Senior Staff Software Engineer, Backend Platform

Patreon; New York, San Francisco (NY, CA); On-site; USD 140,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible time off

401k plan with matching

Healthcare

Job summary

Patreon is seeking a Senior Staff Backend Platform Engineer to be based in San Francisco. This role involves leading the technical strategy for the backend platform and working on scalable distributed systems. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in backend architecture and APIs, as well as a strong understanding of cloud-native environments.

Join our dynamic team and contribute to building foundational platform capabilities that support the growth of creators worldwide. The team collaborates closely to ensure product needs align with technical capabilities.

This position offers a hybrid work model, requiring in-office presence two days a week, with a competitive benefits package including flexible time off and 401k matching.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience building large-scale backend systems.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems and high-throughput APIs.
• Experience with databases, caching systems, and storage technologies.
• Strong understanding of data modeling and event-driven architectures.
• Experience operating systems in cloud-native environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the technical strategy for backend platform.
• Lead architecture and implementation of scalable distributed systems.
• Establish technical standards and best practices.
• Mentor staff and senior engineers through collaboration.

Skills

Distributed systems

Backend architecture

APIs

Performance optimization

Cloud-native environments

Education

10+ years of relevant experience

Tools

MySQL

Postgres

Redis

DynamoDB

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

Patreon is a media and community platform where over 300,000 creators give their biggest fans access to exclusive work and experiences. We offer creators a variety of ways to engage with their fans and build a lasting business including: paid memberships, free memberships, community chats, live video, and selling to fans directly with one-time purchases.

Ultimately our goal is simple: fund the creative class. And we're leaders in that space, with:

• $10 billion+ generated by creators since Patreon's inception

• 100 million+ free memberships for fans who may not be ready to pay just yet, and

• 25 million+ paid memberships on Patreon today.

We're continuing to invest heavily in building the best creator platform with the best team in the creator economy and are looking for a Senior Staff Backend Platform Engineer to support our mission.

This role is based in San Francisco and open to those who are able to be in-office 2 days per week on a hybrid work model.

About the Team

The Backend Platform team builds the foundational systems and infrastructure that power Patreon's creator platform. We're responsible for the core backend services, APIs, databases, infrastructure, and developer tooling that enable product teams across the company to ship quickly, reliably, and at scale. This team is growing and investing in foundational platform capabilities that will support Patreon's next phase of scale and product expansion.

About the Role

• Define and drive the technical strategy for Patreon's backend platform and foundational infrastructure

• Lead architecture and implementation of scalable distributed systems, APIs, event-driven systems, and platform services

• Lead modernization efforts across backend architecture, service boundaries, data access patterns, and infrastructure

• Establish technical standards and best practices around reliability, performance, scalability, and maintainability

• Partner with product engineering teams to ensure platform capabilities align with business and product needs

• Shape cross‑functional technical decision‑making at organizational scale

• Help evolve operational maturity around incident management, resiliency, and production excellence

• Mentor Staff and Senior engineers across the organization through design reviews, technical leadership, and hands‑on collaboration

What you'll need

• Extensive experience building large-scale backend systems, with depth in distributed systems and platform architecture (typically 10+ years, or equivalent demonstrated expertise)

• Deep expertise in distributed systems, high‑throughput APIs, and low‑latency architectures that support millions of DAUs

• Experience with databases, caching systems, and storage technologies (e.g. MySQL, Postgres, Redis, DynamoDB)

• Strong understanding of data modeling, storage systems, caching, queues, and event‑driven architectures

• Experience in performance optimization across APIs, databases, caching layers, and distributed services

• Strong operational excellence mindset, including incident response and production debugging

• Experience operating systems in cloud‑native environments such as AWS and Kubernetes‑based infrastructure

• Proficiency in one or more backend languages such as Python, Go, Java, or Rust

• Ability to communicate complex architectural trade‑offs clearly in writing and in cross‑functional forums

• Experience mentoring Staff and Senior engineers and contributing to engineering culture through design reviews, documentation, or team standards

We hire talented and passionate people from different backgrounds because workplace diversity and inclusion is critical to our ability to serve creators worldwide. If you’re excited about a role but your past experience doesn’t match with every bullet point outlined above, we strongly encourage you to apply anyway. If you’re a creator at heart, are energized by our mission, and share our company values, we’d love to hear from you.

About Patreon

Patreon powers creators to do what they love and get paid by the people who love what they do. Our team is passionate about making this mission and our core values come to life every day in our work. Through this work, our Patronauts:

• Put Creators First | They’re the reason we’re here. When creators win, we win.

• Build with Craft | We sign our name to every deliverable, just like the creators we serve.

• Make it Happen | We don’t quit. We learn and deliver.

• Win Together | We grow as individuals. We win as a team.

Patreon is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We provide employment opportunities without regard to age, race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other protected class. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the interview process, please let us know via email at accommodations@patreon.

Patreon offers a competitive benefits package including and not limited to salary, equity plans, healthcare, flexible time off, company holidays and recharge days, commuter benefits, lifestyle stipends, learning and development stipends, patronage, parental leave, and 401k plan with matching.

Patreon operates under a hybrid work model, where employees based in office locations are expected to come into the office two days per week, excluding sick time and paid leave. The goal of this policy is to be intentional about the in‑person time we spend together to strengthen the feeling of community at Patreon. Candidates hired into remote‑eligible roles are not expected to meet the same requirements.

At Patreon, we believe in fair and transparent pay. In compliance with New York and California pay transparency laws, we are sharing the expected salary range for this role.

The posted salary range is dependent on the location and the level. This range may encompass multiple levels within the role’s job family. The final offer will be based on candidate’s experience, skills, competencies, and geographic location, aligning with the appropriate job level within Patreon’s leveling framework. For remote employees located outside CA and NY, salary may vary based on location and local market conditions.

Patreon reserves the right to modify or update compensation and benefits at any time.