Staff Backend Engineer

Altruist; Los Angeles (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity for all team members

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Inclusive workplace

Work-life integration

Job summary

Altruist is seeking Staff Back End Engineers to scale and secure our distributed platform in Los Angeles. You’ll own cross-service problems end-to-end, mentor teammates, and lead the design and rollout of high-impact solutions that improve authentication, authorization, and overall system reliability.

The right candidate ships meaningful work in fintech/security domains, with strong Java/Spring Boot, AWS, and Kubernetes skills, and a drive for reliability and observability across large-scale

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience in distributed systems.
• Backend-focused with ownership of remediation and hardened systems.
• Experience with Java, Spring Boot, AWS, and Kubernetes.
• Ability to design secure auth flows (OAuth/OIDC) and RBAC.
• Strong emphasis on reliability, scalability, and security.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and harden identity and access management: authentication, authorization, RBAC, OAuth/OIDC.
• Strengthen AWS and cloud infrastructure security posture and guardrails.
• Improve database performance, security, and optimization for high-volume systems.
• Harden APIs and distributed services against failure and abuse.
• Drive production reliability: incident remediation and root-cause analysis with observability.
• Collaborate with Security/CISO to ship durable engineering solutions.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Microservices

AWS

Kubernetes

Distributed systems

Security

Observability

OAuth/OIDC

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science

Tools

PostgreSQL

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

• Altruist is in the midst of an exceptional growth phase and we're excited to hire Staff Back End Engineers to join our growing Engineering organization
• We have multiple teams hiring for high impact & high visibility projects, with a particular focus on the security, scalability, and reliability of the platform our clients trust with their assets
• Our recruitment team will work with you to match you to the right opportunity to help you grow your career at Altruist
• Act as a leader and steward of engineering best practices, helping to mentor other engineers and develop impactful solutions
• Own systemic, cross-service problems end to end - from problem definition through design, implementation, and rollout
• Design, build, and harden identity and access management capabilities: authentication, authorization, RBAC, and OAuth/OIDC flows
• Strengthen our AWS and cloud infrastructure, including its security posture, configuration, and operational guardrails
• Improve database performance, security, and optimization across high-volume, transactional systems
• Harden APIs, services, and distributed systems against failure and abuse
• Drive production reliability: lead incident remediation, close out root causes, and build the observability needed to catch issues early
• Partner with our Security/CISO team to translate identified gaps into durable engineering solutions you design and ship
• Focus on building and scaling services and user-facing web applications that are customer-centric, performant, and secure

Benefits

• Grow your career: Altruist is a thoughtful, fast-growing company that values high achievers
• Our success is your success: Be rewarded for doing great work - competitive compensation and equity for all team members
• Take care of yourself: Health, dental, and vision coverage, available on your first day
• You're welcome here: Altruist is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to inclusivity
• Work-life integration: We work hard and respect everyone’s whole selves

A track record of building, not just reviewing - You've shipped meaningful work in security, scale, or infrastructure. This is a builder role, not a Security/AppSec role: We're looking for engineers who own remediation and deliver hardened systems Assurance - Your confidence is brilliant, yet ego-less. You possess a strong knowledge base, the ability to discover the unknown, and are open to differing perspectives Superb communication - Intentional dialogue is a superpower. You listen as well as you share your perspective with others Ownership - The pride you put into every aspect of your work is unparalleled and undeniableExperience - 6+ years of software engineering experience building precise and scalable distributed systems with best engineering practices Creative problem solving - Identifying the problem is simply not enough. You're instinctually creative with your approach in finding solutions to roadblocks Domain exposure (a plus) - Fintech, payments, or other security-sensitive, highly regulated environments Full-stack with a backend lean (a plus) - You're primarily a backend engineer but comfortable working across the stack; a core engineering background is preferred over a purely product-focused one Education - Ideally looking for a B.A. / B.S. degree in relevant fields such as Computer Science or similar Engineering/Mathematics degrees Technical aptitude - You're technologically savvy and can easily get up to speed on modern tech stacks (Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, AWS, Postgres, Kubernetes). Strong Java + AWS is a great anchor Resilience - We're inspired by your unwavering determination to achieve success, no matter the adversity you face along the way Don't meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification