Staff Software Engineer, Sage

• We expect candidates will typically have 7+ years of backend/infrastructure engineering experience, with a track record of leading complex projects at scale
• Deep proficiency in Java (JDK internals, concurrency, memory management, profiling, tuning)
• Strong background in building distributed systems (service-to-service communication, replication, consensus, failure handling)
• Experience with API design (REST/gRPC), serialization formats, and versioning strategies
• Hands-on expertise with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP)
• Strong knowledge of containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Familiarity with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform or equivalent)
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures and streaming systems (Kafka, etc)
• Strong understanding of databases (SQL and NoSQL), transaction models, and distributed data management
• Knowledge of caching strategies (Redis, Memcached, etc.) and message queues
• Experience with monitoring, logging, and tracing (DataDog, Prometheus, Grafana, ELK/EFK, OpenTelemetry, etc)
• Strong skills in debugging distributed systems in production
• Familiarity with secure coding practices, secrets management, and cloud security models
• Knowledge of authentication/authorization frameworks (OAuth2, OIDC, JWT)
• Ability to lead design reviews, write technical proposals, and set engineering standards
• Track record of mentoring other engineers on backend and infrastructure skills

Desirable

• We’re looking for a Staff Backend Infrastructure Engineer to serve as the most senior IC on our small but growing infrastructure team
• Our platform is mission-critical and must function 24/7
• In this role, you’ll take ownership of the core systems that keep our platform running
• You’ll ensure that our stack and its fundamental components scale smoothly, remain supportable, and deliver the performance our users depend on
• This is a highly impactful position with broad scope: you’ll have the opportunity to take on as much complexity as you can handle, drive technical direction, and help shape the future of our infrastructure as the company grows
• Lead Technical Projects: Own and drive high-impact backend and infrastructure initiatives, from design through production
• Architect Scalable Systems: Design and implement distributed, fault-tolerant backend services with an emphasis on performance and resilience
• Strengthen Infrastructure: Evolve our containerized, cloud-native platform, ensuring observability, reliability, and efficiency at scale
• Optimize Performance: Profile and tune Java services, improve throughput/latency, and scale systems to handle high-volume workloads
• Mentor & Guide: Share expertise in backend engineering and infrastructure best practices with other engineers
• Partner Cross-Functionally: Collaborate with product engineering teams to deliver secure, scalable features and infrastructure improvements