Senior Backend Engineer

Talent Safari; United States; Remote; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Boost is seeking exceptional backend engineers to join a small, high-performing team building commerce and fintech products for the FMCG sector. You will write elegant, performant, and well-tested Python code, collaborating with product and engineering teams across Africa and beyond.

Ideal candidates have 5+ years in a relevant field, strong AI expertise, PostgreSQL experience, and comfort working in a fast-growing startup environment while mentoring peers and contributing across features,

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in a relevant field.
• Strong knowledge of Python and the ability to write clear and Pythonic code.
• Strong AI expertise and an AI-first mindset.
• Experience with relational databases and SQL (PostgreSQL).
• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS).
• Relevant experience in a similar role, preferably within a fast-growing startup.

Responsibilities

• Write elegant, performant, and well-tested code.
• Enable the engineering team to make better decisions.

Skills

Python

AI

SQL

AWS

Startup experience

Job description

About the Company

Boost is a global platform that powers FMCG manufacturers and last-mile distribution networks with radically easy technology and growth services.

Boost’s Platform-as-a-Service offering includes:

• WhatsApp ordering to grow sales and serve more retailers with less effort;
• An offline-enabled sales app for sales reps to manage their customers;
• A fully-featured fulfilment platform with end-to-end visibility; and
• Digital payment and credit solutions in partnership with Mastercard.

We are currently scaling across markets and channels through strategic partnerships with Unilever and Mastercard, with more in the pipeline.

About the Role

Boostis searching for exceptional candidates to level up our backend engineering team. We’re looking for individuals who are equally motivated by crafting Pythonic code as they are by creating delightful user experiences.

You’ll join a small, high-performing team building commerce and fintech products for the FMCG sector, working directly with experienced co-founders across Africa and beyond.

This is a unique opportunity to join an incredible team in a purpose-driven startup!

What You Will Do

Your job, in collaboration with others in the product and engineering teams, will be to write elegant, performant, and well-tested code that improves our products in meaningful ways.

You will be expected to contribute to features, bug fixes, tests, and infrastructure code alike, through both software and systems engineering. Internally, you will also be a crucial link between Boost country teams and the thousands of informal sector retailers served by our customers in order to upskill internal teams’ technical knowledge of the product.

This role reports to Boost’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

1. Write elegant, performant, and well-tested code
2. Enable the engineering team to make better decisions

What You Have

• 5+ years’ experience in a relevant field
• A deep knowledge of Python and the ability to write clear and Pythonic code.
• Strong AI expertise and an AI-first mindset, with the judgment to know when to guide closely and when to delegate.
• Experience working with relational databases and SQL (any dialect is fine, but we work with PostgreSQL).
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure (we use AWS).
• Relevant experience in a similar role, preferably within a fast-growing startup.
• Openness to others’ ideas with a shared desire to understand and communicate the purpose of the work.

Who You Are

• Keen, bright, and your superpower is curiosity.
• Comfortable in a fast-paced environment and with a passion for learning from and delighting customers
• Someone with an engineering, mathematical, or scientific background.
• Someone who supports the work of their peers through pair programming, reviewing, and mentoring.
• Someone who adjusts well to shifting priorities when necessary.
• Someone who loves to share what they’re learning and working remotely.
• Someone who is a great communicator and loves to build bridges between people with different backgrounds and cultures—and in different locations.
• Motivated by our mission, resonates with our virtues and principles, and ambitious to grow into a larger future role.

Boost virtues

These virtues should strongly resonate with you and are the foundations of the company we will build together:

• Be purpose-driven: You should be motivated by the potential to enable informal retailers to thrive in the digital economy.
• Be tenacious: When faced with adversity, you relentlessly persevere until you find a solution.
• Be compassionate: You are able to empathise with others to feel their pain and then take actionable steps to deliver solutions that alleviate it.
• Be whole: You live to work and achieve results, but you take care of your well-being.
• Be good: You are always your honest, authentic self who does the right thing, even when under pressure.