Senior Backend and Data Engineer, Alignable
Strategy & Operations
$145-185k
+ Equity
Social network for small business owners
Be an early applicant
Social network for small business owners
21-100 employees
Be an early applicant
$145-185k
+ Equity
21-100 employees
Company mission
Alignable's mission is to bring together small business owners from across the globe to help them gain competitive advantage so they can succeed in their business.
Role
Who you are
- You’ve built data pipelines that solved real business problems (not just moved data around)
- You can sit with a Sales VP or business user, ask the right questions, and walk away knowing what to build to solve their problem
- You get excited about making AI agents do useful work, not just impressive demos
- You’re comfortable saying “I don’t know this tech yet, but I’ll figure it out”
- You prefer shipping working solutions over perfect architecture
- 8–10 years of backend or full stack engineering experience, with hands-on exposure to front-end tools (e.g., React/TypeScript) for light UI work when needed. Backend/data engineering should be your core strength
- Strong SQL and data modeling skills (Snowflake experience a big plus)
- Proficiency in ETL/ELT pipelines (DBT preferred; Airflow/Fivetran also welcome)
- Experience building backend services and APIs (any modern language; Elixir is a bonus)
- Comfort picking up new languages/frameworks quickly
- Hands-on use of AI tools, agents, or LLM integrations (personal or professional)
What the job involves
- This is more than a typical engineering role
- You’ll be the dedicated engineer embedded in our small Strategy & Operations team, building AI-first solutions that ensure every facet of Alignable is AI-powered and data-driven—transforming how Alignable operates internally
- From customer support automation to sales agents, data pipelines, and internal AI tools, you’ll own projects that change how the entire company runs
- Many engineers are like skilled mechanics: hand them a work order, and they’ll fix the car brilliantly
- We need someone who goes further — who steps into the garage, looks at all the cars, talks to the drivers, and decides not just how to fix them, but which ones actually matter — and sometimes, whether we should skip the cars altogether and buy a bus
- You’ll work closely with executives and business leaders, reporting into our Sr Director of Engineering with a dotted line to our VP of Strategy & Operations
- This is a high-visibility role where your work impacts the whole company
- Data Engineering & Infrastructure (50%) — Design and maintain Snowflake pipelines, DBT models, and ETL/ELT systems; Write complex SQL and ensure scalable, reliable data flows powering AI agents and BI
- Backend/API Development (40%) — Build backend services and integrations in Elixir, Ruby, or Python (language flexible); Create MCP servers, agent orchestration, and LLM integrations that unlock AI use cases
- AI Agent and Development Support (10%) — Utilize LLMS, models, and MCP tools to solve sticky business problems, hard development problems, and replace cumbersome workflows
- In your first 30 days, you’ve shipped something real — a working pipeline, automation, or backend service that immediately makes someone’s job easier
- By 90 days, you’ve delivered multiple AI-powered solutions (agents, workflow automations, dashboards, or integrations) that measurably improve efficiency, reduce manual work, or unlock new insights
- Within 6 months, you’ve built reusable backend and data infrastructure (Snowflake/DBT models, MCP servers, APIs) that other teams can leverage
- You consistently balance urgency and scale — knowing when to hack fast to unlock value, and when to invest in longer-term durability
- You’re a trusted partner to executives and stakeholders, taking messy, high-value problems and rapidly turning them into clear, working technical solutions
- Ability to combine technical chops with business judgment
- Naturally ask “why are we building this?” and “what’s the fastest path to impact?”
- Make smart speed/quality tradeoffs without waiting for permission
- Can independently digest messy business requirements and turn them into solutions
- Strong business analysis instincts — know the right questions to ask stakeholders
- Work seamlessly with business stakeholders (not just technical peers)
- Proactively identify problems and solutions before being asked
- Already use AI tools daily and have experimented with MCP servers, AI agents, or similar
- Excited about building AI systems, not just using them
- Comfortable in the “figure it out” world of rapidly evolving AI tools
- Comfort being the sole engineer on projects while knowing when to loop in peers
- Thrive in a remote-first environment with dotted-line reporting across Strategy & Engineering
Our take
Building and maintaining a small business is no easy task, especially in more turbulent macroeconomic conditions. As many small businesses face an uncertain future, Alignable supplies a solution for owners to build stronger relationships with other SMBs, and support each other's endeavours.
Put simply, Alignable is a social network for small business owners. It boasts 8 million users, making it the largest SMB referral network in the world, and creates value by enabling users to generate and share leads, build relationships and offer advice to one another.
Lately, it seems Alignable has been focussed on expansion, making efforts to scale its workforce and grow its outreach and user base. With such a unique offering, the company has a clear opportunity for impact as well as the chance to consolidate its market lead.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
11% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- Health insurance
- Dental, vision, mental health & life insurance
- Opt-in short & long-term disability solutions
- Unlimited time off
- Minimum 2 weeks (back to back) PTO taken each year
- Paid parental leave for birthing & non-birthing parents
- Flexible working
- 401k program
- Professional development compensation
- Remote company
- Access to remote office spaces, e.g. WeWork
- Work from home stipend
Company HQ
Bulfinch Triangle Historic District, Boston, MA
Leadership
Eric Groves
(CEO)Has served on the Board of Directors at a number of companies such as More Than Words and BigCommerce. Was an SVP at Constant Contact for over a decade.
Venkat Krishnamurthy
(President)Board Member at Grand Circle Corporation and Cementos Pacasmayo. Was Founder and CTO of Paraform, which was acquired by Nikon, and also CTO at Checkpoint Systems.
Salary benchmarks
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