Principal Backend Engineer

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.

We are building HypeMuse, an event-based photo and GIF discovery platform for sports games, concerts, and live events.

Our current backend is built with Laravel/PHP, and we are planning to rebuild the backend using Node.js. We are looking for a strong backend engineer who can help migrate the existing Laravel system into a scalable Node.js architecture while keeping the current product logic stable.

Responsibilities:

- Analyze the existing Laravel backend structure, database schema, APIs, and admin workflows.

- Rebuild core backend services using Node.js, preferably TypeScript with NestJS or Express.

- Design clean REST APIs for the mobile app, admin panel, media upload, user accounts, events, venues, and recommendation feed.

- Integrate with existing services including MySQL/PostgreSQL, Redis, object storage, and the recommendation service.

- Support event-based recommendation logic for photos and GIFs, including event ID, venue location, match phase, audience type, media quality, freshness, and popularity.

- Build background jobs for media processing, metadata sync, recommendation data sync, and interaction tracking.

- Set up Docker-based deployment and production-ready environment configuration.

- Improve backend performance, security, logging, monitoring, and maintainability.

- Work closely with the founder/product owner to turn the current Laravel backend into a scalable Node.js backend.

Requirements:

- Strong experience with Node.js backend development.

- Good knowledge of TypeScript, NestJS or Express.js.

- Experience working with Laravel/PHP projects and backend migration is highly preferred.

- Strong understanding of REST API design, authentication, database modeling, and queue-based systems.

- Experience with MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, and Linux server deployment.

- Ability to read an existing codebase and migrate features without breaking current product behavior.

- Experience with media platforms, recommendation systems, feeds, image/video processing, or event-based products is a plus.

Nice to have:

- Experience with Qdrant, Faiss, vector search, recommendation systems, or AI-powered media tagging.

- Experience with cloud storage, CDN, image optimization, and large-scale media upload.

- Experience with sports, concert, creator, or community platforms.

This role is suitable for someone who can work independently, communicate clearly, and help us move from a Laravel MVP backend to a more scalable Node.js backend architecture.

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.

Senior Backend Engineer

Node.js, System Design & Production Platforms

📍 Mumbai (On-site) | Full-time | 5+ years

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 Senior Backend Engineer to own the backend architecture of a complex production AI platform on a dedicated client engagement: API design and data modelling, multi-tenancy, orchestration of long-running agent workloads, and the services that manage user projects and generated output.

We are open to full stack engineers whose primary strength and interest is backend. If you have shipped full stack work but the backend is where you do your deepest engineering, you are a fit for this role.

The mandatory requirement for this role is hands-on production experience as a senior backend engineer building complex, scalable systems in Node.js, with end-to-end ownership of architecture, data, and operations on at least one live platform.

The role is hands-on and architectural.

Expect to design system architecture, lead a small group of backend engineers, build the hardest parts yourself, set engineering standards, and partner closely with frontend, AI, and DevOps engineers.

A typical week includes an architecture decision on a new service, hands-on implementation of a critical path, a code review with mid-level engineers, and a working session with the AI engineer on an integration contract.

Responsibilities:

System Architecture

Own the backend architecture across engagements.

Make and document decisions on service boundaries, data models, API contracts, deployment topology, and trade-offs.

Hands-on Backend Delivery

Lead by example on complex modules, performance-critical paths, and high-risk areas using Node.js (Express, NestJS, Fastify) with TypeScript.

Pick up Python (FastAPI) where engagements require it.

Database Design and Performance

Drive PostgreSQL schema design, indexing, query optimisation, migrations, and capacity planning.

Set the data-modelling standard across the pod.

Caching, Queues, and Workflows

Design caching (Redis), event-driven patterns (Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS, NATS), and long-running workflow orchestration (Temporal, BullMQ, Celery, or equivalent).

Handle retries, idempotency, and failure recovery.

Multi-Tenancy and Platform Patterns

Design and implement multi-tenant data isolation, RBAC, audit logging, and resource quotas appropriate to enterprise-grade products.

API and Integration Design

Set the standard for REST, GraphQL, and gRPC contracts.

Drive versioning, authentication (OAuth, JWT, SSO), security by default, and developer ergonomics.

Observability and Operations

Instrument services with OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, and Grafana.

Define SLOs, lead incident response, and write postmortems.

Code Quality and Mentorship

Run code reviews, define conventions, mentor mid-level engineers, and raise the engineering bar.

AI-Assisted Engineering Discipline

Use Claude, Cursor, and similar tools day to day.

Set the team standard for prompts, patterns, AI-assisted review, and validation of AI-generated backend code.

Client Engagement

Represent Unico Connect in technical conversations with customers.

Defend architectural decisions, communicate trade-offs, and manage scope.

Requirements:

Hands-on Production Experience as a Senior or Lead Backend Engineer in Node.js (Mandatory)

Must have personally built and shipped complex production systems in Node.js, owning architecture, data, and operations on at least one live engagement.

Full stack engineers whose deepest work is on the backend qualify.

POCs and internal tools alone do not qualify.

5+ Years of Professional Backend Engineering Experience

With at least 1 to 2 years in a senior or lead role with direct responsibility for technical decisions and team output.

Deep Node.js and TypeScript Proficiency

Strong with Express, NestJS, or Fastify.

Comfort with async patterns, streams, worker threads, and performance profiling.

Python as a Strong Plus

Hands-on production experience with FastAPI, Django, or Flask is a meaningful advantage.

Willingness and demonstrated ability to pick up Python as engagements demand is required.

PostgreSQL Depth

Schema design, normalisation, indexing, query performance, migrations, and at least one production system where you owned the data model end to end.

Caching and Event-Driven Architecture

Hands-on with Redis (or equivalent) and message queues or event-driven patterns (RabbitMQ, SQS, Kafka, NATS).

AWS Depth

Hands-on production experience with EC2, S3, RDS, IAM, VPC, ECR, and at least one of EKS, ECS, or Lambda.

Comfort owning deployment, monitoring, and cost.

System Design and End-to-End Ownership

Able to take an ambiguous problem, break it into components, evaluate alternatives, produce an architecture that holds up under review and load, plan execution, and ship with limited supervision.

AI-Assisted Engineering Experience

Daily use of Claude, Cursor, Copilot, or equivalent.

Strong discipline for reviewing and validating AI-generated backend code.

Excellent Written and Spoken English

Experience working directly with international clients.

Confident defending architectural choices in writing and in review.

Nice to Have:

• Workflow orchestration (Temporal, Airflow)
• GraphQL (Apollo, gRPC)
• Sandboxed execution environments
• Multi-tenant SaaS experience
• OpenTelemetry instrumentation
• Prior agency or consulting experience

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!

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

Required Experience: 10–15 years (with at least 3–5 years in leadership roles)

● 10–15 years of overall experience in backend engineering, with strong exposure to

Python and/or Golang.

● 3–5 years of experience managing engineering teams.

● Proven experience delivering large-scale, distributed systems in production

environments.

● Strong understanding of microservices, cloud-native architecture, and DevOps

practices.

● Hands-on background in backend engineering (able to guide teams technically, even

if not coding daily).

● Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, observability, and performance optimization.

● Experience in financial services or high-transaction domains is a plus.

● Experience leading teams that have utilized AI-driven development practices (e.g.,

agentic coding, LLM integration) to improve productivity and innovation is a

significant advantage.

Skills

● Excellent leadership and people management abilities.

● Strong communication and stakeholder management skills.

● Ability to balance technical depth with business priorities.

● Problem-solving mindset with a focus on delivery and impact.

● Passion for building engineering culture and improving developer experience.

Most sales tools help you send emails. We’re building something different.

At Salesforge, we’re creating autonomous AI agents that can:

Find the right prospects

Generate highly personalized outreach

Run conversations

And book meetings

All without human involvement.

Why this is interesting

A lot of AI products stop at “generate text.” We’re focused on outcomes.

That means solving problems like:

How do you generate messages that actually get replies?

How do you evaluate and improve agent performance over time?

How do you orchestrate millions of AI-driven interactions reliably?

How do you combine structured data + LLMs in a way that scales?

If you enjoy working at the intersection of systems + AI + real-world feedback loops, this will feel like a playground.

What you’ll be working on

You won’t be maintaining legacy systems.

You’ll be:

Designing and building core backend systems that power our AI agents

Creating APIs and services that handle high-scale, real-time workflows

Working with queues (Kafka / SQS / RabbitMQ) to orchestrate async systems

Thinking deeply about performance, cost, and reliability in AI pipelines

Shipping features end-to-end with a small, senior team

The team

We’re a small group of experienced builders. We move quickly, care about quality, and avoid unnecessary process.

No layers of management.

No long planning cycles.

Lots of ownership and autonomy.

What we’re looking for

5+ years of backend engineering experience

Strong system design fundamentals

Experience with distributed systems and async processing

Familiarity with relational and/or document databases

Clear communicator, low ego, high ownership

Why join

You’ll work on a product where the output is measurable (meetings booked, revenue generated)

You’ll have real ownership from day one

You’ll be early in building a new category (AI sales agents)

You’ll grow as fast as we do

Job Overview

Architect and build scalable, high-performance backend systems while working on mission-critical platforms that process real-time market data and portfolio analytics. The role also involves leveraging Generative AI capabilities to enhance data intelligence, automation, and user-facing features, while ensuring regulatory compliance and secure financial transactions.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable backend services and APIs using NodeJS and Python
• Build event-driven architectures using RabbitMQ and Kafka for real-time data processing
• Develop and manage data pipelines integrating PostgreSQL and BigQuery for analytics and warehousing
• Integrate and deploy Generative AI models (LLMs, embeddings, AI APIs) into backend systems for automation, insights, and intelligent workflows
• Design AI-powered features such as recommendation systems, document processing, or conversational interfaces
• Ensure system reliability, security, and low-latency performance for mission-critical systems
• Lead technical design discussions, conduct code reviews, and mentor junior engineers
• Optimize database queries, implement caching strategies, and improve overall system performance
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver end-to-end product features
• Implement monitoring, logging, and observability solutions

Required Skills and Qualifications

• 2+ years of professional backend development experience
• Strong expertise in NodeJS and Python for production-grade applications
• Proven experience building RESTful APIs and microservices architectures
• Experience working with Generative AI frameworks/APIs (OpenAI, LangChain, vector databases, prompt engineering)
• Understanding of integrating LLMs into production systems (RAG, embeddings, fine-tuning basics)
• Strong proficiency in PostgreSQL, including query optimization and schema design
• Hands-on experience with RabbitMQ and Kafka
• Experience with BigQuery or similar data warehousing solutions
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, scalability patterns, and high-traffic applications
• Strong knowledge of authentication, authorization, and security best practices
• Experience with Git, CI/CD pipelines, and modern development workflows
• Excellent problem-solving and debugging skills
• Exposure to fintech or financial services, cloud platforms (GCP/AWS/Azure), Docker/Kubernetes, caching tools (Redis/Memcached), and regulatory requirements (KYC, compliance, data privacy) is a plus

Apply directly at: https://wohlig.keka.com/careers/jobdetails/136351