Senior Backend Developer in Chicago, Illinois at Hallow

Who we are
Hallow is on a mission to help people pray. We’re the No. 1 prayer app in the world, with more than 1 billion prayers prayed across 150+ countries. We're building a product that is authentically Christian and Catholic, while at the same time a resource for anyone looking to grow deeper in a relationship with God. We believe that people are hungry for peace, and that there is no surer way to find it than by learning to sit in silence with Christ: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28).
Our goal is to build something truly great. Something that combines the beauty of the Church's spirituality with world-class product and content execution. And we need a world-class team to make it happen.
We launched the app in December 2018 and have been blown away with the incredible growth & traction. Hallow has been downloaded more than 30 million times with over 250,000 5-star reviews. We're blessed to be backed by some of the best mission-driven investors in the world and are excited to build out the team to help a lot more folks grow closer to God.
We are a startup. We move quickly. We are small but we take big swings. Each person is responsible for making an impact. It is hard—but deeply meaningful—work. We'd be honored & humbled if you'd consider joining us.
TL;DR: We’re growing our dev team and looking for a Senior Backend Developer to own and scale the systems powering Hallow. You’ll lead high-impact projects, design reliable and scalable architecture, and help us move quickly while maintaining quality as we continue to grow.
What You'll Do

• Build & Scale Core Systems: Design and implement scalable, reliable APIs and backend services that power our mobile apps and content platform
• Own Projects End-to-End: Lead initiatives from ideation through deployment, making strong technical decisions and ensuring successful delivery
• Improve Infrastructure & Performance: Evolve our architecture to handle growth—optimize performance, reliability, and global scalability
• Develop Internal Tools: Build systems and tooling that empower content, community, and support teams to operate efficiently
• Drive Technical Direction: Identify opportunities to improve systems, reduce tech debt, and enhance developer experience
• Leverage AI for Velocity: Use AI tools to accelerate development, debugging, and iteration while maintaining high quality and strong engineering judgment

What You'll Love

• Mission: This work is incredibly humbling. Every day we get amazing stories and get the pleasure of working on something that impacts lives. One of my favorite user quotes: “I hate quoting an old, overused cliche, but I’ve been very lost. And I think for the first time in a while I may be found.”
• Ownership: You’ll be a massive part of our growth. There’s nothing more exciting than being able to see your work touch thousands of lives around the world and truly build a world-class experience with every email, push notification, blog, and more. You’ll be doing that every day.
• Growth: From day 1, you’ll be a part of the startup journey. We’re growing quickly, and we’ll need your help to continue to build out features and functionality for our users in our Android app.
• Flexibility: HQ is in Chicago and we would love to have as many team members there as possible, but we are completely flexible on location within the United States and Canada.
• Comp: We will pay competitive market rates in terms of equity, cash, & benefits.

What We’re Looking For

• Passion: First and foremost, we’re looking for someone excited and passionate about our mission. It makes it a lot more fun to actually care about what you’re working on!
• Experience: 5+ years building backend systems (NodeJS/TypeScript preferred); strong experience designing scalable, reliable systems; deep understanding of APIs, databases, and system architecture; experience with SQL (MySQL), AWS, and distributed systems
• Ownership: Proven ability to lead projects end-to-end, take initiative, and solve ambiguous problems
• Technical Judgment: Strong ability to make tradeoffs between speed, quality, and scalability
• Collaboration: Clear communicator who works well cross-functionally and elevates teammates through mentorship and feedback
• AI Fluency: Comfortable leveraging AI tools to increase development velocity while maintaining high standards for code quality and system design
• Grit & Craft: High attention to detail and a drive to build high-quality products that stand out

Compensation$140,000 - $185,000 USD per year
The above range only includes cash compensation. Each full-time employee in the US also receives equity compensation, alongside a top-tier benefits package (e.g., unlimited PTO, insurance, remote-flexible work, fully paid parental leave, 401(k) match, and stipends for spiritual development, health & wellness, home-office, and learning).
The above range for cash compensation refers to base salary. All full-time employees are also eligible to be considered for a discretionary bonus at the end of each fiscal year. These ranges are just initial estimates. They may vary depending on market or location and may be adjusted depending on the person we end up hiring for this role, their experience, and market dynamics.

We're a small team and we care deeply about each new hire, so sometimes it can take us a while to get through the hiring process for these roles. Apologies in advance for any delays. We'll do our best to keep you updated throughout the process, and we really appreciate your patience and understanding as we work through everything.
We are honored that you'd consider joining the team and look forward to connecting with you.
Best,
Alex at HallowCEO & Co-Founder