Senior Backend Architect for AI-First Systems

Mercor, Inc.

San Francisco (CA)

On-site

USD 190,000 - 250,000

Full time

14 days+

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Benefits offered by this job

Bi-annual bonus

Equity grant

Relocation bonus

Housing stipend

Meals stipend

Equinox membership

Laundry reimbursement

Wellness reimbursement

Health insurance

Job summary

Mercor is hiring a Member of Technical Staff for talent experience to own the shared backend architecture powering our talent network. You will define technical direction for core services, data models, APIs, and infrastructure, shaping how tens of thousands of experts and leading AI labs interact with our platform.

This hands‑on leadership role requires designing scalable systems, reducing architectural debt, and setting coding standards.

Qualifications

8+ years of professional backend engineering experience, including 3+ years at Senior level or above.
Deep expertise in distributed systems, service architecture, data modeling, and API design at scale.
Track record of owning architecture across multiple teams or an entire organization.
Experience leading large, complex migrations in production without downtime.

Responsibilities

Own the architecture of Mercor's shared backend systems—core services, data models, APIs, and cross‑product infra.
Define and drive the long‑term technical strategy for backend architecture.
Design systems for scale, reliability, and evolvability and lead high‑stakes technical decisions.
Identify and pay down architectural debt and lead complex cross‑team migrations.
Establish backend engineering standards, patterns, and best practices across product teams.
Stay hands‑on: prototype critical systems and ship production code.
Mentor senior engineers and raise the technical bar across the org.
Partner with engineering/product leadership on build‑vs‑buy and platform investments.