Senior Backend Cloud Engineer

Kai; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous compensation

Equity options

Job summary

Kai is hiring a senior cloud/backend engineer to help rebuild cybersecurity for the machine-speed era. You will design, build, and own microservices and distributed backend systems, delivering performant APIs and robust data pipelines.

You will mentor engineers, drive CI/CD and IaC practices, and ensure production-scale reliability across cloud platforms. The role requires 7+ years in backend/cloud engineering, strong API design skills, and hands-on experience with AWS and Azure.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience as a cloud or backend engineer.
• Experience designing and building microservices in a production cloud environment.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems—fault tolerance, consistency, and scalability at production scale.
• Strong experience designing APIs and building asynchronous systems with robust error handling.
• Hands-on experience with AWS, including serverless and cloud-native architectures.
• Experience with Azure services and Infrastructure as Code tools, such as API Management, Azure Functions, Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Azure Active Directory, or Bicep/Terraform.
• Familiarity with data pipelines and cloud-native data streaming tools such as Kinesis.
• Strong Python experience for backend services, automation, and tooling.
• Golang development experience for backend services.
• Experience with AWS services and Infrastructure-as-Code tools, such as API Gateway, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, IAM, and CDK.
• Knowledge of observability, tracing, and system performance best practices for distributed backend systems.
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate with distributed teams.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, building cloud backends and data pipelines.
• Design, build, and own microservices and distributed backend systems from architecture through deployment and production operations.
• Lead technical delivery from architecture and design to implementation, testing, deployment, and operations.
• Work with product and design teams to deliver performant and reliable backend services and APIs.
• Champion software development best practices, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, observability, and test automation.
• Ensure reliability, scalability, and maintainability of backend and cloud systems at production scale.
• Mentor engineers and foster a culture of ownership, learning, and continuous improvement within the engineering team.

Skills

Cloud backend

Distributed systems

APIs design

Python

Golang

CI/CD

Observability

Communication

Tools

AWS

Azure

Terraform

CDK

Kinesis

DynamoDB

RDS

API Management

Azure Functions

Cosmos DB

Job description

Kai is the AI company rebuilding cybersecurity for the machine-speed era. Founded by second time founders and trusted by Fortune 500 enterprises, Kai is building a future where security has no categories, no silos, and no human-speed bottlenecks. The Kai Agentic AI Platform replaces fragmented, human-limited workflows with agentic AI systems that continuously contextualize, assess, reason, and execute security work at machine speed - making human defenders superhuman.

Why Join Kai

• Well-funded: With $125M raised, we have the capital, runway, and resolve to rebuild cybersecurity from first principles.
• Proven: We've earned the trust of Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, and we're just getting started. Their confidence in Kai reflects what we've built: an AI-powered cybersecurity platform that performs at the scale and speed the enterprise demands.
• Experienced founders: Our founding team consists of second-time entrepreneurs, each with over 20 years of experience in the cybersecurity industry. Their proven expertise and vision drive our ambitious goals.
• World-class leadership team: Our Heads of AI, Engineering, and Product bring extensive experience from some of the world’s most influential companies, ensuring top-tier mentorship, direction, and vision.
• Frontier AI Applied Research Team: Our researchers operate at the leading edge of agentic AI systems, translating breakthrough capabilities into real-world cybersecurity applications.
• Generous compensation: We offer highly competitive salaries, equity options, and a supportive work environment. Your contributions will be valued and rewarded as we grow together.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, building cloud backends and data pipelines
• Design, build, and own microservices and distributed backend systems from architecture through deployment and production operations
• Lead technical delivery from architecture and design to implementation, testing, deployment, and operations
• Work with product and design teams to deliver performant and reliable backend services and APIs
• Champion software development best practices, including CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, observability, and test automation
• Ensure reliability, scalability, and maintainability of backend and cloud systems at production scale
• Mentor engineers and foster a culture of ownership, learning, and continuous improvement within the engineering team

Must Haves

• 7+ years of experience as a cloud or backend engineer
• Experience designing and building microservices in a production cloud environment
• Strong understanding of distributed systems — fault tolerance, consistency, and scalability at production scale
• Strong experience designing APIs and building asynchronous systems with robust error handling
• Hands‑on experience with AWS, including serverless and cloud‑native architectures
• Experience with Azure services and Infrastructure as Code tools, such as API Management, Azure Functions, Azure SQL Database, Cosmos DB, Azure Active Directory, or Bicep/Terraform
• Familiarity with data pipelines and cloud-native data streaming tools such as Kinesis
• Strong Python experience for backend services, automation, and tooling
• Golang development experience for backend services
• Experience with AWS services and Infrastructure-as-Code tools, such as API Gateway, Lambda, RDS, DynamoDB, IAM, and CDK
• Knowledge of observability, tracing, and system performance best practices for distributed backend systems
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate with distributed teams

Nice to Haves

• Experience with data streaming tools such as Kafka
• Experience operating at scale — high-throughput, data-intensive, or large-scale distributed systems
• Cybersecurity domain experience — IAM, access control, security‑adjacent products, or experience building for security teams
• Designing access control systems, such as Role‑Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Experience with version control, CI/CD, and build systems (e.g., GitHub Actions)
• Familiarity with compliance and security standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, or CPRA in cloud environments
• Startup experience and hustle

Why You’ll Succeed

• You take ownership end-to-end — from architecture and design through deployment and production support
• You move fast without breaking things — high‑velocity delivery with a track record to prove it
• You can mentor and elevate the engineers around you
• You thrive in ambiguity and can independently execute complex tasks with minimal direction