Core Backend Engineer – Mission-Critical Systems, Government-Grade Code

NIOV LABS; San Francisco (CA); Remote; USD 90,000 - 720,000; Full time

Job summary

NIOV LABS seeks a Core Backend Engineer to develop infrastructure for agentic AI. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in backend systems and coding best practices, with a focus on security and performance. This full-time role offers equity and the chance to build systems that meet the highest standards of accountability and trust.

Benefits

Founding equity

Direct access to CEO and CTO

A high-standard team environment

Qualifications

• 5+ years experience in writing backend code in production systems.
• Expertise in secure, modular, production-grade code.
• Experience with enterprise-compliance systems.

Responsibilities

• Architect and ship core backend systems for multi-agent AI infrastructure.
• Build APIs and access control systems for secure user-state management.
• Collaborate with CTO and teams to ensure high performance.

Skills

TypeScript/Node.js

Backend systems scaling

Security

DevOps pipelines

Event-driven architectures

Tools

PostgreSQL

Redis

GraphQL

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

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Compensation: Equity Only (Founding Team)

Commitment: Full-time (40+ hours/week)

We’re not building web apps. We’re building infrastructure for agentic AI, the kind that will operate inside enterprises, governments, and critical systems.

That means every backend decision matters. Every line of code needs to hold up under pressure.

This isn’t for JS freelancers, weekend coders, or AI-assisted tourists.

We need a Core Backend Engineer who is so solid, our CTO can stand on your work — not babysit it. Your code must be auditable, secure, performant, and able to scale with serious trust.

What You’ll Actually Do

Company: NIOV Labs

Location: Remote

Compensation: Equity Only (Founding Team)

Commitment: Full-time (40+ hours/week)

We’re not building web apps. We’re building infrastructure for agentic AI, the kind that will operate inside enterprises, governments, and critical systems.

That means every backend decision matters. Every line of code needs to hold up under pressure.

This isn’t for JS freelancers, weekend coders, or AI-assisted tourists.

We need a Core Backend Engineer who is so solid, our CTO can stand on your work — not babysit it. Your code must be auditable, secure, performant, and able to scale with serious trust.

What You’ll Actually Do

• Architect and ship core backend systems for multi-agent AI infrastructure
• Write secure, modular, production-grade code without relying on AI to generate or fix it
• Build APIs, access control systems, real-time data layers, and agent coordination endpoints
• Implement role-based permissioning, scoped memory endpoints, and secure user-state management
• Handle backend complexity across enterprise workflows, identity management, and live agent communication
• Own your commits - read them back, explain them, defend them
• Collaborate daily with the CTO, AI engineers, and CEO to move fast and ship precisely
• Build systems that could one day be audited by the Pentagon or trusted by Fortune 100 execs
  

What You Must Bring

• 5+ years writing backend code in real production systems (not toy apps, not bootcamps)
• Proficient in TypeScript/Node.js, but that’s just the surface - you know how backend systems scale and fail
• Experience with Next.js, React, GraphQL, PostgreSQL, Redis, and scalable REST or gRPC APIs
• Strong foundation in security, auth flows (OAuth, RBAC, JWT), containerization, and DevOps pipelines
• You "DO NOT" use AI to write your code - you understand every line and every abstraction
• You’ve written code that runs under real stress, handles edge cases, and can survive an audit
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures, queues (Kafka, RabbitMQ, etc.), and real-time systems
• Experience writing systems for enterprise or compliance-critical environments
• Obsession with clean interfaces, modular services, and readable logic
  

Bonus If You’ve Worked With

• Authentication/identity protocols for government or enterprise
• Infra-as-code, Terraform, Kubernetes, scalable deployment pipelines
• Experience with backend-agent orchestration or AI infrastructure
• Any system that’s been stress-tested, pen-tested, or red-teamed
• A founder or CTO who trusted you with the final layer of the stack
  

Who You Are

• You are the codebase. Your name lives in the logs.
• You take responsibility, not just tasks.
• You test your code like someone’s job depends on it - because it might.
• You write systems that last. Not flashy, functional. Secure. Readable.
• You’re not looking for mentorship. You’re the one others go to when things break.
• You want to build something that governments, enterprises, and the public can rely on.
  

What You’ll Get

• Founding equity
• A team that holds itself to the highest standard
• A product that will be tested by institutions that don’t tolerate failure
• Direct access to the CEO and CTO
• The chance to build something that lives for decades
• Salary when NIOV Labs is funded

What This Is Not

• Not a frontend-heavy, UI-first role
• Not a place for AI-assisted coding - we read every line
• Not a playground for learning backend - we need operators now
• Not a part-time gig or remote side hustle - this is full-time founding team-level work
• Not corporate. Not political. Just performance.

If you’re the kind of backend engineer who lives for clarity, builds for scale, and wants your code to stand the test of time, this is your seat.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Employment type

  Other

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  Technology, Information and Internet

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