Senior Backend Engineer

HackerRank; Mountain View (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

MacBook Pro and monitor

Professional development funding

Mental health resources

Employee stock options

Retirement program access

Remote work support and setup stipend

Generous PTO

Job summary

Hackerrank is seeking a Senior Backend Software Development Engineer to drive the technical direction of critical backend systems and lead delivery of high-impact, platform-level initiatives.

You will own the architecture and evolution of core backend services, mentor engineers across teams, and be a key technical decision-maker to ensure our platform remains fast, reliable, and scalable as we grow our global user base.

Job description

• Every day, millions of developers use HackerRank to prove their skills. We’re looking for a Senior Backend Software Development Engineer who can drive the technical direction of critical backend systems and lead the delivery of high-impact, platform-level initiatives. You will own the architecture and evolution of core backend services, mentor engineers across teams, and be a key technical decision-maker ensuring our platform remains fast, reliable, and scalable as we grow our global user base
• Architect, design, and lead the implementation of complex backend systems and services that power core product experiences at scale
• Define and drive technical strategy for your domain, making key decisions on system design, technology choices, and long-term architectural direction
• Own the end-to-end reliability and performance of critical backend services, establishing SLOs, monitoring, and incident response best practices
• Design scalable API frameworks and data models that serve as foundations for multiple product teams and external integrations
• Lead cross-functional technical initiatives spanning multiple teams, coordinating with frontend, infrastructure, product, and design stakeholders
• Identify and drive large-scale refactoring efforts, tackling tech debt and evolving legacy systems into modern, maintainable architectures
• Mentor and grow engineers on the team through design reviews, code reviews, and hands‑on technical guidance
• Contribute to engineering-wide standards, tooling, and processes that raise the bar for code quality and developer productivity

Benefits

• Every HackerRanker gets a MacBook Pro, monitor, mouse, and keyboard
• We invest in your professional development and provide annual funding for L&D courses
• Your well‑being is our top priority. We offer access to numerous mental health resources throughout the year
• Bring your besties to HackerRank – and get paid when they join the team
• We offer comprehensive health plans and cover 100% of premiums for some plans
• You have the chance to share ownership of the company with employee stock options
• Wherever you’re located, we have programs to help you prepare for retirement
• We offer special benefits to ensure you’re engaged and set up for success while working remotely
• Need a new office chair? We offer a monthly stipend to support the tech setup of your choice
• We offer generous PTO plans for you to rest or treat yourself to the vacation of your dreams
• Work from home, the beach, or wherever you’re most productive as long as your tasks get done
• Enjoy company‑wide days off and Limited Meeting Fridays to relax and recharge

Feel energised by ambiguity and be able to structure loosely defined problems and drive them to well‑engineered solutionsTrack record of leading technical projects from ambiguous problem statements through to production deliveryAbility to evaluate and make technical recommendations on AI tooling, APIs, and integration patterns for your team and domain, including cost, latency, reliability, and security considerationsExpertise in at least one modern backend programming language, such as Python, Ruby, Go, Java, or Node.js, with strong fundamentals across the stackActively follow developments in AI research and tooling, distinguish hype from engineering value, and drive adoption of AI‑augmented practices within your teamStrong understanding of caching strategies (Redis/Memcached), asynchronous messaging (Kafka/RabbitMQ), and event‑driven architecturesProven ability to use AI across the software development lifecycle, including architecture exploration, implementation, code review, test generation, documentation, incident analysis, and technical writingSolid understanding of AI/ML fundamentals, including transformer architectures, embedding models, inference optimisation, RAG patterns, fine‑tuning and prompt‑engineering trade‑offs, and evaluation methodologiesHands‑on experience with containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes), CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure‑as‑code practicesThink beyond the immediate task and consider the long‑term health, extensibility, and operational cost of the systems you buildDeep expertise with relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL) and NoSQL stores, including schema design, query optimisation, and data modelling for high‑throughput workloads3–6 years of experience building and operating production backend systems at scaleDeep, hands‑on proficiency with AI‑powered development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code), including developing workflows and best practices that you can teach othersStrong working knowledge of LLMs and agentic AI systems, including model capabilities and limitations, context management, tool use, and when and how to integrate AI into backend systemsGenuinely enjoy helping other engineers improve through mentorship, knowledge sharing, and raising the engineering barProven ability to design and build distributed systems, including making architectural decisions around service decomposition, data consistency, fault tolerance, and observabilityLead by influence, earning trust through strong technical judgment and a collaborative, ego‑free approachTake ownership of the overall quality and direction of the systems your team delivers, not just your own codeSignificant experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure), including serverless architectures, managed services, and cost optimisationExperience building platform‑level APIs, SDKs, or developer tools consumed by internal or external engineering teamsDeep expertise in system design patterns such as Microservices, CQRS, Event Sourcing, or Domain‑Driven Design, with real‑world applicationExperience designing and operating systems serving millions of concurrent users with strict latency and availability requirementsA history of driving engineering culture improvements, whether through RFC processes, architecture review boards, or engineering blog contributions.