Senior Backend Engineer

Senior Backend Engineers at Raya love backend engineering and have been recognized as leaders in past roles! You are excited to work in a Node.js codebase. The ideal candidate will have had 6+ years of experience and grown within their organization, demonstrating both results and leadership. You will join the backend team at an impactful time of high growth. We prioritize learning and teamwork and love giving people the opportunity to champion solutions to big challenges and grow into better versions of themselves. A great candidate is excited to support the backend team's initiatives in messaging, connecting, and location based map initiatives. They are diligent and they design software architecture in a scalable manner. Finally, they believe in Raya’s vision, which is to enrich lives by fostering relationships through quality, in person interactions. We offer comprehensive medical and dental coverage, $50 a day food delivery budget, equity based employment, a great culture, learning opportunities, unlimited vacation, 12 weeks paid parental leave, and we pay all employees $1,000 a year to go somewhere in the world that they’ve never been because of our values of human connection, empathy, and curiosity.Senior Backend Engineers at Raya love backend engineering and have been recognized as leaders in past roles! You are excited to work in a Node.js codebase. The ideal candidate will have had 6+ years of experience and grown within their organization, demonstrating both results and leadership. You will join the backend team at an impactful time of high growth. We prioritize learning and teamwork and love giving people the opportunity to champion solutions to big challenges and grow into better versions of themselves. A great candidate is excited to support the backend team's initiatives in messaging, connecting, and location based map initiatives. They are diligent and they design software architecture in a scalable manner. Finally, they believe in Raya’s vision, which is to enrich lives by fostering relationships through quality, in person interactions. We offer comprehensive medical and dental coverage, $50 a day food delivery budget, equity based employment, a great culture, learning opportunities, unlimited vacation, 12 weeks paid parental leave, and we pay all employees $1,000 a year to go somewhere in the world that they’ve never been because of our values of human connection, empathy, and curiosity.

Responsibilities

Product Ownership: Lead key components of our Core Services, including People Recommendations Engines

Data Engineering: Apply your in-depth knowledge with databases such as Postgres SQL, MongoDB, and ElasticSearch to supercharge our application's performance and reliability

Collaboration: Work hand-in-hand with cross-functional teams, ranging from UX designers to data scientists, ensuring our solutions are comprehensive and user focused

Continuous Learning: Stay updated with the latest in Raya's tech ecosystem, ensuring our solutions are scalable, maintainable, and innovative

User-Centric Development: Prioritize and advocate for top-tier user experiences, utilizing feedback loops and data-driven methodologies to define and refine product features

Operational Excellence: Navigate the full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), ensuring agile methodologies, CI/CD practices, and Raya's best practices are integrated into all development phases

Qualifications

A BS/MS in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Software Engineering or a related technical field (Professional Experience can be substituted for candidates with non-engineering educational backgrounds or experience with software-specific training courses/programs)

6+ years of hands-on experience in modern software development environments, with a track record of delivering scalable and maintainable systems

Demonstrated expertise in system design, architecture, and mastery in at least one software programming language, ex. Node.js, Javascript, Golang, or Typescipt

Strong collaborative instincts, emphasizing open communication, transparency, and cross-team interaction

Production experience with Search applications (ex. OpenSearch, Vector database, Elasticsearch)

Proven experience in building and scaling backend systems, ideally in production at a startup or fast-moving environment.

Hands-on knowledge of agentic GenAI systems (e.g., orchestrating multi-step LLM pipelines, tool use, or retrieval-augmented workflows)

Demonstrated enthusiasm for AI tools and a track record of experimenting with or shipping projects that leverage LLMs.

Understanding of prompt engineering, fine-tuning, or model integration in production contexts

Curiosity around new AI frameworks and a willingness to quickly adopt emerging best practices

Demonstrated enthusiasm for AI tools and a track record of experimenting with or shipping projects that leverage LLMs

Understanding of prompt engineering, fine-tuning, or model integration in production contexts

Curiosity around new AI frameworks and a willingness to quickly adopt emerging best practices

What Sets You Apart

Visionary: You think beyond the present, anticipating future technological trends and their implications on the Raya Community.

Empathetic Leader: You naturally resonate with colleagues, users, and collaborative teams, fostering a culture of understanding and innovation

Growth-oriented: You possess a perpetual learner's mindset, open to challenges, and always seeking opportunities to expand your technical horizons

Impact-driven: With a knack for identifying the 'big picture', you prioritize tasks that maximize impact, aligning with Raya’s overarching goals

Productivity-obsessed: You value tools, workflows, and habits that maximize team velocity.

Bias toward shipping and iteration: You're able to build quickly, learn, and refine in short cycles

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