Founding Backend Engineer

Client is a fast-growing social shopping platform co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni. The platform currently serves over 350,000 users and boasts a 90% retention rate. Phia combines community, personalization, and AI-driven recommendations to revolutionize online shopping. Backed by early investors, Phia offers the opportunity to join a small, mission-driven founding team and help shape the future of social commerce.

• Key Job Information
• Location : San Francisco or New York City (must relocate to NYC within a few months)
• Work Type : In-person, full-time
• Experience Required : 3+ years
• Salary Range : $160,000 – $200,000 per year
• Visa Sponsorship : H-1B, O-1, OPT
• Role Summary

As the Founding Backend Engineer, you will own and scale Client's data infrastructure, which powers search, personalization, and recommendations. You will work closely with the CTO and ML engineers to design robust pipelines, architect backend systems, and establish best practices for backend engineering. This is a founding-level opportunity with significant product and technical ownership.

• Responsibilities
• Architect and implement backend systems for Client's recommendation engine and shopping experience.
• Design and maintain data pipelines for ingesting and processing large-scale datasets from multiple sources.
• Build reusable APIs and microservices for core product features.
• Integrate machine learning models into production in collaboration with the ML team.
• Ensure system reliability, scalability, and maintainability across the backend stack.
• Define and enforce backend engineering standards and technical best practices.
• Requirements
• Minimum of 3+ years of backend engineering experience.
• Strong proficiency in Python and cloud platforms (AWS / GCP).
• Hands-on experience building data pipelines and microservices architectures.
• Familiarity with Airflow, gRPC, GraphQL.
• Deep understanding of search and vector database technologies, including :
• HNSW (Hierarchical Navigable Small World)
• OpenSearch / Elasticsearch
• Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) frameworks
• Excellent system design and problem-solving skills.
• Must be willing to work in-person in New York City (relocation support provided).
• Benefits & Perks
• Competitive salary plus founding equity package.
• Comprehensive health, vision, and life insurance.
• 401(k) with company matching.
• Free daily lunches, snacks, and late-night Ubers.
• Opportunity to work directly with founders and early team members, shaping product and technical direction.
• Interview Process

1. Intro Chat with Head of Recruiting

2. Technical Interview / Intro Chat

3. Coding Interview

4. CTO Interview

5. Onsite Interview (technical + cultural)

6. Offer Extended

7. Hired

• Green Flags (Preferred Qualifications)
• Experience at large tech companies (Meta, Google, Pinterest, etc.) and scrappy startups.
• Familiarity with Ray, Dask, and Kubernetes.
• Background in machine learning or handling large datasets.
• Proven ability to establish technical best practices and standards.
• Passion for building reliable, high-performance systems that drive business impact.
• Red Flags (Disqualifiers)
• Only worked at large tech companies (Meta, Google, etc.) with no startup experience.
• Frequent job hopping (tenures less than 6 months).
• Primarily management or non-hands-on engineering roles.
• Unwilling to relocate to New York City within a reasonable timeframe.
• Ideal Companies

Apple, Meta, Amazon, Pinterest, Google, Robinhood, Ramp, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Spotify