Senior+ Backend Engineer

Hapiko; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Hapiko is building the real-time infrastructure behind Stickerbox, a voice-to-sticker printer for kids. We operate a hybrid Python-Elixir stack that processes tens of thousands of concurrent device connections and delivers sub-second responses.

We are looking for a Backend Engineer to own, evolve our infrastructure and APIs, scale streaming pipelines, and ensure reliability with strong DevOps practices. The role is based in NYC/Brooklyn with on-site presence preferred.

Qualifications

• 5+ years building and shipping backend systems in Python.
• Deep experience with FastAPI and asyncio patterns.
• Hands-on experience with Redis (caching, queues, pub/sub).
• Track record of designing reliable distributed systems.
• A DevOps mindset, comfortable deploying, monitoring, and scaling.
• Experience with GenAI/LLM pipelines deployed in production.
• Clear communication skills; can translate technical tradeoffs for the team.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve real-time infrastructure handling thousands of device connections.
• Develop FastAPI services for device auth, user management, and integrations.
• Design and maintain reliable distributed systems with observability.
• Build and optimize data pipelines feeding evaluation systems.

Skills

Python

FastAPI

Redis

Distributed systems

DevOps mindset

GenAI pipelines

Tools

Docker

Elixir/Phoenix

Job description

Own, evolve, and scale the real-time infrastructure behind Stickerbox: an AI-powered voice-to-sticker printer already serving thousands.

About Hapiko

Hapiko is a Brooklyn-based company building the future of play.

Description

Founded by Arun Gupta (former CEO of Grailed, which sold to GOAT Group in 2022) and Bob Whitney (Anthropic, NYT Games), we're on a mission to create safe, hands-on AI experiences that fuel kids' imaginations rather than replace them.

Our first product, Stickerbox, is the world's first voice-to-sticker printer. A device that instantly transforms a child's spoken ideas into printable, colorable stickers. We sold out our first run shipping for the holidays, and additional batches beyond that. It's already being called "one of the first products to make AI feel magical for kids and grounded for parents."

We have a $7M funding round led by Maveron (backers of Lovevery), Serena Ventures, and Ai2 (The Allen Institute). Stickerbox is already in homes bringing imagination to life for kids nationwide!

Why are we hiring?

The technical challenge is real. We're running real-time streaming, processing thousands of concurrent connections from IoT devices, and orchestrating ML pipelines that return magical responses in seconds or less. Our hybrid Python-Elixir architecture handles everything from device authentication to job queuing to image delivery, all with the reliability parents expect and the speed kids demand.

We need a Backend Engineer to own and evolve this infrastructure. You'll architect and maintain the systems that connect thousands of devices, manage real-time audio pipelines, and power the experiences that make everything just work. This is a foundational role where your decisions will shape how we grow from thousands to millions of users.

What you'll ship

Real-Time Infrastructure

• IoT w/ audio streaming that handles tens of thousands (on our way to millions) of concurrent device connections
• Distributed job systems with Redis queues and pub/sub
• Optimized pipelines for GenAI at high RPM with sub-second latency
• Monitoring and observability to keep our infrastructure healthy

APIs & Services

• FastAPI services for device auth, user management, and webhook integrations
• Secure RESTful APIs that are a joy to work with
• Reliable integrations with external ML services
• Data pipelines that feed our evaluation systems

DevOps & Reliability

• CI/CD pipelines that give the team confidence to ship fast
• Architecture decisions that balance performance, cost, and maintainability
• Alerts, runbooks, and on-call practices that let the team sleep at night

You're a great fit if you have

• 5+ years building and shipping backend systems in Python
• Deep experience with FastAPI and asyncio patterns
• Hands-on experience with Redis (caching, queues, pub/sub)
• Track record of designing reliable distributed systems
• A DevOps mindset, comfortable deploying, monitoring, and scaling
• Experience with GenAI/LLM pipelines deployed in production
• Clear communication skills; can translate technical tradeoffs for the team

Bonus if you have

• Worked with Elixir/Phoenix and enjoy managing concurrency
• Built software for IoT or custom hardware devices
• Managed real-time systems and streaming data
• Experience with streaming protocols and media formats
• Tuned ML pipelines with prompt engineering and evals

Our stack

• Infra: Docker

Location: NYC only, On-site (flexible on WFH but we like to be in office the majority of the week) in our Brooklyn based office, close to most major train lines.