Senior Backend Software Engineer

Green Key Resources; Austin (TX); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Green Key Resources seeks a backend systems engineer to architect and build high-performance services, primarily in Rust, for production use. You will own major portions of the stack—from design through deployment—while advancing reliability, performance, and security across distributed systems.

The role involves mentoring engineers, collaborating with hardware, product, and infra teams, and shaping engineering standards.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, CE, or related field or equivalent professional experience.
• 3+ years creating backend or systems software with production ownership.
• Advanced Rust experience or similar systems programming (C/C++/Go) with Rust experience.
• Proficiency with C++ and Python.
• Strong understanding of APIs, distributed/concurrent systems, reliability, performance, and Linux.

Responsibilities

• Architect, implement, test, and maintain backend services and systems-level software, primarily using Rust.
• Own substantial portions of the software stack including architecture, testing, reliability, and performance.
• Evaluate architectural decisions balancing maintainability, performance, security, and complexity.
• Establish engineering practices around code quality, automated testing, peer review, and documentation.
• Mentor engineers and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver complete solutions.
• Apply AI-assisted development tools while maintaining ownership and validation of all results.

Skills

Rust

Backend development

Distributed systems

Linux

Python

C/C++

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Equivalent professional experience

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Git

Linux tooling

Job description

This role focuses on building high-performance backend and systems software that operates reliably in demanding production environments. The position combines architecture, systems programming, API development, performance engineering, and technical leadership, with responsibility spanning design through deployment and ongoing operation.

Key Responsibilities

• Architect, implement, test, and maintain backend services, APIs, and systems-level software, primarily using Rust alongside other languages as appropriate.
• Take ownership of substantial portions of the software stack, including technical architecture, implementation, testing, operational reliability, and performance.
• Evaluate and document architectural decisions, balancing factors such as maintainability, performance, scalability, security, and operational complexity.
• Establish strong engineering practices around code quality, automated testing, peer review, documentation, and long-term maintainability.
• Work at the systems level on software where reliability, security, performance, and predictable behavior are critical requirements.
• Apply AI-assisted and agent-based development tools to accelerate engineering workflows while independently reviewing, validating, testing, and taking responsibility for all resulting code.
• Contribute to team-wide practices for effective use of AI development tools, including review expectations, development conventions, and quality controls.
• Develop sufficient expertise in relevant technical domains to make informed architectural decisions and validate system behavior.
• Mentor engineers, contribute to technical direction, and collaborate with hardware, product, infrastructure, and other engineering teams to deliver complete solutions.

Desired Background

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent professional experience.
• 3+ years of professional experience developing and delivering backend or systems software, including ownership of production services.
• Advanced Rust experience, or substantial systems-programming experience in languages such as C, C++, or Go combined with demonstrated ability to develop professionally in Rust.
• Working proficiency with C++ and Python.
• Strong understanding of backend and systems architecture, including APIs, distributed or concurrent systems, reliability engineering, performance optimization, and Linux.
• Practical experience using AI-assisted and agentic development workflows, together with the judgment to review, correct, test, secure, and fully own AI-assisted implementations.
• Demonstrated technical leadership through architectural decision-making, mentoring, code reviews, and improvements to engineering standards.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Legally authorized to work in the United States.

Additional Experience

• Background in areas such as cryptography, cybersecurity, networking, or other security-sensitive systems.
• Experience building highly reliable, security-sensitive, or performance-critical services.
• Familiarity with Linux systems programming, software packaging, deployment, and production operations.
• Experience working across hardware and software boundaries or with systems requiring close coordination between multiple engineering disciplines.