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Senior Backend Engineer

New York City

About Monstro

Monstro is the operating system for governed financial intelligence. We build governance and intelligence infrastructure that enables artificial intelligence to operate safely, explainably, and at institutional scale.

We exist because the level of financial guidance historically available to a small group should be accessible to many more people. By combining AI with deep institutional infrastructure, we help financial institutions deliver more personalized, responsible, and life-changing financial support to millions of individuals.

We’re building mission-critical systems in a highly regulated domain, and we care deeply about doing it right. If you’re motivated by meaningful problems, high standards, and shaping infrastructure that improves financial outcomes, you’ll feel at home here.

About the Role

We're hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to build and scale the intelligence infrastructure behind our platform. You'll own the backend systems that ingest, enrich, and serve data at scale — working across Python services, PostgreSQL, vector search, and agentic AI pipelines. This isn't a role where you maintain existing systems. You're building new ones.

You'll work alongside a small, high-output team shipping production systems in a regulated domain. The day-to-day is 80% software engineering, 20% AI — you'll spend most of your time designing APIs, writing production Python, managing data pipelines, and building reliable services that happen to be powered by LLMs and agentic workflows.

What You’ll Do

Backend Engineering

Design, build, and maintain Python services using FastAPI and Pydantic. Build APIs that serve multiple product surfaces from a single intelligence layer. Own data pipelines that ingest, validate, transform, and enrich content from external sources at scale.

Agentic AI Systems

Build and orchestrate agentic AI workflows that process unstructured content into structured intelligence. Design reliable multi-step AI pipelines with proper error handling, fallback logic, and observability. Evaluate and integrate LLM providers, embedding models, and retrieval strategies based on cost, latency, and quality tradeoffs — not hype.

Search & Retrieval Infrastructure

Build and maintain hybrid search systems using Typesense (keyword + vector). Design embedding pipelines, chunking strategies, and index schemas for semantic retrieval. Implement sync patterns between PostgreSQL (source of truth) and Typesense (search layer).

Data Layer

Design and evolve PostgreSQL schemas for production workloads. Write performant queries and know when to reach for EXPLAIN ANALYZE before something ships. Manage schema migrations with Alembic across environments without breaking production data. Implement proper connection management, indexing strategies, and query optimization.

System Architecture & Reliability

Architect services that handle growth without requiring a rewrite every six months. Build with observability in mind: structured logging, latency tracking, health checks. Design for failure: retry logic, graceful degradation, circuit breakers where they make sense. Containerize services with Docker and contribute to deployment and CI/CD infrastructure.

Team & Quality

Write tests that catch real bugs, not just line coverage. Participate in code reviews with substance — not "looks good." Mentor junior and mid-level engineers through pairing, review, and technical coaching. Communicate technical decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders.

 

What Success Looks Like

  • Backend services run reliably at scale with minimal firefighting

  • AI pipelines produce consistent, high-quality output that product teams can trust

  • Search infrastructure returns relevant results fast enough that users never think about it

  • The team around you is getting better because you're on it

  • You can explain any architectural decision you made in plain English and defend it under questioning

What We’re Looking For

Core Engineering (Required)

  • 4–8 years of professional software engineering experience

  • Strong proficiency in Python — you don't just write it, you write it well. Type hints, clean module structure, proper error handling.

  • Hands-on experience with PostgreSQL in production. You've dealt with slow queries, migration headaches, and connection pool drama.

  • Experience building or working with agentic AI systems, RAG pipelines, or LLM-powered workflows. You understand the difference between a demo and a production system.

  • Familiarity with vector search or semantic retrieval (Typesense, Pinecone, Weaviate, or similar)

  • Experience with FastAPI or comparable Python web frameworks

  • Solid understanding of API design and the full software development lifecycle

  • Experience with Docker and containerized deployments

  • Clear communicator who takes ownership and doesn't wait to be told what to do

Mindset & Approach

  • A problem solver at heart — you dig into complex problems, explore options, and find practical solutions rather than waiting for direction

  • Proactive and self-driven; you identify opportunities and risks before they become blockers

  • Innovative and curious; you keep up with a fast-moving field and bring new ideas to the team

  • Comfortable working across the stack when needed, even if backend is home

Nice to Have

  • Experience with Typesense specifically

  • Background in ML engineering or data pipeline development

  • Experience in fintech, wealth management, or other regulated domains

  • Familiarity with Pydantic for data validation and schema management

  • Experience with GCP (Cloud Run, GKE) and cloud infrastructure

  • Experience mentoring junior engineers in a structured way

  • Familiarity with Kafka or event-driven architectures

 

Note: This role will be hybrid in office for those in the NYC metro or remote for those in the Denver metro area (but with the expectation of periodic travel to our NYC office)

Base Compensation Range (New York City): $162,000 - $190,000

*The posted range reflects the base salary for this role across the market ranges for each location. Final compensation will depend on a variety of factors, including experience, skills, internal leveling, and market conditions, and will be offered within the stated range in accordance with applicable pay transparency laws.

 

Ready to Build With Us?

If you’re excited to contribute to a high-bar team building something meaningful, we love to hear from you!

 

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