Staff Backend Engineer — AI-First 0-to-1 Architect

Genius AI; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 241,000 - 284,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Flexible PTO

In-office lunch NYC & SF

Wellhub access

Annual development stipend

401k from day 1

Dependent Care FSA

Parental leave

Fertility and adoption benefits

Job summary

Genius AI, based in New York City, is building 0-to-1 AI products and seeks a Staff Backend Engineer to define architecture and guide ambitious initiatives. This IC role balances 60% architectural work with 40% hands-on coding, unblocking teammates and raising the standard for backend engineering.

You’ll work in a hybrid model, commuting to our NYC headquarters 3–4 days per week with required attendance on Tuesdays and Thursdays, shaping the future of production AI systems and scalable platforms.

Qualifications

• 7+ years backend engineering with ownership of system design for high-scale products.
• Experience integrating AI/LLMs into production systems.
• Deep Kotlin expertise and strong backend architecture intuition.
• Proficient with modern cloud infrastructure (AWS, Kubernetes).
• Excellent collaboration with Product, Design, and Engineering leadership.

Responsibilities

• Architect and own the technical direction of AI-powered products and 0-to-1 builds.
• Integrate AI models and LLMs into production systems with reliability and performance.
• Shape architecture decisions to enable long-term product capabilities.
• Write high-quality code and ship proofs-of-concept to validate ideas.
• Partner with product and design to translate goals into executable initiatives.
• Identify and resolve technical debt to keep the team moving forward.

Skills

Backend architecture

AI integration

Kotlin

Cloud (AWS)

Kubernetes

LLMs in production

Cross-functional leadership

Code quality

Job description

Genius AI, based in New York City, is building 0-to-1 AI products and seeks a Staff Backend Engineer to define architecture and guide ambitious initiatives. This IC role balances 60% architectural work with 40% hands-on coding, unblocking teammates and raising the standard for backend engineering.

You’ll work in a hybrid model, commuting to our NYC headquarters 3–4 days per week with required attendance on Tuesdays and Thursdays, shaping the future of production AI systems and scalable platforms.