Senior Core Backend Engineer

About the Role

We are a newly funded, seed-stage, AI-native startup building the next generation of digital experiences around collectibles and trading cards. Founded by experienced entrepreneurs with a proven history of scaling high-growth companies—including a gaming unicorn—we are assembling our founding engineering team.

This team will define not only the product, but also the culture, technical standards, and long-term architecture of the company. We are looking for engineers who are comfortable operating with ambiguity, take full ownership of outcomes, and enjoy building from zero to one.

What You’ll Do

Core Backend Development

• Design and build core backend services, including APIs, data pipelines, and distributed systems

• Own critical product flows and ensure scalability, reliability, and performance from day one

Architecture & Systems Design

• Define system architecture, storage strategies, and operational patterns

• Make foundational decisions around data modeling, service boundaries, and long-term scalability

Infrastructure & DevOps Ownership

• Own cloud infrastructure (AWS or equivalent), including networking, environments, scaling, and security

• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, deployment workflows, observability, and Infrastructure as Code

• Ensure production readiness, monitoring, and incident resilience

Technical Leadership

• Drive technical decision-making and influence product direction from the earliest stages

• Partner closely with founders and product leaders to translate ideas into scalable systems

Requirements

• 4+ years of experience building and operating production-grade backend systems

• Strong hands-on experience with AWS or a comparable cloud platform

• Deep understanding of distributed systems, REST APIs, event-driven architectures, and data modeling

• Comfortable owning CI/CD, Docker-based workflows, Kubernetes, environment management, and monitoring

• Language-agnostic engineer with strong fundamentals (experience with Go is a major plus)

• Self-directed, fast learner who thrives in early-stage environments with minimal process and high ownership

• Bias toward execution: you move quickly, iterate often, and take responsibility for outcomes

Why work with us

• High Ownership: Minimal bureaucracy and maximum trust

• Founding Impact: Shape the codebase, systems, and engineering culture from scratch

• Direct Access: Work closely with founders and product leadership

• Fast Execution: No silos, no politics, no unnecessary process

• Compensation: Competitive salary with meaningful equity upside