Senior Backend Engineer

Zest for Tech; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 234,000 - 286,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hybrid work (3 days/week) in Lower Man

Healthcare

Unlimited PTO

Learning & development allowance

Technical ownership

Job summary

Zest for Tech is seeking a Senior II Backend Engineer in NYC to design, build and scale core backend services for a fast-growing scale-up. You will own architecture decisions and mentor teammates while shaping production-grade distributed systems.

The role emphasizes hands-on backend development, data pipelines, and event-driven design, with a hybrid office in Lower Manhattan and a strong focus on ownership and impact.

Qualifications

• 8–10+ years of software engineering experience, with extensive hands-on backend development.
• Proven experience designing, building and scaling complex backend systems in production.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, asynchronous processing and event-driven architectures.
• Proficiency in at least 2 of TypeScript, Python and Go.
• Experience designing and working with SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Ability to independently own substantial engineering projects from design through to production.
• Regular use of AI coding tools within your development workflow.
• Cloud infrastructure experience is beneficial but not essential.

Responsibilities

• Designing and building scalable distributed backend systems.
• Developing large-scale data ingestion and processing pipelines.
• Building asynchronous systems using queues, workers and event-driven architectures.
• Developing high-throughput APIs and complex data models.
• Building reliable notification, messaging and external integration systems.
• Taking ownership of technical design decisions and mentoring other engineers.

Skills

Backend development

Distributed systems

Async processing

Event-driven architectures

SQL

NoSQL

Go

TypeScript

Python

Tools

AI coding tools

Job description

Senior II Backend Engineer | NYC | Up to $260k + Equity

We're working with a well-funded Series B scale-up that's raised over $60m and grown to more than 100 employees. They're looking for a Senior II Backend Engineer to design, build and scale complex distributed systems and core backend services.

This is a hands-on engineering role focused on backend architecture, high-volume data processing and asynchronous systems, with significant ownership over technical design and delivery.

You'll join a small team of 3 senior engineers within a wider engineering organisation of 50, responsible for building and scaling the core backend systems that support the business, with significant autonomy and ownership.

What you'll be working on

• Designing and building scalable distributed backend systems.
• Developing large-scale data ingestion and processing pipelines.
• Building asynchronous systems using queues, workers and event-driven architectures.
• Developing high-throughput APIs and complex data models.
• Building reliable notification, messaging and external integration systems.
• Taking ownership of technical design decisions and mentoring other engineers.

What they're looking for

• 8–10+ years of software engineering experience, with extensive hands-on backend development.
• Proven experience designing, building and scaling complex backend systems in production.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems, asynchronous processing and event-driven architectures.
• Proficiency in at least 2 of TypeScript, Python and Go.
• Experience designing and working with SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Ability to independently own substantial engineering projects from design through to production.
• Regular use of AI coding tools within your development workflow.
• Cloud infrastructure experience is beneficial but not essential.

What's on offer

• Up to $260k base + equity.
• Lower Manhattan, NYC (hybrid – 3 days/week).
• Fully covered healthcare option.
• Unlimited PTO.
• Annual learning and development allowance.
• Significant technical ownership within a well-funded, growing scale-up.