Staff Backend Engineer, Data Platform

About the role

This is a Staff Backend Engineer (Data Platform) opportunity with a digital olfaction company whose mission is to give computers a sense of smell. The role is a senior backend hire to strengthen a team that is currently junior. It is backend-focused with a data component, centred on robustness and reliability rather than raw scale. You’ll own backend systems through the API layer, including the complexity beneath the contract, and take on monitoring and on-call responsibility. You’ll build for failure by handling long-running requests and calls to external systems with real recovery paths, lay foundations for future scale without premature optimisation, and do user-oriented data work as a backend engineer. You’ll also bring structured problem solving, scope the first chunk of large ambiguous problems before coding, and mentor the team. The ideal candidate will have 6 to 15 years of experience at staff level, with real ownership of system and workflow design and of production systems, including on-call. Python and SQL are the baseline, with TypeScript, Go or Scala a plus. The posting lists the company’s locations as Elizabeth, New Jersey and Somerville, Massachusetts, and asks for candidates based in the New York and New Jersey area. The role suits an engineer who enjoys raising the bar of a young team. We're looking for someone curious, pragmatic, and eager to work across the stack with a small senior team. You'll own end-to-end delivery of major features, influence architecture, and mentor engineers.

What you'll do

• Ship customer-facing features on a weekly cadence.
• Partner with design and product on scoping and trade-offs.
• Drive technical quality through review, testing, and docs.
• Mentor one or two engineers on your team.

Requirements