Software Engineer, Backend

At Fern, we believe every software company should offer a world-class API. We're building the toolkit to make that possible. We enable customers like Square, ElevenLabs, Webflow, and Intercom to offer a best-in-class developer (DX) and agent experiences (AX).

Our team is primarily ex-Palantir and ex-founders, working together from our office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We give builders the autonomy to take ownership, the speed to move quickly, and the support to do the best work of their careers. Fern is growing more than 5x year-over-year, is at the Series A stage, and has raised over $10M from Bessemer and Y Combinator.

• Experience a hyper-growth startup: Join a top-decile growth company early. You'll get firsthand exposure to how a startup scales with visibility into product, engineering, design, and go-to-market. Thinking of founding a startup someday? This is the place to learn.

• High trust and autonomy: You’ll have ownership over meaningful projects from day one, with the freedom to shape technical decisions and influence product direction. We trust engineers to figure out the best path forward—without micromanagement.

• We move quick: Your code will ship quickly and be used by our customers within days (and sometimes hours). We prioritize shipping fast, and invest in the developer experience toolchain to make that possible.

• Few meetings and bureaucracy: No bloated sprint rituals or unnecessary status updates. Just clear priorities, thoughtful async communication, and space to build.

• Palantir-inspired customer obsession: Many of our engineers come from Palantir and bring the same focus on solving real customer problems. You’ll work directly with users to tackle their top developer priorities and shape the product through hands-on feedback.

As a Backend Engineer at Fern, you’ll own the infrastructure behind our multi-tenant Next.js app that powers hundreds of documentation sites. You’ll drive zero-to-one product features end to end. Our stack includes AWS, TypeScript, and modern tooling optimized for developer experience. You'll work closely with the CEO and CTO to grow the team and build the systems that make our platform fast, scalable, and developer-first.

• Be a power-user of Vercel. We host a multi-tenant Next.js app that powers 100s of documentation websites. Check us out on Vercel's blog. You'll be the owner of the backend for our frontend—which is open source!

• Drive zero-to-one features. You'll take customer requests, architect a solution, develop the feature, and announce the release to our customers. We've got a tight feedback loop that's driven by customer requests.

• Build with industry-leading tools. You'll get hands-on with React, TypeScript, Next.js, TailwindCSS, shadcn components, and AWS. We use the best tools for the job and prioritize developer experience over cost (looking at you, Vercel).

• 3+ years of software development

• Strong communicator; comfortable solving technical problems with customers

• TypeScript proficient with willingness to work across multiple languages

• Experience with OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, Protobuf, Conjure (Palantir), Smithy (AWS), Coral (Amazon)

• Your personal GitHub profile is a deep green from commits and side projects

• Prime office location in the heart of Williamsburg, Brooklyn

• Bonus $18,000 per year for living close to the office

• Free meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner)

• Health, dental, and vision insurance

• Unlimited vacation

• Flexible WFH policy

• Domestic and international team offsites

1. Phone screen with a Fern engineer

2. Three interviews: one coding, one system design, one behavioral

3. Come onsite to meet and work with our team