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Staff Back-End Engineer

San Francisco, CA (Remote)

you.com is an AI-powered search and productivity platform designed to empower users with personalized, efficient, and trustworthy search experiences. As a cutting-edge technology company, we combine advanced AI models with user-first principles to deliver tools that enhance discovery, creativity, and productivity. At you.com, we are on a mission to create the most helpful search engine in the world—one that prioritizes transparency, privacy, and user control.

We’re building a team of innovators, problem-solvers, and visionaries who are passionate about shaping the future of AI and technology. At you.com, you’ll have the opportunity to work on impactful projects, collaborate with some of the brightest minds in the industry, and grow your career in an environment that values creativity, diversity, and curiosity. If you’re ready to make a difference and help us revolutionize the way people search and work, we’d love to have you join us!

 

About the Role

The Staff Back-End Engineer is responsible for designing and building high-performance, secure systems and data pipelines that support you.com’s AI-driven products and user-facing features. This role involves developing web-scale internet systems that deliver value to millions of users worldwide while maintaining high standards for scalability, reliability, and security.

Key responsibilities include creating secure systems for storing and retrieving user information, writing clean and maintainable code, implementing robust testing strategies, and contributing to deployment infrastructure. The role emphasizes crafting simple, elegant solutions while fostering strong, sustainable development patterns and practices for the team. Collaboration is a central aspect of this position, as the Staff Back-End Engineer works closely with designers, engineers, and other stakeholders to transform ideas into impactful products. Additionally, the role requires independently driving experimentation and implementation, integrating user feedback, and refining solutions to deliver exceptional results.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and maintain new product features and infrastructure end-to-end with a product-focused mindset.
  • Collaborate with front-end developers, designers, product managers, and cross-functional stakeholders across the organization.
  • Develop and maintain production databases (SQL and NoSQL), ensuring performant query patterns that scale effectively.
  • Debug live production issues and proactively write tests to prevent similar issues in the future.
  • Ship performant, monitored, user-facing production services.
  • Contribute to a supportive and collaborative team culture, emphasizing thorough code reviews and strong coding practices.
  • Help establish a team culture and architectural patterns that enable scalability and growth for the organization.

Qualifications

  • Experience building and deploying mission-critical REST/RPC consumable services, with expertise in writing code to test and monitor these services.
  • Proficient in writing unit and integration tests, with a strong focus on test coverage for all code paths.
  • Familiarity with Kubernetes (k8s), including making updates to deployments or configurations and debugging system issues.
  • Expertise in creating robust and secure back-end systems that are scalable and maintainable.

The Staff Back-End Engineer plays a critical role in ensuring the development of high-quality systems while fostering collaboration across teams and delivering innovative AI-driven solutions to millions of users.

Our salary bands are structured based on a combination of geographic tiers and internal leveling. Compensation is determined by multiple factors assessed during the interview process, with the final offer reflecting these considerations.

Salary Band

$215,000 - $290,000 USD

Company Perks:

  • Hubs in San Francisco and New York City offering regular in-person gatherings and co-working sessions

  • Flexible PTO with 11 U.S. holidays observed and a week shutdown in December to rest and recharge*

  • A competitive health insurance plan covers 100% of the policyholder and 75% for dependents*

  • 12 weeks of paid parental leave in the US*

  • 401k program, 3% match - vested immediately!*

  • $500 work-from-home stipend to be used up to a year of your start date*

  • $1,200 per year Health & Wellness Allowance to support your personal goals*

  • Chance to collaborate with a team at the forefront of AI research

*Certain perks and benefits are limited to full-time employees only

 

you.com is an E-Verify employer. We are also an inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplace. Please let us know if you require accommodation for any portion of the recruitment and hiring process.

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