Staff Backend Engineer

Altruist; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation and equity

Health, dental, and vision coverage

Inclusive, equal opportunity employer

Work‑life integration

Job summary

Altruist is hiring Staff Back End Engineers to join our Engineering organization in San Francisco, CA. You will work on high-impact, high-visibility projects focused on security, scalability, and reliability of the platform our clients trust with their assets.

You will lead, mentor engineers, and own cross-service problems end to end. The role emphasizes designing identity and access management, strengthening AWS infrastructure, improving database performance, and driving production reliability

Qualifications

• 6+ years of software engineering experience building precise and scalable distributed systems.
• Proven track record shipping meaningful work in security, scale, or infrastructure.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills with cross-functional partners.

Responsibilities

• Own systemic, cross-service problems end to end—from problem definition to design, implementation, and rollout.
• Design, build, and harden identity and access management capabilities (authentication, authorization, RBAC, OAuth/OIDC).
• Strengthen AWS and cloud infrastructure, including security posture and operational guardrails.
• Improve database performance, security, and optimization in high-volume transactional systems.
• Harden APIs, services, and distributed systems against failure and abuse.
• Drive production reliability through incident remediation and root-cause analysis, with observability.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

Microservices

AWS

Postgres

Kubernetes

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or similar Engineering/Mathematics

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

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 oneExperience — 6+ years of software engineering experience building precise and scalable distributed systems with best engineering practicesSuperb communication — Intentional dialogue is a superpower. You listen as well as you share your perspective with othersA 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 systemsResilience — We’re inspired by your unwavering determination to achieve success, no matter the adversity you face along the wayTechnical 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 anchorAssurance — Your confidence is brilliant, yet ego-less. You possess a strong knowledge base, the ability to discover the unknown, and are open to differing perspectivesDomain exposure (a plus) — Fintech, payments, or other security-sensitive, highly regulated environmentsEducation — Ideally looking for a B.A. / B.S. degree in relevant fields such as Computer Science or similar Engineering/Mathematics degreesCreative problem solving — Identifying the problem is simply not enough. You’re instinctually creative with your approach in finding solutions to roadblocksOwnership — The pride you put into every aspect of your work is unparalleled and undeniableDon’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