Founding Staff Software Engineer • Python/FastAPI

Role overview Lead hands-on development of the backend systems behind an AI-enabled recruiting platform. You’ll shape architecture and deliver APIs, data workflows, integrations, and infrastructure that support reliable product growth, working closely with product, AI, and frontend teammates.

Responsibilities - Design, build, and operate backend services and REST APIs using Python and FastAPI. - Develop production systems with PostgreSQL, Redis, OpenSearch, Celery, and Temporal. - Architect data-intensive services and high-throughput asynchronous workflows. - Deploy and maintain services on AWS, including containerized workloads, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure reliability. - Support integrations, data pipelines, and workflow automation while improving observability and performance practices. - Set technical direction, establish engineering standards, collaborate across disciplines, and mentor engineers.

Requirements - Strong backend engineering experience with Python and deep practical experience with FastAPI. - Production experience with PostgreSQL and Redis, plus hands-on use of OpenSearch, Celery, and Temporal. - A record of building robust REST APIs and systems that handle large datasets. - Experience deploying production services on AWS, including containers and deployment pipelines. - Experience building SaaS products, integrations, data pipelines, or workflow automation. - Prior work at staff, lead, founding engineer, or architect level, with strong systems judgment, mentoring ability, and a track record of taking ideas into production. - Willingness to relocate to the Northern Virginia or Washington, DC area.

Nice to have - Experience with multi-tenant SaaS, event-driven systems, resilient distributed workflows, or scaling an early-stage team. - Familiarity with AI coding tools such as Cursor or Claude Code.

Benefits and work setup The role is in person, with flexible hours, and is intended for someone able to work closely with the team in the Northern Virginia or Washington, DC region. Compensation includes a stated base salary range of $100,000–$200,000, quarterly performance bonuses, and early-stage equity. Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage; accrued paid time off; a yearly learning budget; and equipment and tools support. The position offers broad ownership of architecture and platform decisions, direct product influence, and a potential growth path toward engineering leadership.