Software Engineer - Backend, Standalone Apps Team

Meta•Menlo Park, CA

2d•$219,000 - $301,000

About The Position

Meta's Standalone Apps Team builds new apps to reach new user scenarios and serve needs that are not well met today. This is a small team working from 0 to 1, offering high ownership, a short path from idea to launch, and the opportunity to shape a product from its first version. The role is for a senior backend engineer who will build the services behind the product, design and own backend systems that power the app, ensure they remain reliable and fast as usage grows, and partner with client and ML engineers on the end-to-end experience.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, a relevant technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant time building backend/server systems.
Strong grasp of distributed systems, data modeling, APIs, and service reliability.
Track record of designing and shipping backend systems at scale.
Experience leading the technical direction of a project and working independently with limited guidance.

Nice To Haves

Demonstrated ability to integrate AI tools to optimize or redesign workflows and drive measurable impact, such as efficiency gains or quality improvements.
Experience adhering to and implementing responsible, ethical AI practices, such as risk assessment, bias mitigation, and quality and accuracy reviews.
Ongoing AI skill development, such as prompt/context engineering and agent orchestration, and staying current with emerging AI technologies.
Experience taking a new product backend from 0 to 1.
Experience with high-throughput, low-latency systems or social/consumer-scale data.
Experience partnering closely with ML/recsys systems.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and own backend services and APIs that power the core product.
Model data and design systems that remain reliable, fast, and cost-efficient as usage grows.
Set technical direction for major backend areas and raise the bar on quality, observability, and operational health.
Partner with client, ML, and product teams to deliver features end to end.
Mentor other engineers and improve how the team builds.