Staff Backend Engineer, Data Platform

Osmo; New York (NY); On-site; USD 130,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Catered Lunch

401(k) employer match

Competitive salary and equity

Flexible PTO and paid family leave

Commuter benefits

Job summary

Osmo is seeking a senior backend engineer to lead the backend voice, owning systems through the API layer and applying production judgment. You will join a junior team, bring on-call responsibility, and drive structured problem solving across data and services.

You will shape robust foundations, handle long-running requests, and implement real recovery paths. A Python/SQL base is expected; TypeScript/Go/Scala are a plus. NYC/NJ-based, on-site role.

Qualifications

• 6-15 years of non-internship backend engineering experience.
• Real production ownership including on-call and monitoring responsibilities.
• Designer mindset with system/workflow design ownership.
• Comfortable building foundation and reliability before scale.
• NYC/NJ based location preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own Backend Systems Through the API Layer and manage complexity beneath the contract.
• Bring Production Judgment with on-call responsibility and proactive monitoring.
• Build for failure with long-running requests and recovery paths.
• Lay the Foundation for Scale later by focusing on robustness and reliability.
• Work with data as a backend engineer, not just database work.
• Be the Senior Backend Voice bringing structured problem solving to a junior team.

Skills

Python

SQL

TypeScript

Go

Scala

Job description

Who We Are At Osmo

Osmo is a digital olfaction company, on a mission to give computers a sense of smell to improve the health and wellbeing of human life. Why? Our sense of smell both enriches and saves lives, and has a deep and direct connection to our emotions and memory.

Olfactory Intelligence has applications across industries including fragrance, manufacturing, security, medicine, and more. We believe in the power of automation and thoughtfully applied AI/ML to solve problems beyond the reach of human intuition alone.

We're headquartered in Elizabeth, NJ, with an additional office in Somerville, MA. We provide complimentary shuttle service from Brooklyn and Newark, NJ.

About The Role

Osmo's engineering team is currently junior, and we're looking for the senior backend voice to help it grow up. This is a backend-forward seat with a data component on the side, not a database architecture role: you'll own systems up through the API layer, bringing production judgment, on-call experience, and structured problem solving the team doesn't have yet.

You’ll have the trust to question whether a big, ambiguous problem is even worth solving, and the autonomy to scope the right first chunk of it rather than diving straight into code. This isn't a scale or performance role at this stage. It's about laying a robust foundation, handling long-running requests and calls to systems that can fail, and building real recovery paths, not just happy-path code.

What You’ll Do

• Own Backend Systems Through the API Layer - Handle the complexity underneath the API contract, not just define it.
• Bring Production Judgment - Take on monitoring and on-call responsibility, knowing what should be watched and why.
• Build for Failure, Not Just the Happy Path - Handle long-running requests and calls to other systems that might fail or crash, with real recovery paths.
• Lay the Foundation for Scale Later - Focus on robustness and foundational reliability now, not premature scale or performance optimization.
• Work With Data the Way a Backend Engineer Does - User-oriented data work, not database architecture.
• Be the Senior Backend Voice - Bring structured problem solving and production experience to a team that doesn't have it yet.

Who You Are

• 6-15 Years of Non-Internship Experience - Staff-level backend engineer; internships, co-ops, and student roles don't count toward this.
• A Designer, Not Just an Implementer - Real system or workflow design ownership, not just "built X, shipped Y" without design-level involvement.
• Real Production Ownership - Has run services in production, including on-call and monitoring responsibility.
• Staff-Level Problem Solver - Can take a large, ambiguous problem, question whether it's the right one to solve at all, and scope a sensible first chunk instead of diving straight in.
• Comfortable Building the Foundation - Not chasing scale for its own sake; ready to do foundational reliability and robustness work first.
• Python and SQL baseline expected; TypeScript, Go, or Scala experience is a plus, not a requirement.
• NYC/NJ based.

Ways To Stand Out

• Mentorship Mindset - Experience leveling up a team, valuable given how junior Osmo's engineering team is today.
• Full-Stack Exposure - React/TypeScript experience, even though this isn't a full-stack role.
• Broader Systems Experience - Go or Scala exposure, as a signal of real distributed-systems depth.

What We Offer

• Catered Lunch - Mon/Wed/Fri; Newark, NJ and Brooklyn shuttles
• 401(k) savings plan and employer match
• Competitive salary and meaningful equity in a high-growth company
• Flexible PTO and paid family leave
• Commuter benefits (pre-tax transit and parking)

We are committed to recruiting, developing, and retaining an incredible team optimized for a diversity of thought, background, and approaches.

For all Full-Time Employees, compensation is just one component of Osmo's total rewards approach, which is designed to support the well-being, growth, and long-term success of our team members. Depending on the role, this may include base salary or contract-based pay, along with access to health, dental, and vision coverage; a 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match; flexible paid time off and company holidays; and equity or incentive compensation for eligible roles. Actual compensation will vary based on factors such as experience, skills, location, internal equity, and other relevant business considerations. Osmo regularly reviews pay ranges and compensation structures to ensure they remain competitive, equitable, and aligned with current market data.

All employment decisions and responsibilities are determined based on current ability and your ability to grow, without regard to race, color, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age, marital status, physical, mental, or sensory disability, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Osmo does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Osmo or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by the Osmo Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Osmo and Osmo will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire