Staff Backend Engineer, Operations

This position is listed on behalf of a partner company, who manages all applications and next steps. Our partner is looking for a Staff Backend Engineer, Operations based in the United States.

Join a forward-thinking engineering team developing advanced AI systems that transform how the insurance industry operates. As a Staff Backend Engineer, you will lead the design and development of scalable backend infrastructure and production-grade LLM-powered workflows. You will build systems capable of processing billions of unstructured data points, extracting reliable information, and supporting high-stakes insurance decisions. With significant technical ownership, you will shape architecture, influence engineering strategy, and drive complex initiatives from conception to delivery. Working across engineering, product, and business teams, you will help establish the foundations for intelligent, automated insurance operations. This is an opportunity to tackle challenging problems in a small, ambitious team where technical excellence and customer impact are central.

You will take ownership of critical backend initiatives and help define how reliable, scalable AI-powered systems are designed, evaluated, and operated. Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead the technical design and delivery of major backend initiatives, including services, data models, asynchronous pipelines, and evaluation frameworks using Python and AWS.

• Define technical direction for large-scale LLM systems, balancing reliability, cost, latency, evaluation, and explainability.

• Drive architectural discussions and make high-impact systems design decisions across the product.

• Deliver significant product improvements and innovations while helping scope new features and technical initiatives.

• Manage technical debt strategically, determining when to prioritize rapid delivery and when to invest in long-term improvements.

• Collaborate with product and business stakeholders to guide organization-wide decisions, balancing data, resources, and technical trade-offs.

• Establish and promote best practices across development, testing, deployment, and code review processes.

• Identify opportunities to improve product quality and testing across services, modules, and products.

• Mentor and support colleagues while representing the engineering organization in recruiting, training, and external interactions.

• Use AI-powered development tools thoughtfully to increase individual productivity and strengthen team execution.

The ideal candidate is an experienced backend engineer with strong technical judgment, a track record of leading complex initiatives, and practical experience deploying AI systems in production. You should be comfortable operating independently, influencing technical decisions, and working through ambiguity. Key qualifications include:

• 8+ years of software engineering experience building and operating backend systems at scale.

• Demonstrated experience serving as the technical lead for at least one significant project or initiative.

• Hands-on experience working with LLMs in production and understanding the challenges of deploying and operating them at scale.

• Strong proficiency in Python, the primary language used across the technology stack; candidates with substantial experience in other object-oriented languages are also welcome.

• Experience with AWS, serverless technologies such as Lambda and Step Functions, asynchronous workflows, and cloud-based environments.

• Strong understanding of relational databases and performance optimization, ideally with PostgreSQL.

• A proven ability to serve as a trusted technical resource for engineering, product, and business stakeholders.

• Strong ownership and execution skills, with the ability to drive projects through completion with minimal supervision.

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to explain and advocate for technical decisions with engineers, product teams, and leadership.

• A proactive, experimental mindset and enthusiasm for solving complex, previously unsolved problems.

Additional experience that would be advantageous:

• Building document-processing pipelines and handling large-scale data workloads.

• Designing and operating distributed systems.

• Developing external-facing APIs or integrating with third-party platforms.

• Working in insurance, fintech, or other data-intensive and regulated industries.

• Competitive annual salary based on experience and location:

  • Zone 1 – New York and San Francisco: $246,000–$314,000.

  • Zone 2 – All other locations in the United States and Canada: $222,000–$314,000.

  • Significant equity options package.

  • 20 days of paid time off annually.

  • Global team offsites and opportunities to connect with colleagues across locations.

  • Healthy living and gym stipend.

  • Mobile phone bill stipend.

  • Continuing education credits.

  • For US employees:

    • 100% employer-covered medical, vision, and dental insurance for individuals and families.

    • 401(k) plan with an employer contribution, regardless of employee contributions.

    • Remote-first working environment, with employees across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

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