Software Engineer II (Backend)

Censys; United States; Remote; USD 116,000 - 141,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401k match

Health insurance

Vision/Dental coverage

Job summary

Censys is seeking a Software Engineer II (Backend) to join the Exposure Management team. You will develop and own API features end to end, focusing on Go-based services and collaborating with frontend engineers to deliver fast, scalable APIs.

Join a team that values customer focus, collaboration, and continuous learning as you build security-focused internet visibility tools. Remote work is supported in the United States or Canada.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend services.
• Production experience with Go, or strong experience in another backend language (Python, Java) and the drive to become proficient in Go quickly.
• Experience designing and consuming REST or gRPC APIs, ideally ones consumed by a frontend application.
• Solid SQL skills and working knowledge of relational data modeling, indexing, and query performance.
• A track record of building maintainable software: tests enforced in CI, meaningful monitoring and alerting, and thoughtful code reviews.
• Clear written and verbal communication with engineers, product managers, and other teams.
• Curiosity and a willingness to pick up new domains, tools, and parts of the stack.

Responsibilities

• Own small-to-medium product API features end to end, from technical design through launch, monitoring, and iteration
• Build and extend the public REST and gRPC APIs behind Exposure Management and Supplier Risk Intelligence
• Partner with frontend engineers and product stakeholders on API contracts, filtering, pagination, and response shapes so customer-facing experiences stay fast and simple to build
• Work with other Censys teams to integrate their data and services through gRPC and GCP PubSub, and agree on interfaces that hold up as both sides evolve
• Profile and optimize API performance, from Postgres query plans and indexing to caching and payload size
• Write tests, add observability, and take release and on-call responsibility for the services you ship
• Bring customer feedback into design discussions and help onboard interns and newer engineers in your area

Skills

Go

REST API design

gRPC

SQL

Backend services

CI/CD

Tools

PostgreSQL

Kubernetes

GCP PubSub

Job description

Join the team turning internet intelligence into real-world security outcomes. Built on the world’s most comprehensive and accurate map of the Internet , the Censys Platform delivers real-time visibility and actionable intelligence needed to accelerate triage, investigate threats, hunt adversaries, and manage Internet exposure. We're trusted by half of the Fortune 500 and government agencies all around the world, and looking for people as passionate about the problems we're solving as we are.

At Censys, we're on a mission to provide best in class internet visibility and intelligence to the global security community. Our platform helps security teams uncover hidden threats, gain actionable insights, and build proactive defense strategies. Trusted by organizations worldwide, Censys cuts through the noise to surface the most critical risks, enabling teams to respond faster, and stay ahead of attackers. We're constantly pushing the boundaries of what's possible to help our customers see and secure the internet more clearly than ever before.

Location:

This position is remote within the United States or Canada.

Role Summary:

Censys is seeking a Software Engineer II (Backend) to join our Exposure Management team. Exposure Management is a growth product for Censys. It combines our map of the Internet with customer context to show security teams which exposures matter most, including the risk that reaches them through their suppliers via Supplier Risk Intelligence. We're looking for an engineer who can build the product APIs behind these experiences, taking a well-scoped feature from design through launch with input from senior engineers.

You’ll work primarily in Go, pulling together data and services from other Censys teams and partnering with frontend engineers to deliver APIs that are fast, well-shaped, and easy to build on. As with all roles at Censys, we expect a strong customer focus, a collaborative mindset, and a desire to keep learning.

What You’ll Do:

• Own small-to-medium product API features end to end, from technical design through launch, monitoring, and iteration
• Build and extend the public REST and gRPC APIs behind Exposure Management and Supplier Risk Intelligence, including the risk event endpoints that power SIEM integrations with Splunk, Google SecOps, and Microsoft Sentinel
• Partner with frontend engineers and product stakeholders on API contracts, filtering, pagination, and response shapes so customer-facing experiences stay fast and simple to build
• Work with other Censys teams to integrate their data and services through gRPC and GCP PubSub, and agree on interfaces that hold up as both sides evolve
• Profile and optimize API performance, from Postgres query plans and indexing to caching and payload size
• Write tests, add observability, and take release and on-call responsibility for the services you ship
• Bring customer feedback into design discussions and help onboard interns and newer engineers in your area

What You’ll Bring:

• A positive attitude biased towards action and iterative problem solving, learning as we grow every step of the way.
• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience building backend services.
• Production experience with Go, or strong experience in another backend language (Python, Java) and the drive to become proficient in Go quickly.
• Experience designing and consuming REST or gRPC APIs, ideally ones consumed by a frontend application.
• Solid SQL skills and working knowledge of relational data modeling, indexing, and query performance.
• A track record of building maintainable software: tests enforced in CI, meaningful monitoring and alerting, and thoughtful code reviews.
• Clear written and verbal communication with engineers, product managers, and other teams.
• Curiosity and a willingness to pick up new domains, tools, and parts of the stack.

What Sets You Apart:

• Experience on security products, especially attack surface management, third-party risk or vulnerability management.
• Experience building APIs that external developers or partners integrate against (OpenAPI specs, versioning, webhooks).
• Experience with event-driven systems (GCP PubSub, Kafka) and patterns like idempotency and retries.
• Experience deploying containerized services on Kubernetes in GCP or AWS.
• Fluency with AI coding tools as a force multiplier for building better software.
• A working understanding of how the Internet works. DNS record types, WHOIS, and Certificate Subject Alternative Names (SANs) are familiar territory

#LI-DNI

#LI-DNP

For high cost of living areas (San Francisco Bay, New York City, and Seattle), the expected salary range for this position is $137,000 USD - $164,000 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

For all other US locations, the expected salary range for this position is $116,450 USD - $140,500 USD, plus bonus eligibility and equity.

In addition to our great compensation package, our benefits are effective on day one and include but are not limited to: 401k match, health, vision, dental, and more! Please see our careers page for more details.

Our roots are in Ann Arbor, Michigan and our innovation is fueled by the team's global perspectives. For this role, we are open to remote employees across the continental US or Canada.

Identity Verification

As part of our hiring process, all candidates who receive an offer of employment will be asked to complete an identity verification through CLEAR.

California Privacy Rights Notice Pursuant to the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), we are providing you with notice that we collect personal information from job applicants for business purposes, including evaluating your candidacy for employment, conducting interviews, and, if applicable, completing the hiring process. The categories of information we may collect include identifiers (such as name and contact information), professional or employment-related information (such as work history, education, and references), and other information you provide in your application. We do not sell or share your personal information. For more information on how we use and protect your personal information, and your rights under the CCPA, please refer to our Privacy Policy .

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Censys’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.