Senior Software Engineer, Backend, Infrastructure Focus

• Own core backend systems and infrastructure powering critical product workflows


• Ship impactful, end-to-end features improving student and teacher experiences


• Help set and evolve technical direction and translate business goals into pragmatic technical plans


• Improve code quality, observability, CI/CD, and developer tooling


• Address performance, scalability, security, reliability, and incident response


• Partner with product managers and designers on UX, interaction design, and execution


• Participate in prototyping, testing, rollout, and ongoing support


• Provide technical leadership through design discussions, code reviews, and mentorship


• Work from the New York City or San Francisco office in person four days per week; Wednesdays are work from home

Requirements

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, or equivalent technical experience


• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience or equivalent practical experience


• Strong backend experience with Kotlin, Python, Go, Rust, or Scala; willingness to ramp up on Kira’s stack (Kotlin, Python)


• Ability to own technical decisions and execute with minimal guidance in ambiguous environments


• Hands-on experience operating production systems and cloud infrastructure, ideally AWS


• Experience designing APIs, working with relational databases such as MySQL, and shipping complex systems


• 2+ years experience mentoring and/or managing junior and mid-level engineers


• Familiarity with automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and reliable deployment practices


• Clear written and verbal communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences


• Comfort operating in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment with changing priorities


• Positive, can-do attitude


• Impeccable attention to detail


• Legally authorized to work in the U.S.


• Extensive frontend experience with React and TypeScript preferred


• Experience integrating LLM-backed services preferred

Core Competencies

Demonstrates expertise in backend software engineering with a focus on Kotlin and Python, alongside strong capabilities in API design, cloud infrastructure management, and technical leadership. Proven ability to mentor engineers and drive technical decisions in dynamic environments.

Highest-signal resume keywords

• Backend Experience With Kotlin


• API Design


• Cloud Infrastructure Management (AWS)


• Technical Leadership


• Mentoring Junior Engineers

ATS Optimization Keywords

Hard Skills

• Kotlin


• Python


• Go


• Rust


• Scala


• API Design


• Relational Databases (MySQL)


• Automated Testing


• CI/CD Pipelines


• Frontend Experience With React

Soft Skills

• Clear Communication Skills


• Positive Attitude


• Attention To Detail

Certifications & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree In Computer Science


• Master’s Degree In Computer Science

Industry Keywords

• Production Systems


• Fast-Paced Startup Environment


• Technical Direction


• UX Design


• Mentorship

Tools & Technologies

• Cloud Infrastructure (AWS)


• Developer Tooling


• Incident Response