code quality, performance, and scalability.
• Experience with a cloud platform such as AWS or GCP, or a similar service.
• Willingness to learn in a startup environment.

Nice to have

• Fintech or payments experience.
• Familiarity with Docker, Kubernetes, CI/CD, or DevOps tools.
• Interest in system design and scaling services.

Benefits and work setup

• Internship role described as remote or based in Accra, Ghana.
• Mentorship, hands-on work on live projects, and a flexible, collaborative environment.
• A letter of recommendation may be provided upon successful completion; a full-time opportunity may be possible based on performance.