Remote Staff Backend Engineer - Systems Architect & IC

Freehand; California; Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Freehand is seeking an exceptional Staff Engineer to own and shape large-scale backend systems. This is a purely individual contributor role focused on architecture, design, and hands-on delivery, with significant influence on technical direction and engineering practices.

The role emphasizes deep backend fundamentals, distributed systems, and problem solving in a remote/high-ownership environment. AI experience is not mandatory, but beneficial for relevant projects.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend engineering experience.
• Deep hands-on backend development and system design.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Proven ability to design and architect complex systems.
• Excellent coding and problem-solving skills.
• Experience owning technically complex projects from design through execution.
• Independent decision-making on architecture and technology choices.
• Effective communication and collaboration in a remote, high-ownership environment.

Responsibilities

• Design and build scalable, reliable, high-performance backend systems.
• Drive architecture and technical decisions for complex engineering problems.
• Take end-to-end ownership of critical projects and systems.
• Solve challenges in scalability, performance, reliability, and distributed systems.
• Contribute hands-on to coding and technical implementation.
• Define and improve engineering practices, design patterns, and standards.
• Shape the technical direction with engineering leadership.
• Mentor engineers through guidance while remaining a hands-on IC.
• Apply modern and AI-native engineering practices where relevant.

Skills

Backend development

System design

Distributed systems

Code ownership

Hands-on coding

AI-native practices

Problem solving

Communication

Job description

Freehand is seeking an exceptional Staff Engineer to own and shape large-scale backend systems. This is a purely individual contributor role focused on architecture, design, and hands-on delivery, with significant influence on technical direction and engineering practices.

The role emphasizes deep backend fundamentals, distributed systems, and problem solving in a remote/high-ownership environment. AI experience is not mandatory, but beneficial for relevant projects.