Backend Engineer- Internal Developer Platform

Deepgram is the leading voice AI platform for developers building speech-to-text (STT), text-to-speech (TTS) and full speech-to-speech (STS) offerings. 200,000+ developers build with Deepgram’s voice-native foundational models – accessed through APIs or as self-managed software – due to our unmatched accuracy, latency and pricing. Customers include software companies building voice products, co-sell partners working with large enterprises, and enterprises solving internal voice AI use cases. The company ended 2024 cash-flow positive with 400+ enterprise customers, 3.3x annual usage growth across the past 4 years, over 50,000 years of audio processed and over 1 trillion words transcribed. There is no organization in the world that understands voice better than Deepgram.

At Deepgram, we expect an AI-first mindset—AI use and comfort aren’t optional, they’re core to how we operate, innovate, and measure performance.

Every team member who works at Deepgram is expected to actively use and experiment with advanced AI tools, and even build your own into your everyday work. We measure how effectively AI is applied to deliver results, and consistent, creative use of the latest AI capabilities is key to success here. Candidates should be comfortable adopting new models and modes quickly, integrating AI into their workflows, and continuously pushing the boundaries of what these technologies can do.

Additionally, we move at the pace of AI. Change is rapid, and you can expect your day-to-day work to evolve just as quickly. This may not be the right role if you’re not excited to experiment, adapt, think on your feet, and learn constantly, or if you’re seeking something highly prescriptive with a traditional 9-to-5.

Opportunity:

We are seeking an experienced (Senior/Staff level) Backend Engineer to design, implement, and maintain our large-scale distributed systems infrastructure. You'll be responsible for building and optimizing our network architecture, storage solutions, and compute platforms that power our AI/ML workloads. This role combines expertise in network engineering, storage systems, and modern container orchestration platforms, with a focus on reliability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness.

What You’ll Do

• Design, build, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs for our internal developer platform.

• Develop and manage robust data pipelines to support engineering and research workflows.

• Build tooling and automation to enhance developer productivity and streamline CI/CD processes.

• Collaborate with product and research teams to integrate new AI capabilities into the platform.

• Ensure the reliability, performance, and scalability of the platform's backend infrastructure.

You’ll Love This Role If You

• Are passionate about building scalable, high-performance backend systems.

• Enjoy designing and implementing robust data pipelines and developer workflows.

• Love solving challenging problems by building resilient backend services and APIs.

• Are excited about leveraging AI to enhance developer productivity and platform capabilities.

• Want to work at the intersection of software engineering, data, infrastructure, and AI.

It’s Important To Us That You Have

• 5+ years of experience in backend software development.

• Proficiency in back-end development (e.g., Python, Go, Node.js).

• Demonstrated experience building internal developer platforms or similar developer-centric tooling.

• Proficiency with data engineering concepts and building ETL/ELT pipelines.

• Expertise in leveraging AI APIs or building applications on top of large language models.

• Experience with containerization (Docker) and orchestration platforms (Kubernetes).

• A strong understanding of CI/CD principles and building automated pipelines.

It Would Be Great if You Had 

• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (e.g., Terraform, Pulumi).

• Familiarity with distributed data stores (e.g., NoSQL, object storage).

• Experience with message queues and event-driven architecture (e.g., Kafka, NATS).

Backed by prominent investors including Y Combinator, Madrona, Tiger Global, Wing VC and NVIDIA, Deepgram has raised over $85 million in total funding. If you're looking to work on cutting-edge technology and make a significant impact in the AI industry, we'd love to hear from you!

Deepgram is an equal opportunity employer. We want all voices and perspectives represented in our workforce. We are a curious bunch focused on collaboration and doing the right thing. We put our customers first, grow together and move quickly. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, pregnancy, parental status, genetic information, political affiliation, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

We are happy to provide accommodations for applicants who need them.

Compensation Range: $160K - $220K