Senior Software Engineer I

Role Description

We are looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join our Consumer team. This is an immediate, high-impact role, you will own backend architecture and execution across our consumer facing features. We need someone who doesn't wait to be told what to build; you see the opportunity, rally the team, and ship it. The team has high autonomy to come up with innovative initiatives, ship them quickly and iterate.

• Lead backend architecture and system design, proactively proposing and driving new systems that support critical customer facing features.
• Take point on initiatives, owning the backend roadmap, driving technical decisions, and coordinating cross-functional delivery.
• Optimize existing systems for performance, reliability, and cost. You treat production health as a first-class priority, not an afterthought.
• Serve as the team's technical anchor: set engineering standards, lead design reviews, unblock teammates.
• Manage technical roadmap and problems of significantly larger scope, from formulating an efficient game plan to delivering stable, well-tested features on time.
• Make technical recommendations that improve the codebase while minimizing risk; identify and fix (or ideally prevent) bugs and performance bottlenecks.
• Coordinate and communicate seamlessly across engineering, product, and design teams.
• Leverage AI coding tools (Claude, Codex, etc.) to accelerate development velocity for yourself and the team.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of software engineering experience, with deep expertise in backend / distributed systems.
• Proven track record of leading a team to execute and ship features; you've been the tech lead others rely on.
• Strong proficiency in Go, Python, Ruby, or similar backend languages/frameworks.
• Hands-on experience designing, building, and scaling distributed systems that handle real-world traffic at scale.
• Proficient with AI-assisted development tools (Claude, Codex, Copilot, etc.) and a believer in using them to multiply team output.
• A T-shaped engineer / generalist mindset with deep expertise in at least one domain (e.g., API design, data pipelines, event-driven architectures, infrastructure).
• A proactive ownership mentality; you don't wait for permission to improve things; you identify problems, propose solutions, and execute.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity, handling conflict constructively, and building consensus across teams with competing priorities.
• Familiarity with the technologies, tradeoffs, and design patterns emerging in modern web services and cloud-native architectures.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.

Requirements

• Frontend experience (React, TypeScript, iOS, Android or similar) is a plus; we value engineers who can work across the stack when needed.
• Familiarity with ecommerce applications.

Benefits

• GOAT Group uses geographic pay tiers based on the employee’s home state to align compensation with market differences across the U.S.
• Hiring Range:
  • Tier 1 (Includes states such as California, New York (including New York City), Washington, Illinois and other higher-cost markets): $146,720 - $183,400 USD
  • Tier 2 (Includes mid-cost markets across the U.S.): $132,160 - $165,200 USD
  • Tier 3 (All other U.S. locations): $124,800 - $156,000 USD
• The hiring range for this position is below, plus benefits (401K, paid time off, dental, medical, vision, disability, life insurance options).
• To determine starting pay within the hiring range, we carefully consider a variety of factors, including primary work location, role/level, a candidate’s skills, experience, market demands, and internal parity.