Backend Engineer

Skip • San Francisco, CA

2d • Hybrid

About The Position

Skip is seeking a highly motivated and adaptable backend engineer to own the systems powering a new generation of wearable robots. This role involves managing APIs, data pipelines connecting devices to the cloud, and the infrastructure for real-time telemetry, over-the-air updates, and fleet management. The engineer will address challenges in scalability, reliability, security, and latency, while integrating with embedded hardware in a fast-paced startup environment. This position is part of a 3-4 person software team, responsible for backend development and cloud infrastructure for a new consumer robotics platform. The role also includes coaching and mentoring less experienced team members.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in backend engineering, with a focus on cloud infrastructure and data-intensive applications
• Excellent coding skills in Python and C++
• Experience with cloud infrastructure like GCP
• Strong experience with containerization technologies like Docker and orchestration tools such as Kubernetes
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) tools, e.g. Terraform
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, e.g. GitHub Actions
• Experience with IoT and edge devices
• Able to deliver quality work in a fast-paced startup environment
• Ability to relocate to work at the Skip Bay Area office
• Sense of humour, tolerant of Aussie & Canadian spelling

Nice To Haves

• Experience in scaling and managing data pipelines for high-volume data ingestion using Beam/dataflow
• Understanding of DevOps and SRE (Site Reliability Engineering) principles
• Experience with a UI framework like Dart/Flutter or Angular/TS
• Experience with Rust, robotics or mechatronics (ST/TI firmware, SPI/UART, BLE, etc)
• Experience with machine learning / ML Ops
• Experience in start-up environments
• Personal motivation to improve human movement

Responsibilities

• Develop and manage backend systems, focusing on containerized services and cloud storage solutions for data ingestion and processing.
• Automate infrastructure setup and management using tools like Terraform for reproducible and scalable deployments.
• Transition cloud infrastructure from a single project to distinct Dev and Prod projects in GCP to ensure system safety, data integrity, and environment separation.
• Design and optimize data storage and retrieval processes, scaling storage buckets and data ingestion pipelines.
• Manage and streamline CI/CD workflows hosted in GitHub, optimizing test run segmentation and potentially hosting CI on GCP VMs.
• Monitor and optimize infrastructure for efficient usage of compute and storage resources.
• Develop automation scripts and processes for infrastructure provisioning, backups, monitoring, and maintenance.
• Implement security best practices across backend and infrastructure.
• Collaborate with frontend, hardware, and controls teams to ensure smooth data flow.
• Wear prototypes several hours a week for data collection, model testing, and feedback.
• Contribute to the improvement of software development processes and practices.
• Engage in code reviews and knowledge sharing.
• Participate in team events and foster a positive team culture.

Benefits

• Equal opportunity employer
• Offers of employment are conditional on candidates’ ability to provide satisfactory proof of eligibility to maintain full-time employment in the United States.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed