Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Marketplace/App Experience) in United States Embassy at Jobgether

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Software Engineer, Backend (Marketplace/App Experience) based in United States.

This role offers the opportunity to shape the future of a large-scale marketplace and consumer shopping experience through innovative backend engineering.
You will define technical direction for critical systems that power discovery, search, recommendations, and personalized experiences.
The position combines deep engineering expertise with strategic influence across product, design, analytics, and engineering teams.
You will help build highly scalable distributed systems while improving customer experiences and creating new business opportunities.
As a technical leader, you will mentor engineers, establish engineering standards, and drive long-term platform evolution.
This is an impactful opportunity for an experienced backend engineer who thrives in complex environments and enjoys solving challenging technical problems.

The Staff Software Engineer will provide technical leadership for backend systems supporting marketplace discovery, search, recommendations, and consumer-facing experiences. The role requires a balance of hands-on engineering, architectural decision-making, operational ownership, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Define and drive technical strategy for the team, connecting long-term engineering goals with high-impact business initiatives.
• Design, develop, and launch scalable backend systems that support marketplace experiences and platform growth.
• Lead architecture decisions, identify technical risks and trade-offs, and establish sustainable engineering solutions.
• Collaborate with product managers, designers, analysts, and engineering teams throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Build and improve highly available distributed systems with strong focus on reliability, scalability, and performance.
• Establish engineering best practices through code reviews, technical documentation, design standards, and knowledge sharing.
• Own team operational excellence by implementing monitoring, alerting, testing strategies, incident processes, and reliability practices.
• Contribute directly to complex engineering projects, including major feature development, system improvements, and platform modernization.
• Mentor engineers by providing technical guidance, feedback, and support for professional growth.
• Promote a culture of quality, ownership, and continuous improvement across engineering teams.

The ideal candidate is an experienced backend engineer with a strong background in distributed systems, technical leadership, and building consumer-facing products at scale.

• 8+ years of experience designing, developing, and launching backend systems using technologies such as Python, Kotlin, or similar programming languages.
• Proven experience building highly available distributed systems using technologies such as AWS, MySQL, Spark, Kubernetes, or comparable platforms.
• Experience developing consumer experiences with modern UI frameworks such as React is preferred.
• 2+ years of experience working with search systems, recommendation engines, or related discovery technologies.
• Demonstrated ability to lead major technical initiatives, define execution strategies, and deliver complex system improvements.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, system design, scalability, and engineering best practices.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity and move effectively between low-level implementation details and large-scale system architecture.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across global engineering and cross-functional teams.
• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction beyond individual contributions.
• Bachelor’s degree in a related field or equivalent practical experience.

• Competitive base salary range:
  • USA Pacific locations: $230,000 - $290,000 annually.
  • Other U.S. locations: $204,000 - $264,000 annually.
• Comprehensive total compensation package including equity opportunities.
• Remote-first work environment with flexibility to work from anywhere within the country of employment.
• Fully covered healthcare premiums for employees and dependents.
• Dental and vision coverage.
• Flexible spending wallets and stipends for technology, food, lifestyle needs, and family-related expenses.
• Competitive vacation and holiday schedules to support work-life balance.
• Employee stock purchase plan with discounted share opportunities.
• Inclusive workplace culture with accommodations available throughout the hiring process.