Software Engineer, Enterprise Applications (Backend)

About Harbinger

Harbinger is an American commercial electric vehicle (EV) company on a mission to transform an industry starving for innovation. Harbinger’s best-in-class team of EV, battery, and drivetrain experts have pooled their deep experience to bring a first-of-its-kind EV platform to support the growing demand for medium-duty EVs and Hybrids. Harbinger: Familiar Form, Revolutionary Foundation.

The software team at Harbinger is looking to add a Backend Engineer who will be responsible for designing, developing, and scaling the infrastructure that powers our vehicle data management, simulations, scripted analyses, and software management. The ideal candidate has deep expertise in server-side development, distributed systems, and data pipelines, along with a passion for building robust, secure applications that drive our sustainable technology forward.

What You’ll Do

• Backend Architecture: Design, develop, and maintain the core backend systems supporting our data and simulation applications. Ensure robust, scalable, and secure server-side functionality to handle massive volumes of vehicle telemetry, analysis compute, and relational database management.
• API Design & Integration: Build and manage high-performance APIs (REST, GraphQL, or gRPC) to enable seamless data exchange between internal microservices, external partner systems, and our front-end interfaces.
• Data Management & Pipelines: Implement efficient data storage, retrieval mechanisms, and ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines to support complex data processing and analytics. Ensure data integrity, security, and compliance with industry standards.
• Performance & Scalability: Optimize server performance for low latency and high throughput. Identify and resolve systemic bottlenecks, optimize database queries, and ensure cloud infrastructure scales efficiently under load.
• Cloud Infrastructure: Architect and manage scalable cloud deployments utilizing 'infrastructure as code' (IaC) techniques to maintain reliable and repeatable environments.
• Testing & Debugging: Develop and execute comprehensive testing plans (unit, integration, and load testing) to ensure backend reliability and resilience. Troubleshoot and resolve complex system issues and bugs promptly.
• Collaboration: Work closely with cross-functional teams—including embedded systems engineers, data scientists, and front-end developers—to deliver cohesive software solutions and practice continuous improvement.
• Documentation: Create and maintain detailed, up-to-date documentation of system architecture, data models, and APIs to ensure clarity and long-term maintainability.

Who You Are

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
• Experience: Minimum of 5 years of software development experience with a strict focus on backend engineering, distributed systems, or cloud architecture.
• Core Languages: Proficiency in backend programming languages such as Python, Java, Go, C++, or Node.js.
• Database Expertise: Deep understanding of relational and NoSQL database technologies (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Redis) and strong experience optimizing complex queries and database performance.
• System Integration: Extensive experience with RESTful API design, microservices architecture, and building resilient distributed systems.
• Cloud & Infrastructure: Fluency in ‘infrastructure as code’ tools (e.g., Terraform, Ansible), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and modern cloud computing platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud).
• Security: Strong understanding of cybersecurity best practices, secure coding techniques, and data privacy regulations.
• Soft Skills: Strong problem-solving skills, exceptional attention to detail, and excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Work Style: Ability to work independently, take ownership of complex technical challenges, and manage multiple tasks in a fast-paced environment.
• Mission-Driven: A genuine passion for sustainable technology and the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

Key Benefits & Perks:

• Comprehensive Health, Dental & Vision (HDV) – 100% employee covered
• Early-stage Stock Options
• Robust Retirement Savings (401k, HSA, FSA)
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO) & Parental Leave
• Annual Vacation Bonus
• Wellness & Fertility Benefits
• Cell Phone Stipend
• Complimentary Meals & Stocked Kitchens

California Pay Range

$160,000—$220,000 USD

Equal Opportunity

Harbinger is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Harbinger is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at View email address on job-boards.greenhouse.io.

Candidate Data Privacy

Harbinger may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Harbinger may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.

Harbinger may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our HR, legal, and finance teams, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Harbinger affiliates; and (iii) Harbinger’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.

Harbinger may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.

Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services. Any unsolicited resumes or candidate profiles submitted in response to our job posting shall be considered the property of Harbinger and are not subject to payment of referral or placement fees if any such candidate is later hired by Harbinger unless you have a signed written agreement in place with us which covers the applicable job posting.