Backend Engineer: Ranking

About the role

This role involves designing, building, and maintaining robust, high-load distributed real-time services within cloud infrastructures. The work directly supports an AI-first e-commerce search and discovery platform, helping shoppers find products efficiently. A key aspect of the job is optimizing performance and ensuring smooth signal delivery for machine learning model inference, which directly impacts the platform's core functionality.

The Backend Engineer will be an integral part of cross-functional teams, contributing to improvements in ranking capabilities and internal tools. This requires regular communication with stakeholders to align on project requirements and deliverables. Success in this position means delivering reliable, scalable backend systems that enhance the platform's ability to drive revenue and conversion for global e-commerce brands.

The team operates fully remotely, emphasizing collaboration and growth. Engineers are expected to contribute to the entire lifecycle of services, from initial design to ongoing maintenance and optimization. This includes leveraging Infrastructure as Code for cloud resource management and improving CI/CD pipelines to ensure efficient deployment processes.

The base salary for this role ranges from $80,500 to $138,000 USD, with stock options offered in addition.

Skills that matter here

• Python: Proficiency in Python is required for server-side coding and developing web services.
• CloudFormation: Experience with CloudFormation or Terraform is needed for managing cloud resources through Infrastructure as Code.
• AWS: Experience with major public cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, or GCP is essential for deploying and managing services.
• NoSQL: Familiarity with NoSQL and relational databases, along with distributed systems and caching, is necessary for data management.
• CI/CD: Hands-on experience with setting up and improving CI/CD pipelines is expected for efficient software delivery.
• MLOps: Experience with MLOps is a significant advantage, focusing on delivering, loading, and serving machine learning models and their infrastructure.

Who this role suits

• A developer who enjoys tackling challenges related to high-load, real-time distributed systems.
• Someone who thrives in collaborative environments and communicates effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• An engineer who values continuous improvement in infrastructure and deployment processes.
• A self-starter comfortable working remotely and managing their own work setup.

From the employer

• Design, build, and maintain high-load distributed real-time services in cloud environments.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to improve ranking functionalities and internal tools.
• Optimize performance and signal delivery for ML model inference.
• Communicate with stakeholders to align on requirements and deliverables.

Hard skills:

• Experience in designing, developing & maintaining high-load distributed real-time services (in cloud)
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools like CloudFormation or Terraform for managing cloud resources.
• Experience with MLOps is a huge plus (delivering, loading, and serving ML models and related infrastructure)
• Hands-on experience with setting up and improving CI/CD pipelines
• Proficiency with Python and, as a plus, compiled languages like C, Rust, or Go.
• Experience in server-side coding for web services, and a good understanding of API design principles.
• Experience with NoSQL and relational databases, distributed systems, and caching solutions.
• Experience with any of the major public cloud formation: AWS (ideally), Azure, GCP

Soft skills:

• Experience collaborating in cross-functional teams.
• Excellent English communication skills.

• Work with smart and empathetic people who will help you grow and make a meaningful impact.
• Regular team offsite events to connect and collaborate.
• Fully remote team - choose where you live.
• Unlimited vacation time - we strongly encourage all of our employees take at least 3 weeks per year.
• Work from home stipend! We want you to have the resources you need to set up your home office.
• Apple laptops provided for new employees.
• Training and development budget for every employee, refreshed each year.
• Maternity & Paternity leave for qualified employees.
• Base salary: $80k–$120K USD, depending on knowledge, skills, experience, and interview results
• Stock options - offered in addition to the base salary