Senior Software Engineer

We're building the operating system for the modern enterprise.

Zenda is an AI-powered workforce process management platform — and we're growing fast. Large organizations use us to transform how work actually gets done: real-time collaboration, intelligent automation, and data-intensive workflows, all wrapped in an experience people don't hate using.

We're design-forward, engineering-led, and moving quickly. Now we need a Senior Backend Engineer to own the foundation everything runs on.

The role

This is a high-ownership, high-impact position at the intersection of infrastructure, backend engineering, and AI. You won't just maintain systems — you'll design them, evolve them, and set the standard for how we build.

You'll work across the full platform stack: cloud infrastructure, microservices, event-driven pipelines, developer tooling, and the emerging AI capabilities that are becoming central to our product. You'll make architectural decisions that matter, mentor the engineers around you, and have a direct line to product strategy.

If you like being the person who makes everyone else faster and more capable — this role was written for you.

What you'll do

Backend & microservices Design and ship scalable APIs and backend services in Node.js (Nest.js) and Python (FastAPI). Architect and evolve a distributed, event-driven microservices ecosystem with Kafka at its core. Contribute directly to product features — not just the plumbing.

Platform & infrastructure Design and own our cloud infrastructure using Terraform on AWS. Operate and scale Kubernetes environments with an emphasis on reliability, performance, and security. Build monitoring, logging, and distributed tracing systems that make production debuggable and resilient. Establish the standards the rest of the team builds on top of.

AI & data enablement Build the infrastructure that makes AI real in production: pipelines, agent frameworks, data processing systems, and model integrations. Partner with product and data teams to move fast without cutting corners on reliability or scale.

Developer experience Own the internal platform — CI/CD pipelines, local dev environments, deployment workflows, and the tooling that lets engineers focus on building instead of fighting their setup. Make the developer experience a competitive advantage.

Technical leadership Lead critical backend initiatives from design to delivery. Drive architectural reviews. Mentor engineers through hard problems. Raise the bar on quality, pragmatism, and ownership across the team.

The stack

Node.js · TypeScript · Nest.js · Python · FastAPI · AWS · Kubernetes · Terraform · Kafka · Redis · PostgreSQL · ClickHouse · React

What we're looking for

• 5+ years building and operating production-grade backend and distributed systems
• Deep hands-on experience with Node.js (TypeScript) and/or Python
• Strong grasp of microservices, event-driven architecture, and message brokers (Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar)
• Experience building CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation, and cloud-native systems
• Proficiency with Docker, Kubernetes, and AWS
• Solid data modeling across relational and/or NoSQL systems
• Experience with AI or data pipelines, automations, or ML-enabled systems
• Comfort operating across the full stack — from infrastructure to backend to data

Strong plus: familiarity with modern AI tooling — LLMs, embeddings, agent architectures. This space is moving fast and we want people who are excited by that, not intimidated.

We're looking for someone with a genuine ownership mindset — someone who identifies gaps and fills them, leads without being asked, and cares about outcomes more than job titles. Clear communication and cross-functional collaboration matter here as much as technical depth.

Don't tick every box? Apply anyway. Strong fundamentals and intellectual curiosity will take you far at Zenda.

Why Zenda

Real ownership, not ticket work. You'll make architectural decisions that shape the product, not just close Jira tickets. Your fingerprints will be on the platform.

A stack worth working with. We've made thoughtful choices — event-driven, cloud-native, AI-first. No legacy baggage, no "we've always done it this way."

Design actually matters here. We're a design-forward company, which means the software you build gets used and loved. Engineering and product work like partners, not adversaries.

You'll grow. Mentor engineers, lead initiatives, shape how we build as the team scales. The opportunity to develop as a technical leader is real and immediate.

Mission with momentum. We're transforming how large organizations get work done. It's a hard problem, a big market, and a team that knows how to ship.