Full Stack Engineer (Backend Focus)

Commons•Oakland, CA

1d•$150,000 - $200,000

About The Position

Commons is hiring a Full Stack Engineer with a backend focus to build across its app’s full stack and lead backend and platform work, including data models, integrations, infrastructure, and security. This individual-contributor role is described as mid to senior, with room to grow in influence and scope. The engineer will work across mobile and web development, frontend and backend features, architecture, testing, and team workflows. The engineer will join a distributed team of three other engineers, one based in the US and two in Manila. They will lead backend architecture and own backend and platform decisions, while collaborating daily with engineering teammates and partnering with product, design, marketing, and data colleagues. The team values collaboration, clear communication in code reviews and design discussions, and shared learning.

Requirements

At least 5 years building production software across the stack, with most experience focused on backend work; fewer years may be considered with the right experience.
Build foundations and capabilities that can be iterated on, rather than focusing only on polished final products.
Experience building and shipping features end to end.
Experience building backend systems from the ground up and owning production at a startup.
Experience setting up CI and monitoring, responding to pages, and serving as a first point of contact during outages or emergencies.
Strong knowledge of Postgres, including designing schemas from scratch and running migrations on actively used systems.
Experience building and maintaining third-party integrations and making defensible build-versus-buy decisions.
Take data security and privacy seriously.
Deep familiarity with AI and agentic coding tools, using them to build, refine, and check work, and enthusiasm for helping others improve their workflows.
Ability to clearly explain technical tradeoffs to people without a technical background.
Enjoy tackling varied problems and collaborating as an individual contributor in a team where everyone builds, owns, and co-creates; not seeking a management role.

Responsibilities

Build features end to end, from database to UI, and review pull requests.
Design and evolve core data models, and review migrations before release.
Own third-party integrations and make build-versus-buy decisions.
Run CI/CD, monitoring, and infrastructure, including GitHub Actions, CircleCI, New Relic, Sentry, Render, Postgres, and Redis.
Lead during outages and escalations, especially those related to infrastructure.
Keep dependencies up to date and simplify the technology stack where possible.
Work with the data team to improve privacy and security practices.
Help develop AI coding tools and workflows across the team to increase speed and efficacy.
Lead backend architecture and own backend and platform decisions.
Collaborate with product, design, marketing, data, and engineering teammates on decisions and new features and capabilities.