Senior Software Engineer, Backend

Senior Software Engineer, Backend

New York City (Remote) or Boston (Remote)

In the time it takes you to read this job description, RapidSOS will have handled ~1,380 emergencies.

At RapidSOS, we are committed to using technology to build a safer, stronger future and working together to save lives. We're in an exciting phase of growth, welcoming new members from across the globe to our mission-driven, ambitious, and inclusive team. Our work is founded on our values of elevating purpose, inventing tomorrow, delivering with urgency, serving with integrity, and winning together, all of which support a company culture where people can innovate, collaborate, grow, and, above all, make an impact.

RapidSOS is ​​the leading public safety AI company that unlocks mission-critical intelligence for first responders and security teams – enabling faster, smarter and more accurate emergency response. Real-time data from the world's largest safety network of 700M+ devices, 200+ global enterprises, and 23,000+ federal, state and local agencies fuels the RapidSOS HARMONY AI engine that delivers this intelligence to those who need it most.

What this role is about:

Are you excited to build systems that make a real-world impact at massive scale, powering the real-time data and infrastructure behind mission-critical workflows? At RapidSOS, we create technology that powers smarter operations through real-time data — and, in critical moments, ensures life-saving information is delivered quickly, reliably, and when it matters most.

We're seeking a Senior Software Engineer to build the scalable, reliable backend systems that power the core engine of our B2B platform. While this role is focused on backend engineering, you'll shape how core services, APIs, data flows, and AI-driven capabilities are designed and built to deliver seamless, dependable functionality at scale. You'll collaborate closely with product and engineering teams to evolve a platform used by leading organizations, ensuring our systems are resilient, high-performing, and scalable in the moments that matter most.

What you'll do:

• Drive the architecture, design, and implementation of new features, leveraging Python
• Lead strategic architectural decisions, help drive alignment, and optimize applications for performance, scalability, and accessibility
• Use best-in-class software development practices (unit tests, integration tests, performance tests, monitoring, detailed functional specification and test plans) to ensure RapidSOS' products remain highly reliable and fault tolerant
• Identify opportunities to assess and enhance current applications, including refactoring code and upgrading technologies used
• Collaborate in an agile environment with stakeholders across Engineering, Design, GTM, and Product to develop solutions for RapidSOS products
• Leverage modern AI development tools (Claude Code, Cursor or similar) to accelerate delivery and improve code quality
• Actively participate in code reviews and standups, sharing knowledge, championing best practices, and contributing to the continuous improvement of team processes
• Own meaningful parts of our platform, have an impact, grow with the company

What we're looking for in our ideal candidate:

• 5+ years of professional backend experience with deep expertise in Python
• Strong experience building distributed, asynchronous, event-driven systems that support high-volume workloads using message bus technologies such as RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS, etc.
• Experience integrating with RESTful APIs and delivering comprehensive end-to-end solutions in an AWS environment
• Experience working with relational and non-relational databases
• Ideally has experience building AI-driven features or using AI tools to enhance acceleration of development, and is proactive about leveraging emerging technologies
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills; is a team player with a positive attitude
• Highly self-motivated; ability to adapt and learn quickly in a fast-paced environment with a strong sense of ownership
• Strong proficiency in coding best practices – ability to write clean, maintainable, and testable code
• Customer-centric mindset; cares deeply about delivering solutions that enable and delight customers while meeting product goals
• Demonstrated expertise in problem solving – from troubleshooting issues to debugging a large codebase
• Ability and willingness to collaborate in-person a few times per quarter, or as needed

Nice-to-have experience (but not required!):

• Experience with telephony / VoIP / SIP
• Experience with websockets

What we offer:

• The chance to work with a passionate team on solving one of the largest challenges globally
• Competitive salary and benefits and equity participation
• A dynamic, flexible and fun start-up work environment with a highly talented team

Starting pay for a successful applicant will depend on a variety of job-related factors, which may include experience, relevant skills, training, education, location, business needs, or market demands. The salary range for this role is $155,000 - $185,000. This role will also be eligible to receive equity options.

RapidSOS is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, or Veteran status.

Interested in the role but you don't meet 100% of the requirements? We'd love to hear from you! We encourage you to apply; we'd be excited to see if your unique skill set and experience could be a match.