Senior Backend Engineer - Real-Time Telemetry at Scale

Sift Stack, Inc.; California (MO); On-site; USD 200,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Relocation assistance

Hybrid in-person collaboration

Job summary

Sift is seeking an experienced backend/infrastructure engineer to design, build, and operate high-throughput telemetry systems. You will own features end-to-end, collaborate with frontend, design, and data teams, and optimize for performance, scalability, and reliability.

You will contribute to system evolution, participate in on-call rotations, and mentor teammates. A strong foundation in distributed systems and hands-on work with Go/Rust/Python, SQL, and Kubernetes is essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Physics, or another STEM discipline.
• 7+ years of experience in backend or infrastructure roles.
• Strong understanding of distributed systems fundamentals—state, fault tolerance, recovery.
• Experience with Go, Rust, or Python, and strong Linux/networking fundamentals.
• Deep knowledge of SQL and operational database experience (indexing, migrations, tuning).
• Experience building and scaling APIs (REST, gRPC/Protobuf).
• Strong debugging skills and a production-first mindset.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Prometheus, Argo CD, and other modern infrastructure tools.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and operate backend systems that process and store large volumes of real-time telemetry data.
• Own features end-to-end, from design to post-launch improvement.
• Collaborate with Frontend, Design, and Data teams to ensure features solve real customer problems.
• Optimize backend systems for performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Contribute to system evolution—migrating services, introducing caches, and improving storage or indexing layers.
• Participate in on-call rotations, debugging live issues, and improving observability.
• Raise the bar through code reviews, shared patterns, and mentorship.

Skills

Backend experience

Distributed systems

Debugging

Production mindset

On-call rotations

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Physics or STEM

Tools

Go

Rust

Python

PostgreSQL

REST

gRPC/Protobuf

Kubernetes

Prometheus

Argo CD

Job description

Sift is seeking an experienced backend/infrastructure engineer to design, build, and operate high-throughput telemetry systems. You will own features end-to-end, collaborate with frontend, design, and data teams, and optimize for performance, scalability, and reliability.

You will contribute to system evolution, participate in on-call rotations, and mentor teammates. A strong foundation in distributed systems and hands-on work with Go/Rust/Python, SQL, and Kubernetes is essential.