Senior Backend Engineer (API), Buffer
Channels & Platform
$156.5-202.3k
Offering Equity and Profit Sharing
MongoDB
TypeScript
GraphQL
Node.js
Senior and Expert level
Remote from Canada, Europe, UK, US
Social media management platform
Job no longer available
Social media management platform
21-100 employees
B2CB2BSocial Media
Job no longer available
$156.5-202.3k
Offering Equity and Profit Sharing
MongoDB
TypeScript
GraphQL
Node.js
Senior and Expert level
Remote from Canada, Europe, UK, US
21-100 employees
B2CB2BSocial Media
Company mission
To provide essential tools to help small businesses get off the ground and grow. Through exceptional customer service and uplifting content, helping businesses believe they can succeed and do good along the way.
Role
Who you are
- You have first-hand experience designing, implementing, and maintaining public APIs and/or extensibility platforms, who enjoys going deep — designing data models, shaping APIs, improving performance, and helping our systems scale with clarity and confidence
- You have practical experience designing, implementing, and maintaining public APIs, plug-in ecosystems, or extensibility platforms
- You have deep experience with modern stack — we use Node.js, TypeScript, GraphQL, and MongoDB
- You’ve led backend projects from start to finish — shaping architecture, guiding trade-offs, and delivering reliable systems that support real-world product needs
- You have strong systems thinking. You look beyond the immediate task, anticipate downstream effects, and help teams converge on architecture that supports the long game
- You’ve worked across teams to drive platform or infrastructure improvements — whether simplifying service boundaries, improving observability, or evolving internal tooling
- You’ve contributed to collaborative or multi-user product features, and you understand the data, consistency, and UX considerations that come with them
- You’re fluent with modern AI tools — not just using them for code generation, but integrating them into how you debug, document, explore ideas, and reduce manual effort
- You care about performance, scale, and clean abstractions — and know how to measure, prioritize, and improve them pragmatically
- You’ve influenced engineering culture through code reviews, mentoring, or leading by example, and you’re comfortable being a resource for others on architectural decisions
- You have a personal stake in the world of content creation; maybe you’ve run a newsletter, built an audience on social media, or regularly shared your own work online. You’ve used Buffer before and care about the experience of planning, creating, and publishing content
- You thrive in remote, async environments. You’re clear in your thinking, generous with context, and don’t wait for perfect information to get started
- You’ve likely been doing this for 7+ years, but experience depth and impact matter more to us than a specific number
What the job involves
- You will play a key role in building our public API and creating a future plug-in ecosystem that would elevate Buffer into a platform other developers can build on top of, providing creators the next generation of tools for writing, editing, and managing content
- We’re looking for a senior backend engineer to join the Channels and Platform team at Buffer
- We work iteratively and in tight feedback loops, balancing thoughtful engineering with steady momentum. In addition to building a new platform, you’ll help us strengthen our internal systems, making them faster, more scalable, and better equipped to power content creation at scale. There’s real room here to shape this direction and make an impact
- Be part of a small, dedicated squad within the Channels and Platform team responsible for Public API development
- Lead the development of the backend systems for the Buffer Platform. This includes creating an API for core Buffer features, internal services to ensure Public API stability, availability, high performance, and developer tools for platform clients
- Improve and evolve our internal systems — helping consolidate services into a monorepo, improve tooling and observability, and reduce complexity across the board
- Collaborate closely with engineers, product, and design to scope work, explore trade-offs, and find the simplest path to something great
- Make steady improvements to performance, reliability, and data modeling, helping us scale quality over time
- Participate in on-call rotation (all engineers take on a 24/7 week-long shift once a quarter on average) and day-to-day maintenance work required to keep the lights on the systems owned by the team (this includes bug fixing, addressing security vulnerabilities, incident follow-ups, etc.)
- Contribute to shaping our engineering culture by sharing knowledge, reviewing code, and leading by example
Application process
- Application. When submitting your application and resume, tell us why you want to join Buffer and take your time. This is your chance to make a strong first impression
- Hiring manager interview. Chat with the hiring manager for your role to understand what it takes to work at Buffer. This is an opportunity for both sides to get to know each other and determine whether our expectations align
- Code review assignment. We'll send you 30-minute asynchronous assignment to review a pull request, to help us understand how you think about code and communicate technical ideas
- Technical interviews. Interview with a couple of engineers from Buffer focused on your technical experience and approach. Additionally, for senior+ roles, we'll have an additional conversation about your leadership, how you work with teams, and how you approach the broader challenges that come with this level
- Collaboration period. This is experimental stage for us where you would work with us on a real project over a few days (fully paid, with flexible timing). The goal is to see how it feels to work in the team, both for us and for you. You'll meet a few bufferoos, we'll kickoff the project, and invite you to a Slack and you'll collaborate with the team on it
- Meet the CEO. At the very end, you will have the opportunity to meet with Joel Gascoigne, our CEO. This is a great chance for you to gain a deeper understanding of Buffer's strategy, values, and work processes
- Offer. We wrap it up with an offer and discuss the final details. We would align on the last bits before we make you part of the Buffer team 💛
Our take
Buffer is a social media management platform helping businesses and individuals drive meaningful engagement on their social media accounts. With a suite of products designed for publishing, engagement, analytics, and team collaboration, Buffer is integrated with some of the biggest social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
It acts as an all-in-one stop for social media planning, scheduling and managing, and when comparing the platform to its competitors, Buffer claims to offer the most value for money, making it the perfect platform for creators of all sizes looking to manage their social media and grow their audience without draining their time.
Buffer is a private and independent company that's now been operating for over 14 years. True to their philosophy of doing things a little differently, Buffer has been remote since its early years, it also intentionally maintains a small team of around 75 employees, publishes all employee salaries publicly, and operates on a four-day work week.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Strong hiring activity
15% employee growth in 12 months
Glassdoor (4.2)
Trustpilot (2)
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Oct 2014
$3.5m
SERIES A
Dec 2011
$0.4m
ANGEL
Total funding: $3.9m
Company benefits
- Work remotely: Live and work wherever you like!
- 4-Day workweeks: Our schedule is four workdays, with a flexible, meeting-free fifth day for overflow tasks or personal time as you see fit
- Health insurance: We offer health insurance for all of our team members, international or US
- Home office setup: Get a laptop + $500 to set up your home office!
- 'Growth mindset' fund: Extra money for learning and development
- Minimum vacation: At least 3 weeks/year!
- Profit sharing: When the company does well, all team members share the profits!
- Family leave: 16 weeks of family leave for all parents, fully paid
- Retreats: When we can, we meet in person for company get-togethers
- Working smarter stipend: Get some extra cash for a co-working space or a coffee shop work
- Free books and Kindle: Get a free Kindle and all the free books - digital, physical, and audio - you like, anytime
- Sabbaticals: Take a 6-week break, fully paid, after every 5 years with Buffer
- 401(k): With 3% company match 🇺🇸
Company values
- Default to transparency
- Improve consistently
- Be a no-ego doer
- Show gratitude
- Choose optimism
- Reflect to unblock
Company HQ
Pacific Heights, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Joel Gascoigne
(CEO)Graduated from the University of Warwick with a Masters of Engineering and Computing Science.
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