Founding Senior Backend Engineer (Node.js, AI-Native)

About the Role

Unico Connect is an AI-first technology partner that builds custom mobile, web, and AI products for clients across multiple geographies. We are hiring a Backend Engineer for a dedicated client engagement building an AI-powered application builder platform.

The backend is the operational core of the product: it manages user projects and sessions, coordinates long-running AI agent workloads, maintains project state, and serves as the integration layer between the frontend, the AI system, and the underlying infrastructure.

The mandatory requirement is hands-on production experience shipping Node.js services, with end-to-end ownership of API design, data modelling, and at least one production system involving background job processing or event-driven patterns.

Responsibilities

API and service development: Design and build REST APIs in Node.js with TypeScript. Cover authentication, session management, input validation, structured error handling, streaming responses (SSE, WebSockets), and rate limiting. Maintain clean API contracts that the frontend and AI system can rely on.

Database design and management: Own PostgreSQL schema design for product domains including user accounts, projects, file trees, session state, and generated artefacts. Write efficient queries, manage migrations, and optimise for read patterns that serve a real-time editor experience.

Caching strategy: Implement and maintain caching with Redis for session data, project state, and frequently read configuration. Design cache invalidation logic that keeps the editor experience consistent without stale reads.

Queue and background job management: Implement and operate background job infrastructure using BullMQ or equivalent. AI agent runs are long-running and stateful; handle retries, failure states, priority queues, and concurrency limits.

AI system integration: Build the integration layer between the backend and the AI agent system. Manage job dispatch, result handling, streaming output to the frontend, and error propagation.

Multi-tenancy and access control: Implement tenant data isolation, RBAC, and resource ownership enforcement across all API surfaces.

Observability and reliability: Instrument services with structured logging, metrics, and tracing. Write defensive code with sensible timeouts, fallback behaviour, and circuit breaking on external dependencies.

Testing and code quality: Write unit and integration tests for the services you ship. Review the work of peers and contribute to shared engineering conventions.

Requirements

• Hands-on production Node.js experience (mandatory) — must have personally shipped at least one feature area end to end in a production Node.js service, owning API design, data modelling, and testing.

• 3 to 5 years of professional backend engineering experience. Candidates with slightly less time but strong demonstrated ownership are welcome to apply.

• Strong Node.js and TypeScript. Production experience with Express, NestJS, or Fastify. Solid with async patterns, streaming, error handling, and building services that run reliably under sustained load.

• PostgreSQL depth. Schema design, query writing, indexing, and migrations on at least one production system.

• Redis and caching. Production experience using Redis for caching and session management. Understands cache invalidation trade-offs.

• Queue and background job systems. Hands-on with BullMQ, RabbitMQ, SQS, or equivalent. Experience managing retries, dead-letter queues, job priority, and concurrency control.

• AWS working knowledge. Comfortable with EC2, S3, RDS, SQS, and IAM. Familiar with Docker and basic deployment and environment management.

• Strong written and spoken English. Able to communicate clearly with engineers across disciplines and write precise technical documentation.

Nice to Have

Experience integrating with AI or LLM services (streaming responses, structured outputs, retry patterns); WebSocket or SSE implementation for real-time features; multi-tenant SaaS product experience; GraphQL; OpenTelemetry instrumentation; prior work on developer tools or editor-style products.

About VerbaFlo.ai

VerbaFlo.ai is a fast-growing AI SaaS startup revolutionizing how businesses leverage AI-powered solutions. As a part of our dynamic team, you’ll work alongside industry leaders and visionaries to drive innovation and execution across multiple functions.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to design and develop user-friendly, scalable, and high-performance web applications. This role requires deep expertise in backend technologies, attention to detail, and the ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend systems, APIs, and data pipelines.
• Collaborate closely with frontend engineers, product managers, and AI teams to deliver cohesive features and seamless user experiences.
• Ensure the reliability, security, and performance of backend systems.
• Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code using modern backend practices.
• Implement automated testing, CI/CD workflows, and infrastructure as code (where applicable).
• Own the end-to-end lifecycle of backend features, from architecture to deployment.
• Monitor production systems and resolve performance and scalability issues.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and help evolve our engineering best practices.

Requirements

• 4–6 years of experience in backend development in startups, preferably in SaaS or AI-driven products.
• Proficiency in Node.js, Python, or Go
• Deep understanding of RESTful API design.
• Strong experience with databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, ElasticSearch.
• Exposure to message queues, job schedulers, or event-driven architectures (e.g., SQS, Celery, etc).
• Familiarity with cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, or Azure and containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with Git, CI/CD tools, and writing unit/integration tests.
• Strong problem-solving skills and a mindset geared toward performance and security.
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.

Why Join Us?

• Work directly with top leadership in a high-impact role.
• Be part of an innovative and fast-growing AI startup.
• Opportunity to take ownership of key projects and drive efficiency.
• A collaborative, ambitious, and fast-paced work environment.
• Perks & Benefits: gym membership benefit, workation policy, and company-sponsored lunch.

If you’re looking for an exciting role that combines strategy, execution, and leadership exposure, we’d love to hear from you!

Role Description

Software Engineer is a full-time role based in Hyderabad with Onsite work arrangement. This role involves designing, developing, and maintaining back-end services and APIs, ensuring high performance, scalability, and security across platforms. The engineer will participate in architecture discussions, code reviews, and technical decision-making, collaborating closely with product owners, QA, and cross-functional teams. Daily responsibilities include writing clean, maintainable code, troubleshooting complex issues, improving system performance, and contributing to best practices, documentation, and engineering standards. The role also includes mentoring less experienced engineers and supporting continuous improvement in development processes and tooling.

Key Requirements/Skills

4-7 years of overall experience in software development with strong expertise in building scalable web & mobile applications.

• Strong technical decision-making ability, including architecture design, technology selection and implementation of best practices.
• Front-end expertise: Strong experience in React, JavaScript, TypeScript, NextJS and building responsive and user-friendly UI/UX.
• Back-end development: Hands-on experience with Node.js, Express JS, Nest JS, RESTful APIs, API design, and server-side architecture.
• Databases : Good Hands on Exprience in both SQL(PostgreSQL Preferred) & No SQL Databases
• Gen AI Expertise: Experience in building RAG & LLM Systems, implementing AI/ML models and integrating AI-based solutions to solve business problems. Expereince with Langchain, langgraph and Vector DBs, Voice AI(STT, TTS) Models and experience in using Open AI Tools (Calude, Cursor, etc.)
• Cloud & DevOps exposure: Experience with AWS/Azure, understanding of CI/CD pipelines, and cloud-based deployments.
• Code quality & best practices: Experience in code reviews, Git version control, and ensuring maintainable and secure code.
• Team leadership: Ability to mentor developers, guide technical discussions, and collaborate across teams.
• Strong communication skills to effectively interact with technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Experience working in high-compliance environments such as healthcare systems is a plus.
• Certifications in AWS & Other skills and technologies will be an added advantage.

Educational Qualification

• B.Tech / M.Tech in CSE/IT/AI&ML only from a recognized university/college. 

About the Organisation

DataFlow Group is a pioneering global provider of specialized Primary Source Verification (PSV) solutions, and background screening and immigration compliance services that assist public and private organizations in mitigating risks to make informed, cost-effective decisions regarding their Applicants and Registrants.

DataFlow with its best practices in this field such as a high level of data security, cutting-edge technology, rigorous processes, qualified research analysts, and a global network of over 100,000 issuing authorities, verifies professionals credentials from the primary issuer of the document - regardless of its nature.The company complements its advanced verification processes and long-standing industry expertise by adhering to the highest regulatory standards, including the Joint Commission International (JCI), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

About the Role:

We are looking for a Backend Architect / Lead who lives and breathes code. This isn't a role for someone who wants to delegate; it’s for a technical heavyweight who wants to own core product development, define backend architecture patterns, and build scalable, secure, and resilient systems from the ground up. You will join a fast-paced environment where we ship high-quality code under tight timelines. You’ll be expected to take full ownership of our server-side ecosystem, database design, and API layer, ensuring high availability, bulletproof operational excellence, and top-tier performance.

Duties and Responsibilities:

● Architect & Build: Design and implement complex, scalable microservices and monolithic architectures using Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB (MERN backend stack).

● Heavyweight Coding: Spend the majority of your time writing high-quality, production-ready backend code. You should be comfortable solving complex systems problems using efficient Data Structures, Algorithms, and clean architecture principles.

● Performance & Data Engineering: Own database optimization, query performance, indexing strategies, caching layers (Redis), and system throughput to ensure low-latency API response times.

● Technical Leadership: Establish and enforce industry best practices for REST/GraphQL API design, security standards, code reviews, and automated CI/CD pipelines.

● End-to-End Ownership: Participate in the full SDLC—from initial ideation and system design to deployment, infrastructure setup, and production monitoring on AWS

Qualifications:

● The Deep Diver: You have spearheaded at least one large-scale, complex backend project or system redesign. You can explain every architectural decision, trade-off, database schema choice, and line of code in a deep-dive technical discussion.

● Experience: You have at least 8 years of professional software development experience, with a significant focus on high-traffic, distributed backend systems.

● Tech Stack Mastery: Expert-level proficiency in Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB (Mongoose/Aggregation framework), and TypeScript. Strong hands-on experience with AWS (EC2, S3, ECS/Lambda, CloudWatch) and containerization (Docker).

● Architectural Fluency: A solid understanding of modern backend patterns (Microservices, Event-Driven Architecture, Pub/Sub, Caching strategies, Message Queues like RabbitMQ/Kafka, State Management, and Authentication/Authorization protocols).

● Optimization Expert: Proven experience in tuning database performance, scaling server instances, managing connection pools, and debugging memory leaks or high CPU usage under heavy load.

● Grit & Speed: You thrive in high-pressure environments and enjoy the challenge of meeting tight deadlines without compromising on quality or system reliability.

Why This Role Matters

Our backend is what keeps checkout, RTO, and payments fast and reliable at ~$2B GMV across 15,000+ merchants. As an SDE 2 you own services end to end, make the architecture calls that keep them performant, and set the technical bar for the engineers around you. The trade-offs you pick show up directly in merchant conversions and platform reliability - this is a builder's seat with real ownership.

What You'll Own

• Design and build backend services primarily in Node.js/NestJS, with Go for select services, backed by Postgres, Mongo, and Redis.
• Own event-driven flows on Kafka - throughput, ordering, and failure handling.
• Make and document the architecture and trade-off decisions for systems you lead.
• Ship features end to end, dropping into the frontend (React/Svelte) when it's the fastest path.
• Strengthen CI/CD, observability, and deployments on AWS.
• Review code, mentor SDE 1s and AEs, and raise the quality bar on the team.
• Take ambiguous problems and drive them to delivery with minimal hand-holding.

Who You Are

• Strong backend engineer in JavaScript/TypeScript on Node.js/NestJS (our primary stack); working knowledge of Go, or ready to pick it up.
• Solid at data modelling across Postgres and Mongo, and knows when Redis earns its place.
• Has built and scaled event-driven systems (Kafka or equivalent).
• At home on the backend but happy to work across the stack in React/Svelte.
• Thinks in systems - scalability, reliability, maintainability - not just features.
• Has mentored engineers and owns code quality and delivery, not just their own tickets.
• Communicates clearly and does well with ambiguity in a fast-moving team.

Total Experience: 4+ years

Mode of Hire: Permanent

Required Skills Set (Mandatory): HTML, JavaScript, Node.js, Express.js, MongoDB, React/Next.js, AI Integration (LLMs/APIs - OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini)

Desired Skills (Good if you have): Cloud Platforms (AWS), System Design, Application Security

What is the role all about?

We're hiring full-stack engineers who build with AI, not the traditional way. You should be fluent in modern web engineering, primarily Node.js, and just as fluent in using LLMs and AI tools (Cursor, Claude Code, and similar) to ship fast. Work that once took a month should take a week; what took a week should take a day.

The role spans a range, from architecting backends for non-trivial products like assistants and agents, to rapidly turning a requirement into a clean, customer-facing app or MVP. Be strong in at least one area, be comfortable across the system as a whole, and tell us where you're strongest so we can place you accordingly.

What will you do?

• Plan, build, and ship product features end-to-end, with AI embedded where it has the most impact.
• Integrate LLMs and AI APIs into production-grade applications.
• Use AI tools to prototype, build, and deliver at high speed without sacrificing quality.
• Design scalable APIs and data models with Node.js, Express.js, and MongoDB.
• Build responsive, performant, customer-facing interfaces with React/Next.js.
• Contribute to design discussions, code reviews, and architectural decisions.

What are we looking for?

AI leverage: 

• You've shipped real things using LLMs or AI APIs and instinctively reach for AI to move faster. 
• Comfortable with prompt engineering and judging AI output for production-readiness.

Engineering depth and delivery:

• Solid fundamentals: problem-solving, data structures, and how systems fit together. 
• At least 2+ years across frontend (React/Next.js), APIs (Node.js/Express.js), and databases (MongoDB). 
• You write clean, production-grade code and you ship.
• Knowledge of application security or ethical hacking is an advantage.

Culture

• Work with performance-oriented teams driven by ownership and passion.
• Learn to design systems for high accuracy, efficiency, and scalability.
• No strict deadlines, focus on delivering quality work.
• Meritocracy-driven, candid culture. No politics.
• Very high visibility regarding which startups and markets are exciting globally.

About Tracxn

Tracxn (Tracxn.com) is a Bangalore-based product company that provides a research and deal-sourcing platform for Venture Capital, Private Equity, Corp Dev, and professionals in the startup ecosystem.

We are a team of 800+ working professionals serving customers across the globe. Our clients include Funds such as Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, and GGV Capital, as well as Large Corporates such as Citi, Embraer & Ferrero.

Founders

• Neha Singh (ex-Sequoia, BCG | MBA - Stanford GSB)
• Abhishek Goyal (ex-Accel Partners, Amazon | BTech - IIT Kanpur)

About Technology Team

Tracxn's Technology team is 50+ members strong and growing. The technology team is subdivided into multiple smaller teams, each of which owns one or more services/components of the technology platform. Ours is a young team of motivated engineers with a minimal management structure, in which almost everyone is actively involved in technical development and design. We have a team-centric culture where ownership and responsibility for a feature or module lie with a team rather than an individual.

We work on an array of technologies, including but not limited to ReactJS, Next.js, Storybook, Webpack, Node, Mongo, AWS Lambda, Spring, Elastic Stack, MySQL, Kafka, Redis, Ansible, etc.

We value ownership, continuous learning, consistency, and discipline as a team.

Senior Software Engineer I (Backend, Enterprise SaaS - AP) Role summary

•Senior individual contributor owning backend services for a large-scale enterprise SaaS platform (Kanban-style work management and flow).

•Designs and ships features end-to-end, collaborating closely with frontend, product, and QA.

What you’ll do

•Design, implement, and maintain Node.js (TypeScript/JavaScript) backend services and APIs.

•Model and evolve core domain entities (boards, lanes, work items, WIP rules, permissions, cross-team connections).

•Build secure, multi-tenant REST/JSON APIs consumed by web frontends and other internal services.

•Implement business logic for work-flow, metrics, and cross-team visibility.

•Improve performance, reliability, and observability of existing services.

•Integrate backend services with data storage and analytics layers via well-designed interfaces.

•Write and maintain automated tests (unit, integration, contract) and participate in code reviews.

•Partner with product to refine requirements and break work into incremental, shippable slices.

Tech stack

•Node.js, TypeScript/JavaScript

•REST/JSON APIs (GraphQL familiarity a plus)

•Relational/NoSQL data stores

•CI/CD, logging, metrics, and alerting tools

Experience & qualifications

•~6–9 years of backend engineering experience building web or SaaS products.

•Strong Node.js skills and experience designing clean API boundaries.

•Solid understanding of data structures, algorithms, and distributed system basics.

•Experience in agile teams; comfortable collaborating across time zones.

Nice to have

•Experience with Kanban/Agile tools or other developer/productivity SaaS products.

•Experience using AI-assisted coding tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code) in day-to-day development.

•Hands-on experience with React or close collaboration with React frontend teams.

Backend Developers

• Contract To Hire (Initial Engagement: 6 months)

Experience: 5+ years

Mandatory Skills:

● Node.js

● Python

● MongoDB

● PostgreSQL

● REST API design and development

● Backend architecture and service design

● Database design, indexing and query optimisation

● Performance tuning

● Authentication/authorisation

● Third-party integrations

● Asynchronous processing and background jobs

● Logging, monitoring and debugging

● Git and collaborative development

● Scalable, maintainable and testable backend services

● Architecture discussions, code reviews, debugging and production support

Good to have:

● Microservices

● Docker

● Cloud platforms

● Redis

● Message queues

● CI/CD

● Observability

About the client

The client is building a suite of SaaS products for websites—products with clear product-market fit, strong customer pull, and the potential to become $100M+ businesses.

As they grow, they need engineers who go beyond feature delivery. They are looking for backend developers who want to build enduring systems, make practical decisions, and help us ship great products with high velocity.

What You’ll Do

• Work with product, design, and support teams to turn real customer problems into thoughtful, scalable solutions.
• Design and build robust backend systems, services, and APIs that prioritize long-term maintainability and performance.
• Use AI-assisted tooling (where appropriate) to explore solution trees, accelerate development, and reduce toil.
• Improve velocity across the team by building reusable tools, abstractions, and internal workflows—not just shipping isolated features.
• Dig into problems deeply—whether it's debugging a performance issue, streamlining a process, or questioning a product assumption.
• Document your decisions clearly and communicate trade-offs with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

What Makes You a Strong Fit

• You’ve built and maintained real-world software systems, ideally at meaningful scale or complexity.
• You think in systems and second-order effects—not just in ticket-by-ticket outputs.
• You prefer well-reasoned defaults over overengineering.
• You take ownership—not just of code, but of the outcomes it enables.
• You work cleanly, write clear code, and make life easier for those who come after you.
• You’re curious about the why, not just the what—and you’re comfortable contributing to product discussions

Bonus if You Have Experience With

• Building tools or workflows that accelerate other developers.
• Working with AI coding tools and integrating them meaningfully into your workflow.
• Building for SaaS products, especially those with large user bases or self-serve motions.
• Working in small, fast-moving product teams with a high bar for ownership.

How’s the team?

• Open and flat hierarchy
• High-agency work with a get-stuff-done attitude
• Teams that focus on creating wins - for the org, the team and yourself - all fuelled by mentorship and empowerment

Our Culture

Some values we’ve lived by over these last 14 years:

We think like inventors.

>Invent the answer you wish existed. If it already exists, ask how it could exist better.<

We build for the love of it. And we build the best.

We don’t just copy and paste. We start from first principles—frame the problem, question the default, ship, improve, repeat—until it’s world-class.

Every version and experiment is a chance to push past our comfort zone and hone our craft. It isn’t easy—it takes patience and persistence—but it ends in work we’re proud of.

Ownership builds a rocket ship.

>It’s not the hours you put in your work that count; it’s the work you put in the hours.<

We’re here to build the business. When we see a problem, we own it end‑to‑end. We pull in the right people, ask for help early, track just enough to finish, and close the loop. We focus on what moves the needle, cut low‑impact work, and push hard when it counts—then recover.

That focus builds subject mastery. It helps get in the flow. It fuels passion and can spark healthy friction—and that’s all part of the game. We make a fuss when it matters, and once a call is made, we commit to it fully—whether we all agree or disagree.

Step up to stand tall.

>Greatness is a moving target.<

Chase excellence in your craft and take on bigger problems. Grow into a full-stack problem-solver and leader—whatever your domain. Improve with intent, work with people who push you, and never get too comfortable. That’s how we level up.

Benefits

• Relocation benefits - we’ll book your domestic travel if you are not in Bangalore and help you with 2 weeks of accommodation
• Homemade lunch at the office and a pantry with snacks, fresh coffee & tea
• All the IT essentials and tools you’ll need to be successful in your role, everyone at the office gets an external monitor, ergonomic seating and a mechanical keyboard
• Frequent outings, company-sponsored outdoor events, celebrations for milestones, trips for the entire team and sponsorships to participate at international company events at exotic destinations
• Profit-sharing bonuses based on company growth, tenure and performance
• Paid time off - maternity, paternity, and marriage leave
• Insurance for the whole family

Role Summary 

We are seeking a Senior Software Developer with strong backend engineering experience and an AI-first, automation-focused mindset. The ideal candidate is proficient in JavaScript, Node.js, TypeScript, APIs, and AWS, with experience building scalable integrations and working in microservices environments. 

The role will also contribute to the adoption of AI-assisted and agentic development practices, including working with Model Context Protocol (MCP), AI agents, reusable skills/tools, and automation to improve engineering productivity. 

We are looking for someone who can work independently, challenge existing approaches, identify opportunities for automation, and drive solutions with minimal supervision. 

Key Responsibilities 

• Design, develop, test, and maintain backend services using JavaScript, Node.js, TypeScript, and XML. 
• Build scalable integrations using REST/JSON APIs and microservice-based architectures. 
• Develop and support services in an AWS cloud environment. 
• Use AI-assisted development tools to improve coding, debugging, testing, documentation, analysis, and code review. 
• Design and integrate MCP servers/tools to enable AI agents to securely interact with applications, APIs, data, and engineering systems. 
• Build or contribute to reusable AI agents, skills, prompts, tools, and automated engineering workflows. 
• Identify repetitive development and support activities that can be simplified or automated using AI or traditional automation. 
• Perform code reviews and ensure adherence to engineering, security, and coding standards. 
• Troubleshoot complex defects and production issues and perform structured root-cause analysis. 
• Collaborate with QA, Product, Business Analysis, and Architecture teams to deliver high-quality solutions. 
• Contribute to technical documentation, reusable solutions, and engineering knowledge sharing. 

Required Skills & Experience 

• Strong experience with Node.js, JavaScript, and TypeScript. 
• Strong experience designing and integrating REST APIs and JSON-based services. 
• Experience working with XML, including parsing, validation, and transformations. 
• Experience developing solutions in AWS and microservices environments. 
• Strong debugging, troubleshooting, and production-support skills. 
• Experience with AI-assisted software development tools such as Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Devin, or similar tools. 
• Understanding of LLMs, AI agents, tool calling, and agentic workflows. 
• Experience working with or building Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and integrations. 
• Understanding of secure API/tool integration, authentication, permissions, and data handling when exposing capabilities to AI agents. 
• Ability to identify practical opportunities for AI, automation, and reusable engineering tooling. 
• Experience with CI/CD, Git-based development, and modern software engineering practices. 
• Experience performing code reviews and mentoring other developers. 
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, written, and verbal communication skills. 

Preferred Skills 

• Experience building AI-enabled developer tools, agents, or internal engineering platforms. 
• Experience with prompt engineering, structured outputs, RAG, embeddings, or LLM APIs. 
• Experience integrating engineering systems such as GitLab, Jira, CI/CD pipelines, APIs, databases, or observability platforms with AI agents. 
• Experience creating reusable MCP tools or agent workflows used by multiple developers. 
• Airline, travel, Offer/Order, reservation systems, or GDS experience is a plus. 

Mindset We Are Looking For 

We are looking for developers who think beyond implementing the immediate requirement and consistently ask: 

• Can AI or automation make this development process faster or more reliable? 
• Can this capability be built as a reusable tool, skill, agent, or MCP integration? 
• Can repetitive analysis, debugging, testing, or documentation be automated? 
• Can an existing solution be simplified or made more scalable? 
• How can AI be used responsibly without compromising security, quality, or maintainability? 

The goal is to build an engineering organization where developers use AI and automation as part of their everyday engineering workflow, while continuing to maintain strong software engineering fundamentals.