Senior Back End Engineer

About Warmer

Warmer is a platform where anyone going through life challenges can find support and guidance from someone who has overcome the same challenges. Those seeking help can choose from a selection of peers who have “been there,” wherever and whenever the need arises. And for those who have experience to share, Warmer offers the opportunity to be compensated for sharing hard-won lived experiences, while also making a meaningful impact on others’ lives. 

Overview of Role

We’re a fast-moving startup looking for a pragmatic, product-minded backend engineer who’s fluent in the JVM ecosystem—ideally Kotlin—and comfortable working across infrastructure, APIs, and backend architecture.

You’ll be part of a small team building core product features from the ground up. This is a hands-on role focused on moving fast while building a solid foundation that can scale.

You’ll work closely with frontend engineers and product stakeholders to turn product ideas into real features—fast, clean, and maintainable.

We care more about what you’ve built and how you think than titles or years of experience, but we think the right person likely has 5–8+ years of backend experience, ideally in a startup environment.

 

You’ll succeed here if you’re:

• Experienced with Kotlin on backend systems (or JVM experience and open to learning Kotlin) and Spring Boot (Reactive preferred)

• Product-focused and collaborative—able to partner closely with frontend, design, and product

• Pragmatic about architecture—comfortable making tradeoffs to ship quickly but cleanly

• Skilled at designing and implementing clean APIs, scalable systems, and event-driven architectures

• Familiar with PostgreSQL, Kafka, and AWS, or eager to learn

• Comfortable owning end-to-end features and delivering real product in a small team setting

• Bonus: familiarity with Python
• Preference for candidates willing to work in-person with our Chicago team in our Glencoe office a couple of days per week.
  

 

We’re especially interested in engineers who have:

• Worked at an early-stage startup or in a lean team where they owned significant parts of the codebase

• Delivered production systems with a mix of independence and tight collaboration—not a lone wolf, but someone who can thrive without layers of handoff

 

This role is for someone who enjoys the zero-to-one phase, wants ownership over backend systems, and is excited to shape the technical direction of our product.

We have a strong preference for candidates with prior startup experience and a track record of building and scaling real-world systems.

Compensation & Benefits

• $140-160k base + meaningful equity
• Health, dental, and vision coverage; company covers 50%
• Unlimited PTO with a minimum vacation policy
• Hybrid role - in person in Glencoe office at least 2 days per week