Senior Backend Engineer

Scribe; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salaries

Comprehensive healthcare benefits

Equity in a fast-growing startup

Flexible PTO

401k

Parental Leave

Commuter Benefits

WFH Stipend

Job summary

A dynamic technology startup in San Francisco is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to enhance their critical document workflow platform. This role involves optimizing backend applications, improving performance, and collaborating across the stack. The ideal candidate has over 5 years of experience, expertise in Python, and a passion for engineering best practices. The position offers competitive compensation of $175,000 - $200,000 along with equity and comprehensive benefits, supporting a user-centric approach.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience building backend applications at high scale and availability.
• Extensive experience with Python.
• Ability to optimize endpoint performance and database queries.

Responsibilities

• Build and ship backend features in Django for critical document workflows.
• Improve performance and reliability by optimizing database queries.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers.

Skills

Backend applications

Python

Database optimization

Automated testing

Engineering best practices

Tools

Django

PostgreSQL

Redis

Terraform

Job description

About us

Scribe is where exceptional people come to do the best work of their careers. More than 94% of the Fortune 500 use Scribe to ensure work gets done right, and see how to do it even better. Our Workflow AI platform automatically captures and optimizes workflows so teams work smarter, faster, and more consistently.

We’re growing fast — since our founding in 2019, we’ve grown to over 5 million users across 600,000 businesses. Based in San Francisco, we've been named a LinkedIn Top Startup, are valued at over $1 billion, and are backed by leading investors. Join us in our mission to uplevel how people do work.

How we work

We are builders aspiring to master our crafts. We care deeply about our teammates and want to win, together. We embrace the following values:

• Accelerate impact
• Raise the bar
• Make our users heroes
• Clear is kind
• Rapid learning machine
• One team one dream

About this role

We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Core Engineering Team, which powers some of the most essential experiences at Scribe: document viewing and editing, embedding and exporting content, and supporting key integrations. Millions of users rely on these workflows every day.

In this role, you’ll take ownership of impactful projects — from evolving critical document features to building new greenfield systems — and collaborate across the stack to deliver high‑quality product experiences. As a backend engineer, you’ll bring depth to our systems, influence technical discussions, and help raise the bar for engineering excellence within the team.

What you’ll do

• Build and ship backend features in our Django monolith, spanning core document workflows (viewing, editing, embeds, exports) as well as new greenfield projects that expand what Scribe can do
• Improve performance and reliability by optimizing database queries, endpoints, and caching layers across critical user workflows
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver intuitive and reliable experiences at scale
• Contribute to technical discussions within the team, balancing short‑term delivery with longer‑term architectural evolution
• Uphold strong engineering practices through thoughtful code reviews, solid test coverage, and attention to observability and performance

What we’re looking for

• You have 5+ years of experience building backend applications at high scale and availability
• You have extensive experience with Python
• You know how to optimize endpoint performance and database queries
• You’re a strong advocate for automated testing
• You’ve seen and can implement engineering best practices
• You’re user‑centric, empathetic, and passionate about your work

Bonus

• Experience with Django (not required, but a big plus)
• Startup experience (not required, but we build and move fast!)

Our backend tech stack

• Python + Django
• PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Celery + AmazonMQ
• Infrastructure in Terraform (AWS)

Full‑Time US Employee Benefits Include

• Some of the nicest and smartest teammates you’ll ever work with
• Competitive salaries
• Comprehensive healthcare benefits
• Equity in a hyper growth startup
• Flexible PTO
• 401k
• Parental Leave
• Commuter Benefits (SF office employees)
• WFH Stipend

Compensation

$175,000 - $200,000 base + Equity + Benefits.

We consider several factors when determining compensation, including location, experience, and other job‑related factors.

At Scribe, we celebrate our differences and are committed to creating a workplace where all employees feel supported and empowered to do their best work. We believe this benefits not only our employees but our product, customers, and community as well. Scribe is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Extremely Important Note

Do not click apply to submit your application. Instead, send a POST request to https://apply.scribe.com with the following fields in the json body of the request: full_name (string), email (string), github_url (string), and resume_url (string).