Senior Backend Software Engineer (NYC)

Who is Recruiting from Scratch: Recruiting from Scratch is a premier talent firm that focuses on placing the best product managers, software, and hardware talent at innovative companies. Our team is 100% remote and we work with teams across the United States to help them hire. Senior Backend Software Engineer Location New York, NY On-site - 5 days per week in-office. Company Stage of Funding Growth Stage / Well-Funded Technology Company Office Type On-site - 5 days per week in-office Salary $176,000 - $242,000 Base Plus equity awards and annual performance-based bonus. Equity Competitive Equity Visa Open to Visa Transfers, including OPT and H-1B transfers. Experience 5-8 years of professional software engineering experience, with substantial experience building and shipping customer-facing products. Employment Type Full-time Hiring Count 1 candidate Company Description This is a well-funded technology company building real-world automation and autonomous systems across multiple industries. The company develops physical AI and robotics technology that operates in live production environments, with systems deployed across transportation, industrial operations, and food and logistics. Unlike purely experimental robotics companies, the technology is already being used with real customers and real-world operational workloads. The engineering organization operates with an engineering-first culture where engineers have significant influence over architecture, product direction, and technical decisions. This role sits within a growing engineering organization focused on building the backend systems and infrastructure that power real-time logistics, automation, routing, and operational workflows. The ideal candidate is a senior backend engineer who enjoys solving ambiguous and technically complex problems, takes ownership from architecture through production, and has experience building scalable customer-facing systems. You will work closely with backend, frontend, mobile, product, and operations teams while helping establish the technical foundation for systems that operate in the physical world. What You Will Do 1. Build & Scale Backend Systems Design, build, and maintain high-quality backend services using languages such as Java and Go . Build and scale core APIs, services, and data stores supporting customer-facing products and operational systems. Design reliable distributed systems capable of handling complex real-world workloads. Improve backend scalability, performance, reliability, and maintainability. Build systems that support real-time logistics, automation, routing, and operational workflows. Make sound architectural decisions across services, APIs, and data infrastructure. Own systems through design, implementation, deployment, and production operation. 2. Lead Complex Technical Initiatives Lead major backend engineering initiatives across routing optimization, logistics automation, scalability, and reliability. Break down ambiguous technical problems into practical, scalable solutions. Drive architecture decisions for high-impact systems. Identify technical bottlenecks and design solutions that improve system performance and reliability. Balance short-term execution with long-term architectural quality. Work across multiple technical domains when solving complex product and infrastructure problems. Take ownership of initiatives from initial requirements through production. 3. Build Reliable & Observable Production Systems Establish strong practices around testing, monitoring, observability, and reliability. Design systems for production resilience and predictable performance. Diagnose and resolve complex production issues. Improve system visibility through logging, metrics, monitoring, and operational tooling. Identify reliability risks and proactively address failure modes. Build backend infrastructure capable of supporting systems operating in real-world environments. Continuously improve system performance, availability, and operational efficiency. 4. Partner Across Engineering & Product Partner with product and engineering leadership to translate technical priorities into quarterly roadmaps. Collaborate closely with frontend, mobile, product, and operations teams to deliver end-to-end solutions. Translate business and operational requirements into scalable technical systems. Mentor engineers through technical guidance, design reviews, code reviews, and hands-on collaboration. Communicate technical decisions clearly across engineering and product teams. Help establish engineering standards and best practices across the organization. Contribute to technical strategy and long-term platform direction. Ideal Candidate Background Experience Requirements 5+ years of professional software engineering experience. Strong backend engineering experience building and shipping production systems. Experience building customer-facing products and services. Experience owning technical projects from architecture through production. Experience working with complex, distributed, or high-scale systems. Demonstrated ability to operate independently on ambiguous technical problems. Experience working in fast-paced, engineering-driven environments. Strong experience collaborating across engineering, product, and operational teams. Experience mentoring other engineers through technical leadership and hands-on collaboration. Technical Requirements Strong professional experience with Java and/or Go . Strong backend software engineering fundamentals. Experience designing and building production APIs. Experience with distributed systems. Strong understanding of data stores and backend data architecture. Experience designing scalable backend services. Strong testing and debugging practices. Experience with monitoring and observability. Strong understanding of reliability and production system design. Experience working with high-throughput or real-time systems is a strong plus. Experience with logistics, routing, automation, robotics, or other complex operational systems is a plus. Distributed Systems & Product Requirements Strong understanding of distributed system architecture. Experience building reliable systems that operate at scale. Comfortable working with complex asynchronous workflows. Experience thinking about system performance, availability, and failure modes. Strong product-oriented engineering mindset. Experience translating ambiguous requirements into technical solutions. Comfortable working on systems with real-world operational constraints. Experience with customer-facing products rather than only internal infrastructure. Interest in automation, robotics, autonomous systems, logistics, or physical AI is a strong plus. Soft Skills High ownership and accountability. Strong technical judgment. Comfortable operating in ambiguity. Strong problem-solving and systems-thinking skills. Able to make pragmatic architecture decisions. Strong communication across technical and non-technical teams. Comfortable taking ownership of complex projects. Strong collaboration with product and operations teams. Enjoys mentoring and raising the technical bar for other engineers. Comfortable working in a fast-paced, engineering-led environment. Curious and motivated by technically challenging real-world problems. Compensation & Benefits $176,000 - $242,000 base salary. Competitive equity awards. Annual performance-based bonus. Full-time position. On-site work model - 5 days per week in New York City. Open to visa transfers, including OPT and H-1B transfers. Opportunity to work on production systems operating in the physical world. Significant ownership over backend architecture and technical direction. Opportunity to work on complex distributed systems, automation, logistics, and real-world infrastructure. Why Join Build backend systems powering real-world automation and physical AI. Work on complex problems involving logistics, routing, scalability, and reliability. Own systems end-to-end from architecture through production. Work in an engineering-first culture where engineers have meaningful influence over technical decisions. Build systems that operate with real customers and real-world workloads. Work across backend infrastructure, APIs, distributed systems, data stores, and automation. Collaborate closely with product, frontend, mobile, and operations teams. Mentor engineers while continuing to work hands-on technically. Join a growing team working on ambitious technology with significant real-world impact. Recruiting from Scratch