Staff Software Engineer, Backend
About The Position
Archer’s AI Products Org builds consumer software for the general aviation industry. This role owns the backend for a mature consumer product with a large iOS and Android user base, high-volume real-time data, and a commercial API used by paying customers. The existing system is being moved to new infrastructure, and the engineer will lead that migration while maintaining service for users and API customers. The position covers backend architecture, reliability, cost, on-call operations, and roadmap ownership. The engineer will learn the current system before deciding what to replace, build future data pipelines and APIs, and support new product features. They will collaborate with mobile engineers on API contracts, help hire and set engineering standards as the team grows, and use AI-assisted development tools as a core part of their work. AI Products is described as a roughly 100-person software organization within Archer.
Requirements
- BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science, Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Operations Research, Aerospace Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
- 10 or more years of software engineering experience, primarily in backend engineering.
- Experience owning a production backend, including operating it and responding to incidents.
- Experience leading at least one major migration on a live system with real users.
- Experience with high-volume or real-time data, such as streaming, ingestion, or time-series data.
- Strong API design skills.
- Experience with cloud infrastructure such as AWS or GCP, infrastructure as code, and monitoring systems.
- Ability to make architecture decisions with incomplete information and explain them to non-engineers.
- Comfort using AI tools as a core part of development, with the judgment to identify incorrect output.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with geospatial data.
- Experience operating a public or commercial API, including billing and rate limiting.
- Experience with audio or media streaming.
- Aviation knowledge or a strong interest in aviation.
- Experience shipping products in a regulated or safety-adjacent industry and understanding its effect on engineering culture.
Responsibilities
- Own backend architecture, reliability, cost, on-call operations, and roadmap.
- Plan and lead the migration of the existing production stack to new infrastructure while minimizing disruption for users and API customers, including identifying when to roll back.
- Learn the current system and determine which parts are worth keeping before replacing components.
- Design and build new data pipelines, APIs, and backend capabilities for future features.
- Maintain the performance, stability, and documentation of the commercial API.
- Collaborate with iOS and Android engineers on API contracts and application requirements.
- Help hire and establish the engineering bar as the team grows.
- Use AI-assisted development tools, including agentic coding tools, as part of the development workflow.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
Education Level
Ph.D. or professional degree
