Senior Backend Architect for Scalable AI Systems

Doist; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous equity grant

relocation bonus

housing bonus

meal stipend

Equinox membership

Health insurance

Job summary

Mercor is seeking a Member of Technical Staff for talent experience to own the backend architecture that underpins every user journey. You will define technical direction for core services, data models, APIs, and cross-product infrastructure at scale.

You'll lead architectural decisions, pay down debt, and set engineering standards while remaining hands-on and mentoring senior engineers. This is a senior, technically focused role requiring strong communication with product and leadership.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of backend engineering experience with 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 stopping the business.
• Strong opinions and clear writing to drive alignment.
• Experience mentoring senior engineers and raising technical standards.
• Fluent with modern AI development tools to boost engineering productivity.
• High ownership and bias toward shipping.

Responsibilities

• Own the architecture of Mercor's shared backend systems, APIs, and data models.
• Define and drive the long-term backend architecture strategy.
• Design scalable, reliable systems and lead critical architectural decisions.
• Pay down architectural debt and manage cross-team migrations.
• Establish engineering standards and best practices across product teams.
• Remain hands-on: prototype systems and ship production code.
• Mentor senior engineers and raise the technical bar.
• Collaborate with leadership on platform investments and hiring.

Skills

Backend engineering

Distributed systems

API design

Architecture leadership

Mentoring

Technical decision making

Communication

Tools

Cursor

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Mercor is seeking a Member of Technical Staff for talent experience to own the backend architecture that underpins every user journey. You will define technical direction for core services, data models, APIs, and cross-product infrastructure at scale.

You'll lead architectural decisions, pay down debt, and set engineering standards while remaining hands-on and mentoring senior engineers. This is a senior, technically focused role requiring strong communication with product and leadership.