Senior Backend Software Architect

ImmunityBio, Inc. • El Segundo, CA

6d

About The Position

The Senior Backend Software Architect will provide technical leadership across the organization through a combination of hands-on software development, system architecture, and strategic guidance. The role designs scalable, resilient systems; develops production-grade code; mentors engineering teams; and connects business objectives with engineering execution. It calls for deep full-stack expertise, enterprise architecture experience, and the ability to align technical solutions with business goals.

The position leads the architecture and evolution of backend systems and establishes standards for APIs, data, security, operations, and integrations. It works across engineering, product, infrastructure, security, quality, and business teams to deliver reliable and maintainable solutions, while supporting production incidents, innovation initiatives, and process improvements.

Work may be on-site or remote depending on the candidate’s geographic location, as stated in the offer letter. The regular schedule is Monday through Friday during standard business hours, with flexibility available with manager approval. The role requires use of a standard office setting and equipment, extensive keyboard and monitor use, and the ability to lift and carry materials weighing up to 20 pounds.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in a computer science field and 10 or more years of relevant experience.
• 10 or more years of professional software engineering experience.
• At least 3 years of experience in an architecture or technical lead capacity.
• Advanced proficiency designing, developing, and supporting production backend applications, with substantial enterprise architecture or senior technical leadership responsibility.
• Advanced proficiency in one or more backend programming languages, such as Java, C#, Python, Go, or TypeScript, and ability to review code and guide implementation.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, concurrency, asynchronous processing, fault tolerance, idempotency, retries, caching, and consistency trade-offs.
• Strong knowledge of architectural approaches including modular monoliths, microservices, service-oriented architecture, event-driven architecture, and domain-driven design.
• Ability to select an appropriate architecture without introducing unnecessary complexity.
• Expertise in RESTful APIs and enterprise integration patterns, with familiarity with GraphQL, gRPC, webhooks, and message-based interfaces as applicable.
• Strong knowledge of relational and nonrelational databases, including schema design, indexing, query optimization, transactions, replication, and data migration.
• Experience with message brokers, event-streaming platforms, background processing, and durable workflow orchestration.
• Proficiency with at least one major cloud platform—Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud—and familiarity with hybrid deployment considerations.
• Experience with containers, orchestration, serverless computing, infrastructure as code, source control, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong understanding of secure software design, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, role-based access control, least privilege, and protection of sensitive data.
• Experience implementing automated testing strategies, including unit, integration, contract, end-to-end, performance, and security testing.
• Ability to define and assess availability, latency, throughput, recovery, and capacity requirements and translate them into practical system designs.
• Familiarity with operational monitoring, centralized logging, distributed tracing, incident management, and root-cause analysis.
• Ability to assess technology costs, licensing implications, vendor dependencies, and total cost of ownership.
• Excellent analytical, problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills, including explaining architectural trade-offs to technical and nontechnical stakeholders.
• Ability to influence without direct authority, mentor engineers, resolve technical disagreements, and maintain alignment across multiple teams.
• Ability to balance delivery commitments with security, reliability, maintainability, and technical-debt priorities.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Outstanding analytical, mathematical, and creative problem-solving skills.
• Ability to work in a standard office setting and use standard office equipment, including a computer.
• Ability to lift and carry materials weighing up to 20 pounds.

Nice To Haves

• Experience with microservices architecture, API design (REST, gRPC, GraphQL), and service mesh technologies.
• Experience with event-driven architecture technologies such as Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS, or EventBridge, and stream processing.
• Previous industry experience in FinTech, healthcare, or SaaS.
• Experience working in regulated or security-sensitive environments.

Responsibilities

• Evaluate and select technologies, frameworks, and infrastructure based on scalability, security, and cost efficiency.
• Create and maintain architectural decision records, technical roadmaps, and system design documentation.
• Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of backend systems, ensuring scalability, reliability, security, performance, and maintainability.
• Translate business objectives and technical requirements into architectural designs, roadmaps, integration patterns, technical specifications, and measurable acceptance criteria.
• Define system boundaries, service interfaces, data flows, and architectural standards for distributed systems, APIs, event-driven services, and enterprise integrations.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership through prototyping, development of critical components, code and design reviews, and resolution of complex engineering challenges.
• Establish standards for API design, authentication, authorization, input validation, error handling, versioning, and backward compatibility.
• Design data architectures that support transactional integrity, efficient retrieval, consistency, data protection, retention, and recovery requirements.
• Incorporate security and privacy throughout the software development lifecycle, including threat modeling, secrets management, encryption, access controls, and dependency management.
• Partner with DevOps, infrastructure, and security teams on automated build and deployment pipelines, infrastructure as code, environment controls, and secure release practices.
• Define operational-readiness and observability requirements, including logging, metrics, tracing, alerting, service-level objectives, runbooks, and disaster recovery.
• Collaborate with product management, frontend engineering, quality assurance, data engineering, cybersecurity, and business stakeholders to deliver cohesive solutions.
• Mentor engineers and technical leads, promote consistent engineering practices, and document architectural decisions, standards, and reference designs.
• Support major production incidents through technical investigation, identification of systemic causes, and recommendations for corrective actions.
• Review proposed exceptions to architectural standards and communicate risks, trade-offs, and mitigation plans to leadership.
• Drive innovation initiatives, R&D projects, and emerging technology adoption.
• Create, edit, and adhere to Standard Operating Procedures, process improvements, and standardized templates.
• Perform ad-hoc and cross-functional duties or projects assigned to support business needs and provide developmental opportunities.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision plan options.
• Health and financial wellness programs.
• Employer Assistance Program (EAP).
• Company-paid and voluntary life and AD&D insurance.
• Short-term and long-term disability coverage.
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts.
• 401(k) retirement plan with company match.
• 529 Education Savings Program.
• Voluntary legal services.
• Identity theft protection.
• Pet insurance.
• Employee discounts, rewards, and perks.
• Paid time off, including 11 holidays.
• Exempt employees are eligible for unlimited PTO.
• Non-exempt employees are eligible for 10 vacation days, 56 hours of health pay, 2 personal days, and 1 cultural day.
• Professional development opportunities.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior