The Senior Backend Engineer will design and implement infrastructure for an AI system, solve complex data-related problems, and ensure system scalability and security.
Role Overview
The Role
Required Skills
Benefits
We're seeking a Senior Backend Engineer to join our fast-paced team to design, develop, and implement new infrastructure for Littlebird, our personalized AI teammate for Mac and Android (Windows soon!). We’re building personal AI; a thought partner that connects dots in your work and helps you think. Check out the recent TechCrunch news on our $11M seed funding and what users are saying about the product.
We're an async-first team that values craft and ownership. Our engineers live at the intersection of genuine research curiosity and production discipline: you'll push the frontier in areas like realtime data, search, and inference, then wrestle those ideas into systems that are fast, lean, and built to scale.
You will architect the system that allows our agent to reason, remember, and evolve. You'll develop core infrastructure that turns messy, unstructured user data into a coherent world model.
Some of the hard problems you'll solve:
- Build AI Memory: Our current memory systems will continue to scale. You'll lead the charge to design and implement our next-generation memory system This means solving hard problems in:
- Scale Our Data & Retrieval Pipelines: As we grow, you'll be responsible for ensuring our data ingestion, hybrid search, and re-ranking pipelines are fast, reliable, and cost-effective.
- Security: Ensure our infrastructure is highly secure and observable, with a focus on speed and cost
- Graph-based Retrieval: How do you query a graph efficiently to provide the agent with rich, structured context, moving beyond simple semantic search?
- Deep experience building and scaling data-intensive backend systems in Python or Go.
- Strong system-design skills and experience working with distributed systems.
- A clear mental model for data structures and their trade-offs. You like to think deeply about how to represent complex information.
- Hands-on experience with RAG pipelines, even if you're a little frustrated with their limitations.
- Production experience with modern cloud infrastructure, observability tooling, and PostgreSQL
- A pragmatic approach. You know when to build for the long term and when to ship a clever solution that works now.
- Remote-friendly work environment
- Collaborative team culture
- Opportunity to shape infrastructure decisions
- Competitive compensation packages including stock and health benefits, paid time off, and parental leave. 401k options for all US-based employees.
- Flexible working hours across multiple time zones
- We love to hear when birds chirp!
Similar Jobs
Cloud • Security • Software • Cybersecurity • Automation
As a Senior Backend Engineer, you'll manage Kubernetes clusters, implement GitOps workflows, establish infrastructure as code practices, and enhance platform reliability and security controls.
Top Skills:
Amazon EksArgocdAzure AksBashGoGoogle GkeKubernetesPythonTerraform
Cloud • Security • Software • Cybersecurity • Automation
As a Senior Backend Engineer, you will design and implement scalable routing services and the Topology Service for GitLab's Cells architecture, ensuring low-latency and reliable operations across the platform.
Top Skills:
GoGrpcPostgresRuby On RailsTypescript
Artificial Intelligence • Fintech • Professional Services • Software • Financial Services • Automation
The Sr. Backend Engineer will design and maintain backend systems using Django, optimize PostgreSQL databases, implement secure workflows, and mentor other engineers while collaborating across teams.
Top Skills:
DjangoDjango Rest FrameworkPostgresPython
What you need to know about the NYC Tech Scene
As the undisputed financial capital of the world, New York City is an epicenter of startup funding activity. The city has a thriving fintech scene and is a major player in verticals ranging from AI to biotech, cybersecurity and digital media. It also has universities like NYU, Columbia and Cornell Tech attracting students and researchers from across the globe, providing the ecosystem with a constant influx of world-class talent. And its East Coast location and three international airports make it a perfect spot for European companies establishing a foothold in the United States.
Key Facts About NYC Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 549,200; 6% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Capgemini, Bloomberg, IBM, Spotify
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, Fintech
- Funding Landscape: $25.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Greycroft, Thrive Capital, Union Square Ventures, FirstMark Capital, Tiger Global Management, Tribeca Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Two Sigma Ventures
- Research Centers and Universities: Columbia University, New York University, Fordham University, CUNY, AI Now Institute, Flatiron Institute, C.N. Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, NASA Space Radiation Laboratory
