Senior Backend Engineer

ZipRecruiter; Falls Church (VA); Remote; USD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A technology company is seeking an experienced Senior Backend Engineer to design and build scalable distributed systems. The ideal candidate has over 8 years of experience in backend development, particularly with Java or Kotlin, and a strong understanding of distributed systems and microservices. This role offers competitive compensation and remote working options.

Benefits

Competitive compensation packages

Employer paid medical, dental, vision, & life insurance

401(k) plans

Flexible Spending Accounts

Unlimited PTO

Remote Working Options

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on backend systems.
• Strong experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale.
• Expert-level proficiency in Java and/or Kotlin.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement scalable distributed systems.
• Build robust APIs using modern frameworks.
• Mentor junior engineers.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Distributed systems

Microservices

Spring Boot

Docker

AWS

PostgreSQL

RESTful APIs

Terraform

Job description

Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior Backend Engineer to join our platform engineering team. You will be responsible for designing, building, and operating mission-critical distributed systems that power our core business. This role offers the opportunity to work with a modern tech stack while solving complex scalability and reliability challenges.

SixMap protects some of the world’s largest and most complex government and corporate enterprises with a continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) platform. The SixMap platform is powered by an advanced computational mapping engine that quickly discovers and continuously monitors the unique contours of the extended enterprise’s Internet-facing assets across IPv4 and IPv6. Upon providing cyber defenders this comprehensive enterprise visibility, the platform complements this awareness with contextual threat intelligence and a suite of remediation measures. The SixMap team brings deep intelligence community expertise and best practices to the defense of both U.S. Federal agencies and Fortune 500 corporations. For more information, please visit: www.sixmap.io

Responsibilities

System Architecture & Development

• Design and implement highly scalable, fault-tolerant distributed systems and microservices
• Build robust APIs and backend services using modern frameworks and cloud- architectures
• Optimize system performance, reliability, and efficiency at large scale
• Contribute to architectural decisions and technical roadmap planning

Platform Engineering

• Develop and maintain core platform services that enable other engineering teams
• Implement workflow orchestration and data processing pipelines
• Build developer tooling and internal APIs to improve engineering productivity
• Establish best practices for service reliability, observability, and monitoring

Collaboration & Leadership

• Work closely with product managers, designers, and other engineers to deliver impactful features
• Mentor junior engineers and contribute to team technical growth
• Participate in code reviews, system design discussions, and technical planning
• Drive technical initiatives from conception through deployment and maintenance

Operational Excellence

• Implement comprehensive monitoring, alerting, and observability solutions
• Design systems for high availability, disaster recovery, and graceful degradation
• Participate in on-call rotations and incident response procedures
• Continuously improve system reliability and operational efficiency

Requirements

• Experience: 8+ years of software engineering experience with a focus on backend systems
• Distributed Systems: Strong experience designing and operating distributed systems at scale
• Programming : Expert-level proficiency in Java and/or Kotlin or a similar JVM language; experience with Python or similar is a plus
• Frameworks: Hands-on experience with Spring Boot
• Microservices: Proven track record building and operating microservices architectures
• Cloud Platforms: Production experience with cloud platforms (AWS)
• Containerization: Experience with Docker and containerized deployments
• Databases: Strong knowledge of relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL). Experience with data warehouses (Snowflake or similar) is a plus
• API Development: Experience building RESTful APIs and stable contracts for both internal and external systems
• Workflow: Experience with Temporal or similar orchestration engines
• Observability: Hands-on experience with monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana, DataDog, or similar)
• Infrastructure as Code: Experience with Terraform, Ansible, or similar tools
• Experience with AI Engineering and Graph Databases
• Leadership: Experience mentoring engineers or leading technical initiatives
• Communication: Strong technical communication skills and ability to work with cross-functional teams
• Start-up Experience

Technical Environment

• You will work with technologies including: Kotlin (or comparable JVM language), Python, TypeScript / JavaScript
• Frameworks: Spring Boot, Spring Security
• Data: PostgreSQL, Snowflake
• Infrastructure: AWS (ECS), Docker, Terraform
• Workflow: Temporal or similar orchestration engines

SixMap is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, genetics, or any other basis forbidden under federal, state, or local laws. All new hires must pass a background check as a condition of employment.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages; including equity
• Employer paid medical, dental, vision, & life insurance
• 401(k) plans
• Flexible Spending Accounts (health & dependents)
• Unlimited PTO
• Remote Working Options