Senior Backend Engineer II - IPC

Bestow; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary and equity

Flexible remote/hybrid work

100% paid-premium health/dental/vision

Lifestyle stipend

Remote and WFH options; Dallas office

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Job summary

Bestow is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer II on the IPC Engineering team to design, build, and operate backend services at the core of our life-insurance platform, using Python, Go, and Java. You will help scale distributed systems, work across teams, and contribute to reliability in a remote-first environment.

You will mentor peers, embrace AI-assisted coding tools, and drive platform capabilities for carrier onboarding and product launches while collaborating with Kubernetes in GCP and a

Qualifications

• 5+ years of backend software development experience at senior level.
• Strong proficiency in Go and Python; Java experience is a plus.
• Experience with distributed systems, microservices, and API design (Protobuf/OpenAPI).
• Hands-on with cloud infrastructure: Kubernetes, Docker, and GCP.
• Experience using AI coding tools in daily workflow.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to design decisions for IPC services balancing speed and maintainability.
• Build and operate backend services using Python, Go, Java; Drools rules engine.
• Collaborate with other Bestow engineering teams on platform integration work.
• Scale platform capabilities for carrier onboardings and product launches.
• Mentor engineers through code/design reviews and pairing.
• Improve production reliability: maintain SLOs and observability; participate in on-call duty.
• Adopt AI-assisted coding tools and promote best practices.

Skills

Go

Python

Java

Distributed systems

Microservices

API design

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

Docker

GCP

Tools

Kubernetes

Docker

GCP

Job description

ABOUT BESTOW

Life insurance is one of the world's most important products. It's also one of the hardest to build, distribute, and modernize. Bestow exists to change that.

Bestow is a leading vertical technology platform serving some of the largest and most innovative life insurers. Our platform unifies the fragmented, legacy value chain, enabling carriers to launch products in weeks instead of years. Carriers choose us to scale and operate at unprecedented speed, powered by AI and automation.

Bestow isn't selling policies. We're building the infrastructure that helps an entire industry move faster, reach more people, and deliver on its promise.

Backed by leading investors (Goldman Sachs, Hedosophia, NEA, Valar, 8VC) and trusted by major carriers, Bestow is powered by a team that moves with precision, purpose, and heart. If you want to help reimagine a centuries-old industry with lasting impact, join us.

Bestow offers flexible remote/hybrid work, meaningful benefits, equity, and substantial growth opportunities.

Bestow uses E-Verify to confirm the employment eligibility of all newly hired employees. To learn more about E-Verify, including your rights and responsibilities, please visit E-Verify.gov.

ABOUT THE TEAM

IPC (Implementation & Platform Configuration) Engineering team powers digital life insurance enrollment experience Bestow's carrier partners rely on. You'll work alongside Product Managers, Underwriters, external partners to build and operate modular services — Python, Go, Java — sitting at core of Bestow's platform. Team integrates across Bestow's service landscape via gRPC, REST, async messaging, all on Kubernetes in GCP. As Senior Backend Engineer II, you'll build and operate IPC's systems, contribute to technical decisions, help scale reliability as Bestow onboards new carrier partners.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Contribute to technical design decisions for IPC services, balancing delivery speed w/ long-term maintainability

• Design, build, operate backend services using Python + PostgreSQL, Go, Java-based Drools rules engine

• Partner w/ other Bestow engineering teams on integration work across platform

• Help build platform capabilities that scale w/ Bestow's growing partner ecosystem — new carrier onboardings, product launches, config flexibility

• Mentor engineers through code review, design review, pairing

• Support production reliability: help maintain/improve SLOs, strengthen observability, share on-call for IPC workloads

• Use agentic AI coding tools as core part of workflow, help team adopt effective AI-assisted dev practices

• Communicate technical decisions, trade-offs, status clearly in writing — team remote-first, async-heavy

WHO YOU ARE

• 5+ years professional backend software dev experience, at Senior level

• Strong proficiency in Go and Python; Java experience plus

• Solid experience w/ distributed systems, microservices, API design (Protocol Buffers, OpenAPI)

• Comfortable w/ PostgreSQL or other relational DBs at scale

• Hands-on w/ cloud infra — Kubernetes, Docker, GCP (or equivalent)

• Track record building, deploying, troubleshooting production services end-to-end

• You seek out problems before they find you — proactively identify risks, propose solutions, drive to completion

• Write maintainable, well-tested software, hold self and peers to high quality bar

• Demonstrated experience w/ agentic AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot) in daily workflow — deliberate practice, not occasional use

TOTAL REWARDS

At Bestow, we’re proud to be awarded for our team members, innovative products, and culture. Our standard benefits include:

• Competitive salary and equity based on role

• Policies and managers that support work/life balance, like our flexible paid time off and parental leave programs

• 100% paid-premium option for medical, dental, and vision insurance

• Lifestyle stipend to support your physical, emotional, and financial wellbeing

• Flexible work-from-home policy and open to remote

• Remote and WFH options, as well as a beautiful, state-of-the-art office in Dallas’ Deep Ellum, for those who prefer an office setting

• Employee-led diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives

Recent Employer Awards include:

• Best Place for Working Parents 2023 + 2024 + 2025

• Great Place to Work Certified, 2022 + 2023 + 2024 + 2025

• Built In Best Places to Work, 2022 + 2023 + 2025

• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Texas 2022 + 2023

• Fortune’s Best Workplaces in Financial Services and Insurance 2022 + 2023 + 2024

We value diversity at Bestow. The company will hire, recruit, and promote regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, pregnancy or maternity, veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable law. We understand the importance of creating a safe and comfortable work environment and encourage individualism and authenticity in every team member.

Thanks for considering a job at Bestow!