Founding Backend Software Engineer (SeniorStaff) VC Backed Startups

Join SignalFires Talent Network for Founding Back-end Software Engineer Roles at VC-Backed Startups

At SignalFire we partner with top early-stage startups that are shaping the future of technology. Our portfolio spans 200 innovative companies across AI cybersecurity healthtech fintech developer tools and enterprise SaaS.

Were looking to connect with exceptional Backend Engineers who are excited about joining high-growth startups as founding team members. By joining SignalFires Talent Network your profile will be shared with our portfolio companies giving you visibility into exclusive early-stage opportunities that may not be publicly listed.

This is not an application for a specific job. Instead this is a way to get on the radar of VC-backed startups that are actively hiring AI/ML talent. If you have any questions please direct inquiries to

Who Should Join

Were looking for engineers who are:
Passionate about backend architecture and scalable distributed systems
Excited about joining early-stage startups and working directly with founders
Interested in building APIs microservices and cloud infrastructure

Typical Roles & Responsibilities

• Design build and maintain backend systems with a focus on scalability and performance

• Develop high-performance APIs microservices and cloud-based architectures

• Optimize databases and data pipelines for reliability and efficiency

• Collaborate with founders to define technical strategy and align it with business goals

• Ensure backend infrastructure is secure fault-tolerant and cost-efficient

• Establish best practices for software development DevOps and infrastructure management

Common Qualifications

While each startup has its own hiring criteria many founding backend engineering roles in our network look for:

• 3 years of experience as a backend engineer with a proven track record of shipping production systems

• Expertise in backend frameworks ( Django Flask Ruby on Rails FastAPI Spring Boot)

• Strong understanding of databases (PostgreSQL MySQL MongoDB DynamoDB Redis) and data modeling

• Experience with cloud infrastructure (AWS GCP Azure) and containerization tools (Docker Kubernetes)

• Proficiency in backend programming languages such as Python Go Java or Ruby

• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code tools

• Experience in early-stage startups or lean teams is a plus

Technologies You Might Work With:

• Languages & Frameworks: Python Golang Java JavaScript () Ruby Django Flask FastAPI Ruby on Rails Spring Boot

• Databases: PostgreSQL MySQL MongoDB DynamoDB Redis

• Cloud & DevOps: AWS (Lambda EC2 S3 RDS) GCP (Cloud Run Firestore) Azure Docker Kubernetes Terraform Jenkins GitHub Actions

• Other Tools: REST APIs GraphQL WebSockets Kafka RabbitMQ Elasticsearch

What Happens Next

1. Submit your application to join SignalFires Talent Ecosystem.

2. We review applications on an ongoing basis to identify strong candidates.

3. If theres a match a SignalFire talent partner or a leader from one of our startups may reach out directly.

4. No match yet Well keep your profile on file for future backend engineering roles in our portfolio.

Required Experience:

Senior IC