Backend Engineer

Lean In•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

The Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation (SGBFF) works to build a more equal and resilient world. We bring people together to support each other through four initiatives: LeanIn.Org , LeanInGirls.Org , OptionB.Org , and the Dave Goldberg Scholarship Program. Through our community, research-based content, and programs, we help women and allies build the skills, confidence, and networks they need to reach their full potential. We believe a more equal world is possible - and that it will take us working together to create it. While the majority of your work will focus on Lean In, this role offers the opportunity to drive impact across multiple mission-driven initiatives. We're hiring a Backend Engineer who will architect and maintain the back-end services and data pipelines that power our platforms - and you'll turn the data flowing through them into the metrics and analysis that guide our decisions. Engineer, data engineer, and data scientist all in one seat. This is a unique, high-growth opportunity. As AI reshapes how software and data work together, the people who can both build robust infrastructure and reason rigorously about what the data says are extraordinarily valuable. You'll have real ownership, direct influence on strategy through the metrics you define, and room to grow as our data and platforms scale to serve millions.

Requirements

3+ years in back-end or full-stack engineering, with meaningful data science or analytics experience (or the reverse).
Strong proficiency in a server-side language (Python preferred; Node.js, Ruby, or Java also welcome) and building RESTful APIs.
Strong SQL, plus experience working with both SQL and NoSQL databases.
Strong ability to set goal metrics for a team and track progress over time.
Proven experience building and maintaining data pipelines.
Experience defining and tracking metrics, plus logging and instrumentation.
Experience setting up and running experiments to measure impact.
Data visualization skills and the ability to communicate analysis in a clear, compelling way.
A self-starter who thrives with autonomy and strong problem-solving skills and intellectual curiosity.
Excellent cross-functional collaboration and communication skills.
A bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Data Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
A deep commitment to Lean In's mission to inspire and equip women to lead.
Alignment with the Sandberg Bernthal Family Foundation's initiatives, including building resilience and advancing equality.

Responsibilities

Build the backend: Design, develop, and deploy scalable back-end services, APIs, and database architectures.
Take end-to-end ownership of technical projects, from technical design to production release.
Write clean, maintainable, well-tested code, and troubleshoot and debug across the stack.
Optimize performance, scalability, and security, and implement robust logging and observability.
Engineer the data: Build and maintain reliable data pipelines, from raw ingestion to reporting.
Design and optimize data infrastructure and warehousing solutions.
Ensure data quality, governance, and consistency across systems.
Implement logging and instrumentation that make our products measurable.
Drive insight and metrics: Partner with leadership and product to define, set, and track our goal metrics.
Build dashboards and visualizations accessible to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Design experiments and analyze A/B tests to optimize features and experiences.
Build predictive models and recommendation systems that personalize and strengthen user journeys.
Translate complex analysis into clear, practical recommendations that inform decisions.