Senior Backend Engineer

Dispel builds secure, private network infrastructure for critical industries. The people who depend on our products need reliable, auditable, and secure access to sensitive systems, and the engineers who build those products need to understand that context deeply.

As a Senior Backend Engineer (IC6), you will deliver complex systems across software, infrastructure, networking, and security. You scope work into well-defined milestones, estimate delivery timelines, and follow through. You resolve a wide range of technical issues in creative ways, and the code you write is clear enough that other engineers can reason about it and extend it with confidence.

You'll work closely with cross-team stakeholders to define requirements, identify problems early, and deliver software that delights customers. You are a go-to expert in at least one area of the codebase, and you use that depth to select methods and techniques that result in low-defect, high-performance software the team can maintain and extend.

Engineering at Dispel is a collaborative effort and those that show up trying to get things done and help others will receive support from the team. Dispel has high aspirations and we are growing quickly. We have noticed that people that have been in such environments before tend to adapt better. If you have not been in an environment like this before you would do well to try and convince us that you can handle it during your interviews.

Requirements
Execution:
System Design and Delivery

• Design, scope, and deliver - from architecture through implementation and testing.
• Scope and stage work into well-defined milestones to avoid monolithic deliverables, enabling frequent and predictable delivery.
• Estimate projects, deliver on those estimates, and communicate risks when timelines shift.
• Write code that is easy for other engineers to understand and reason about - clear, well-tested, and designed to last.
• Create model documentation that others extend and reference.

Complex Problem Solving

• Resolve a wide range of technical issues in creative ways, spanning software, infrastructure, and network layers.
• Select methods and techniques that result in low-defect, high-performance software that is easy for the team to maintain and extend.
• Identify problems and risks in your own and others' work, and address them before they compound.
• Work with cross-team stakeholders to define requirements and ensure technical execution aligns with business objectives.

Reliability, Security, and Quality

• Own reliability, monitoring, logging, and instrumentation of the systems you build.
• Ensure systems meet performance, scalability, and security requirements - particularly as they relate to network infrastructure and cloud environments.
• Participate in incident response and root cause analysis.
• Continuously improve system quality, automation, and operational maturity.

Enabling Others:
Cross-Functional Communication

• Communicate effectively across teams - you identify and surface requirements problems early, reducing rework and wasted effort.
• Partner with product, security, and infrastructure teams to align technical decisions with company objectives.
• Contribute to technical discussions that influence broader engineering direction.
• Informally mentor IC1 and IC2 engineers on your team - through code review, pairing, and sharing technical context.
• Participate in evaluation portions of interview loops to help Dispel hire well.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of professional software engineering experience with a demonstrated track record of delivering complex systems.
• Strong proficiency in at least one core programming language - you are effective in the languages your team uses and can pick up new ones as needed.
• Comfortable using coding agents (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Claude Code) as part of your daily workflow - Addy Osmani's article describes Dispel's stance on AI usage by engineers.
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS/Azure in particular) including networking constructs such as VPCs, subnets, security groups, and private endpoints.
• Experience working across multiple layers of the stack: application, database, infrastructure, or security.
• Demonstrated ability to work with cross-team stakeholders to define requirements and deliver results with minimal oversight.
• Strong understanding of system reliability, monitoring, and performance optimization.
• Experience on multiple teams or in multiple roles - you bring breadth that informs your technical judgment.
• Strong proficiency in one or more of: Python, TypeScript, Go.
• Must have been deeply involved with complex, production-grade APIs and services.
• Strong understanding of cloud execution environments and how architectural decisions affect them.
• Must have strong understanding of databases, caches, queues, events, and workers.
• Solid understanding of network fundamentals: routing, switching, VPN protocols, DNS, and firewalls.
• Strong understanding of network security principles and hardening practices.
• A willingness to accept failure and feedback, learn and try again.
• A passion for learning new disciplines and gaining a deep understanding of how others on the team do their work.
• An ability to communicate clearly and succinctly both in-person and over team chat.

Benefits

Why Dispel/Benefits

At Dispel you'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

• Salary range for role: $150,000-$169,000.00
• 401(k) with company match
• Generous paid time off and holidays
• Performance bonus and equity eligible
• Remote work
• Medical, vision, dental insurance