Senior Backend Software Engineer

**Pitch — Why this role matters**:
Help transform Spendesk into an AI‑first spend management platform. As part of our new AI/Data squad, you’ll design and operate the services that power AI features end‑to‑end — from supplier recommendations to autonomous workflows that reduce manual toil. You’ll collaborate closely with ML Engineers, PMs, and Designers, integrating best‑in‑class models via AWS Bedrock and building reliable, scalable APIs and pipelines. This is a greenfield opportunity with real product impact and latitude to shape our architecture around agents, orchestration, and evaluations.

**Role Overview**:
We are looking for a talented Backend Software Engineer to join our AI/Data squad and help shape the future of spend management with AI.

As a Backend Software Engineer, you will take ownership of both functional and technical topics. You will have the opportunity to work across the entire feature lifecycle, including specification, technical design, development, testing, documentation, and maintenance.

**Our stack**:

- TypeScript
- React on the frontend
- PostgreSQL for data storage; Redis, SQS, and Kafka for jobs and queues
- Terraform to define our infrastructure
- AWS as our cloud provider (including AWS Bedrock for LLM access)
- GitHub Actions for CI

**Key Responsibilities**:

- Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs that power AI features (performance, reliability, cost efficiency, and security by design).
- Integrate LLMs via AWS Bedrock; define robust calling patterns, guardrails, and evaluation loops with ML Engineers.
- Build asynchronous pipelines and orchestration for multi‑step workflows (e.g., Step Functions, SQS/Kafka, retries, idempotency).
- Define data models, contracts, and interfaces enabling clear collaboration across squads; contribute to platform components reusable by other teams.
- Instrument services with metrics, tracing, logs, and evaluations to measure quality (latency, accuracy, cost, user outcomes) and drive iteration.
- Contribute to technical vision and deliver complex projects end‑to‑end; propose POCs/experiments and iterate quickly based on signal.
- Improve engineering processes, tools, and systems to enhance productivity and scalability; champion “you build it, you run it”.
- Mentor and inspire fellow engineers; share best practices in reliability, performance, and secure coding.

**How we work (AI/Data squad)**:

- AI‑first, product‑led: prototype fast, test with real users, iterate based on data.
- You build it, you run it: squads own deployment, monitoring, and continuous improvements.
- Collaboration by default: work hand‑in‑hand with PM, Design, and ML Engineering; align on outcomes, not just outputs.
- Pragmatic engineering: make clear trade‑offs; optimize for impact over theoretical perfection.

**What we’re looking for**:

- Fluency in written and spoken English (our business language)
- 2+ years of experience in software development (5+ years for Senior Engineer positions)
- Strong AI mindset
- Proven track record of delivering high‑quality, scalable AI products
- Ability to translate business and product concepts into technical solutions
- Enthusiasm for working in a fast‑paced environment, with a focus on continuous growth and craft mastery
- Strong customer‑centric mindset
- Alignment with Spendesk’s core values of empowering businesses to achieve more

**Nice‑to‑haves (not required)**:

- Experience integrating LLMs (Bedrock/OpenAI/Anthropic), prompt orchestration, guardrails, and evaluation frameworks.
- Strong background in event‑driven architectures (Kafka/SQS), workflow engines (Step Functions), and resilient async processing.
- Observability expertise (metrics/tracing/logging), SLOs/error budgets, and performance tuning at scale.
- Security, compliance, and data privacy best practices in finance or SaaS contexts.
- Working knowledge of React/Frontend to collaborate effectively across the stack.

**Example projects you might work on**:

- Accounting Assistant: Helps accountants collect receipts and context from end users
- Budget Forecaster: Predicts budget needs based on historical data and business plans
- Spend Data Agent: Provides budget owners with insights on budget performance and trends

**Location and ways of working**:
**Hiring process**:

- HR Screening call
- Discussion with a Hiring Manager (Head of Engineering)
- Technical interview: live coding (and/or technical design depending on seniority)
- Final interview with leadership

**About Spendesk**:
**About our people & culture**:
We believe that people do their best work when they’re given the freedom to thrive and grow. That’s why liberation is at the core of everything we do. We empower Spendeskers to take ownership of their work, to navigate ambiguity, and seize every opportunity. Spendeskers come from all over the world (35+ countries and counting) but we have plenty in common: we're bold, ever-curious, committed to kindness, and tackle every challenge with a