Senior Backend Engineer II - IPC

Bestow; United States; Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

PTO & leave

Health insurance

Lifestyle stipend

Remote-friendly

Dallas/remote office access

Diversity & inclusion

Job summary

Bestow is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer II for the IPC Engineering team to design, build, and scale backend services central to our digital life insurance platform. You will pair with Product Managers, Underwriters, and partners to deliver reliable, high-performance systems using Go, Python, Java, Kubernetes, and cloud services, while mentoring peers and embracing AI-assisted development.

The role offers flexible remote/hybrid work, equity, and growth opportunities within a fast-moving

Qualifications

• 5+ years professional backend software development.
• Strong Go and Python expertise; Java is a plus.
• Experience with distributed systems and microservices.
• Experience with API design using Protocol Buffers / OpenAPI.
• Database experience with PostgreSQL.
• Cloud infrastructure experience: Kubernetes, Docker, GCP.
• Experience with AI-assisted coding tools is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architectural decisions for IPC services.
• Design, build, and operate backend services in Go, Python, and Java.
• Collaborate with teams across the platform for integration.
• Scale platform capabilities for carrier onboarding and launches.
• Mentor engineers through code reviews and design reviews.
• Improve observability and reliability; participate in on-call duties.
• Adopt AI-assisted development practices across the team.
• Communicate decisions clearly in async, written form.

Skills

Go

Python

Java

Distributed systems

Microservices

API design

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

Docker

GCP

On-call

AI coding tools

Tools

Protocol Buffers

OpenAPI

gRPC

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.

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!