Staff Cloud Backend Developer

Also, Inc.; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 170,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health coverage

One Medical membership

Fertility benefits with Progyny

Flexible time off

401(k) match

Job summary

ALSO is seeking a Senior Staff Backend Developer to steer backend architecture for secure, scalable IoT infrastructure powering its connected EVs. You will shape core platform design, APIs, and deployment workflows while scaling systems globally.

The role emphasizes mentoring, architectural leadership, and a strong focus on security, observability, and performance in a fast-paced 0-1 environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ yrs building and scaling back-end systems, including remote devices.
• Design, ship, and operate production systems from scratch.
• Strong AWS experience with Lambda, DynamoDB, S3, IAM.
• REST/GraphQL API design and data exchange (gRPC/JSON-RPC).
• Event-driven architecture and message queues (Kafka, Redis, SQS/SNS).
• Authentication/authorization protocols (OAuth2, JWT, SAML).
• IoT protocols (MQTT, CoAP) and telemetry pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to architecture and implementation of backend systems for secure, scalable IoT infra.
• Improve core cloud infrastructure: API design, schema, service interactions, deployment workflows.
• Contribute to shared services for API gateway, caches, schema upgrades.
• Build data and API integrations with external services and partner platforms.
• Strengthen security and privacy across the platform, including user authentication.
• Design and implement systems for high availability and geographic redundancy.
• Ensure production readiness with automated testing and performance monitoring.
• Mentor engineers and contribute to technical decisions and hiring.
• Drive a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.

Skills

Backend development

AWS

API design

Event-driven architecture

IoT protocols (MQTT/CoAP)

Security & authentication

Distributed systems

Mentoring & leadership

Tools

Kafka

Redis

SQS/SNS

DynamoDB

ECS

Job description

About ALSO.

We’re ALSO, an electric mobility company originally conceived as a part of Rivian. We’re a passionate team of builders, dreamers, doers and innovators, focused on creating entirely new (not to mention, innovative and delightful) vertically integrated, small EVs designed to meet the global mobility challenges of today and tomorrow. Our mission is to inspire everyone to ride ALSO - replacing many local car, truck and SUV miles with ones on vehicles that are more affordable, more enjoyable and 10-50x more efficient.

As a Staff Backend Developer on the Also backend team, you will drive technical excellence and architectural decisions for our core infrastructure that delivers an excellent customer experience on Also’s flagship connected EVs. You’ll lead the evolution of our connected EV platform, from secure data ingestion to product facing APIs, and influence how we build and scale at Also. You balance speed and rigor, know how to scale systems, and thrive in fast paced 0-1 environments. The systems you build will power core product features and enhance our analytics and fleet intelligence capabilities.

What you will do:

• Contribute to the architecture and implementation of backend systems to support secure, scalable IoT infrastructure and its fleet management
• Drive improvements to core cloud infrastructure: API design, database schema, service interactions, event handling, observability, and deployment workflows.
• Contribute to shared services for API gateway, caches, schema upgrades
• Build data and API integrations with external services and partner platforms.
• Strengthen security and privacy across the platform, including user authentication
• Design and implement systems for high availability and geographic redundancy, ensuring reliability across global deployments.
• Ensure production readiness with automated testing, performance monitoring, and deployment safety.
• Mentor engineers and contribute to technical decision-making, hiring processes, and engineering best practices.
• Drive and define a team culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning.

What you will bring:

• 10+ yrs building and scaling back-end systems, including at least one experience with the full lifecycle of managing remote devices.
• Proven ability to design, ship, and operate production systems from scratch.
• Strong experience with AWS (e.g. Lambda, ECR/ECS, DynamoDB, S3, IAM).
• Mastery of API design (REST/GraphQL), schema design, and data exchange (gRPC/JSON-RPC).
• Excellent knowledge of event-driven architecture and message queueing systems (e.g. Kafka, Redis, SQS/SNS, pub/sub patterns).
• Experience with authentication/authorization protocols (OAuth2, OID, JWT, SAML, mTLS).
• Familiarity with IoT protocols (MQTT, CoAP), device lifecycle management, and telemetry pipelines.

The salary for this position ranges from $170,000 - $210,000 per year, depending on experience and qualifications.

Perks & Benefits

• Robust health coverage - excellent health, dental, and vision insurance covered up to 100% by ALSO, with FSA & HSA options
• One Medical membership and dedicated insurance advocates
• Rich fertility and family-building benefits with Progyny
• Flexible time off
• 401(k) match

Why ALSO.

We’re passionate about helping the world find a better way to get there - wherever it is you’re headed.

We’re located in the heart of Silicon Valley and have brought together a world-class team from some of the biggest brands in the technology, automotive, cycling, outdoor recreation and retail spaces.

Together we’re working hands-on to imagine, design and build an entirely new solution to a global set of transportation challenges.