Senior Software Engineer - Backend

Kintara; Grandview Heights (OH); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

ForgeNest is seeking a Software Engineer to build backend services and APIs for a next-generation manufacturing platform. You will own data infrastructure connecting machines, sensors, and applications, while collaborating with robotics, controls, and engineering teams to shape the platform.

You’ll design backend architecture, ensure reliability, and contribute to frontend interfaces those systems power, working in a fast-moving startup environment focused on industrial automation.

Qualifications

• Professional backend experience building services, APIs, or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency with a backend language such as Node.js, Python, Go, or Java.
• Experience designing and maintaining SQL and/or NoSQL databases and data models.
• Experience building and integrating RESTful or event-driven APIs.
• Strong understanding of architecture, service design, and data management across a stack.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs powering ForgeNest’s platform.
• Architect data models, databases, and pipelines for machine, production, and operational data.
• Integrate backend systems with ForgeNest’s Universal Operating System and sensors.
• Develop reliable, scalable APIs consumed by front-end apps and internal systems.
• Prototype backend features rapidly based on customer and operator feedback.

Skills

Backend development

API design

Node.js

Python

Go

RESTful services

Distributed systems

Data modeling

Debugging

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

ForgeNest is looking for a Software Engineer to help build the backend systems and services that power our next-generation manufacturing platform, with enough front-end fluency to help ship the interfaces those systems drive.

As we move further into commercialization, the reliability and scalability of our backend, the APIs, data pipelines, and services connecting machines to software, becomes increasingly important.

This role will own and develop the services, APIs, and data infrastructure that connect ForgeNest’s Universal Operating System to machines, sensors, and the applications operators, engineers, and customers use to interact with them.

You’ll work directly with software engineers, robotics and controls engineers, manufacturing teams, and company leadership to design backend architecture, build reliable services and APIs, and contribute to the front-end applications those systems power.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and maintain backend services and APIs supporting ForgeNest’s manufacturing platform.
• Architect and maintain data models, databases, and pipelines for machine data, production data, and operational data.
• Integrate backend systems with ForgeNest’s Universal Operating System, machine controllers, sensors, and third-party tools.
• Build reliable, secure, and scalable APIs consumed by front-end applications and other internal systems.
• Develop the backend logic and data services behind dashboards and visualization tools that provide real-time insight into equipment status, production performance, and manufacturing workflows.
• Partner directly with manufacturing, robotics, controls, and engineering teams to understand data and system requirements on the floor.
• Participate in product architecture and technical design decisions as the platform continues to evolve.
• Establish backend architecture, service design patterns, and development standards that support long-term scalability.
• Monitor, troubleshoot, and improve system performance and reliability in both development and live manufacturing environments.
• Rapidly prototype new backend functionality based on feedback from customers, operators, and internal engineering teams.
• Take ownership of features end-to-end, from backend design and data architecture through any necessary front-end integration.

Who You Are

• A backend-minded software engineer who also enjoys working across the stack when a feature calls for it.
• Excited about designing clean, reliable services and data systems while understanding the machines and manufacturing processes that data represents.
• Comfortable owning a system end-to-end, from data model to API, with enough front-end fluency to see a feature through to the interface.
• Able to communicate and collaborate across software, manufacturing, robotics, controls, and company leadership.
• Motivated by building resilient infrastructure and seeing it power real-world systems.

Experience Requirements

• Professional experience developing backend services, APIs, or distributed systems.
• Strong proficiency with a backend language such as Node.js, Python, Go, or Java.
• Experience designing and maintaining databases (SQL and/or NoSQL) and data models.
• Experience building and integrating RESTful or event-driven APIs.
• Strong understanding of application architecture, service design, and state and data management across a stack.
• Experience with real-time or data-rich systems such as dashboards, telemetry, or operational applications.
• Strong debugging and problem-solving skills across the stack.
• Experience working collaboratively within a software development team.

What You Bring

• Strong ownership mentality and willingness to take features from concept through production.
• Ability to operate effectively in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Curiosity about manufacturing, robotics, industrial automation, and physical systems.
• Strong systems-design instincts and attention to reliability, scalability, and data integrity.
• Ability to simplify technically complex information without sacrificing functionality.
• Comfortable picking up front-end work when needed, even when it isn’t your primary strength.
• Experience with manufacturing software, industrial automation, robotics, machine interfaces, or real-time systems is a plus.
• Experience with message queues, streaming data, or time-series databases is a plus.
• Interest in AI-enabled software and how intelligent systems can improve physical manufacturing is highly valued.

What Success Looks Like

• Quickly develop an understanding of ForgeNest’s technology and backend architecture, and how engineers and operators interact with the platform.
• Take ownership of major backend systems and services, improving the reliability, scalability, and performance of the software experience.
• Help establish backend architecture and development standards capable of scaling alongside ForgeNest’s technology and customer base.
• Build APIs and services that make it straightforward for front-end teams, or yourself, to build reliable interfaces on top.
• Become a trusted technical contributor as the software platform and engineering organization continue to grow.

Why Join ForgeNest

ForgeNest is a venture-backed startup building an AI-driven, software-forward forging platform designed to modernize one of the world’s most critical manufacturing industries.

By combining commercially available hardware with proprietary software, AI-driven toolpath generation, and a next-generation Universal Operating System, ForgeNest is transforming how forged metal parts are designed and manufactured across defense, aerospace, energy, maritime, and industrial markets.

This is an opportunity to join a small, highly technical, high-impact team developing dual-use technology with real-world applications where your work will directly influence the future of advanced manufacturing, automation, and industrial technology.