Senior Software Engineer, Backend

RapidSOS•New York City, NY

12d•$145,000 - $165,000•Remote

About The Position

In the time it takes you to read this job description, RapidSOS will have handled ~1,380 emergencies. At RapidSOS, we are committed to using technology to build a safer, stronger future and working together to save lives. We’re in an exciting phase of growth, welcoming new members from across the globe to our mission-driven, ambitious, and inclusive team. Our work is founded on our values of trust and safety , pioneering , urgency , and purpose over pride , all of which support a company culture where people can innovate, collaborate, grow, and, above all, make an impact. If that sounds like an exciting opportunity, we want to hear from you! RapidSOS is an intelligent safety platform that harnesses artificial and human intelligence to fuse life-saving data from 600M+ connected devices, apps, and sensors from 210+ global technology companies, then delivers it to over 22,000+ public safety agencies in 11 countries. Powered by RapidSOS HARMONY, the industry’s first purpose-built AI for public safety, RapidSOS empowers first responders with real-time intelligence and the situational awareness needed to help protect property and save lives. Learn more at www.RapidSOS.com . What this role is about: Are you passionate about building reliable, scalable backend systems that power technology with real-world impact? At RapidSOS, we’re transforming emergency response with innovative technology that delivers critical, life-saving data to dispatchers covering 99% of the U.S. population. We’re seeking a Senior Software Engineer, Backend to join a full-stack team building the next wave of intelligent emergency technology. In this role, you’ll design and develop modern backend services, APIs, and data workflows that ensure critical information reaches telecommunicators quickly, accurately, and reliably in their most urgent moments. You’ll work hands-on across distributed systems, real-time data delivery, and AI-driven features that help public safety receive, interpret, and act on information faster. You will have the opportunity to collaborate across teams to help drive architectural decisions, improve performance and scalability, uphold engineering excellence, and champion an AI-forward approach to how we build and ship software. If you thrive in a fast-paced, mission-driven environment and want to build backend systems that make a meaningful difference where every second matters, this is your opportunity to help shape the future of public safety technology.

Requirements

5+ years of professional backend engineering experience with deep expertise in Python
Experience integrating with RESTful APIs and delivering comprehensive end-to-end solutions in an AWS environment
Experience working with relational and non-relational databases and message bus systems (RabbitMQ, Kafka, SQS)
Ideally has experience building AI-driven features or using AI tools to enhance acceleration of development, and is proactive about leveraging emerging technologies
Strong communication and interpersonal skills; is a team player with a positive attitude
Highly self-motivated; ability to adapt and learn quickly in a fast-paced environment with a strong sense of ownership
Strong proficiency in coding best practices – ability to write clean, maintainable, and testable code
Customer-centric mindset; cares deeply about delivering solutions that enable and delight customers while meeting product goals
Demonstrated expertise in problem solving – from troubleshooting issues to debugging a large codebase
Ability and willingness to collaborate in-person a few times per quarter, or as needed

Nice To Haves

Experience working with voice-to-text or speech processing features
Proficiency with real-time communication technologies such as WebSockets
Hands-on experience with message bus or event-driven systems (RabbitMQ, Pub/Sub, Kafka, etc.)
Experience working in an agile, iterative engineering environment

Responsibilities

Drive the architecture, design, and implementation of new features for RapidSOS UNITE—a Python-based application that handles an average of 500,000 emergency calls daily
Lead strategic architectural decisions, help drive alignment, and optimize applications for performance, scalability, and accessibility
Use best-in-class software development practices (unit tests, integration tests, performance tests, monitoring, detailed functional specification and test plans) to ensure RapidSOS' products remain highly reliable and fault tolerant
Collaborate in an agile environment with stakeholders across Engineering, GTM, Design, and Product to develop solutions for RapidSOS products
Actively participate in code reviews and standups, sharing knowledge, championing best practices, and contributing to the continuous improvement of team processes
Identify opportunities to assess and enhance current applications, including refactoring code and upgrading technologies used
Leverage modern AI development tools (i.e. Claude Code or similar) to accelerate delivery, improve code quality, and raise the overall impact of the team
Own meaningful parts of our platform, have an impact, grow with the company

Benefits

The chance to work with a passionate team on solving one of the largest challenges globally
Competitive salary and benefits and equity participation
A dynamic, flexible and fun start-up work environment with a highly talented team

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