Principal Backend Engineer, ClickUp
Collaboration Platforms
$250-290k
OTE
+ Equity
More information about location
Workplace productivity platform
Be an early applicant
Workplace productivity platform
1001+ employees
Be an early applicant
$250-290k
OTE
+ Equity
More information about location
1001+ employees
Company mission
To save people time by making the world more productive.
Role
Who you are
- You are a hands-on technical leader who thrives on solving complex problems that span frontend, backend, and infrastructure boundaries
- You are a T-shaped engineer with deep expertise in at least one complex technical domain (e.g., real-time collaboration, media pipelines, distributed systems) and a proven ability to apply that depth to new areas
- You don't just modernize legacy systems; you know how to transform them incrementally into scalable and maintainable platforms
- You lead through influence, not authority. Your technical credibility and pragmatic communication allow you to align diverse stakeholders around a shared vision
- You see a complex architecture not as a blocker, but as an opportunity to deliver transformative, lasting improvements
- You have specific experience with collaborative technologies, which is a significant plus
- You consistently solve the problems that others can't and act as a force multiplier for every team you work with
What the job involves
- At ClickUp, our real-time collaborative surfaces are at the heart of our product. We are looking for a pivotal technical leader to own the architectural vision for these tools and set a new standard of performance and reliability for our enterprise customers
- This is fundamentally a distributed systems challenge. You will be accountable for the core architecture that allows millions of concurrent users to collaborate with ultra-low latency. Your work will require a deep understanding of these real-time systems, including state consistency, concurrency models, and the trade-offs of CRDTs and operational transforms
- This isn't a role for a whiteboard architect. This is a hands-on leadership opportunity to transform a complex, mature architecture into a world-class, unified platform. You will diagnose deep, cross-cutting root problems, design a pragmatic path to overhaul our core systems, and lead by doing. Your success will be measured by the tangible improvement in our product's performance and the lasting, positive impact you have on ClickUp’s engineering culture
- Own the long-term technical strategy for ClickUp’s core collaboration platforms, including real-time editing (RTE), live canvases, file uploads, and media streaming
- Solve our most ambiguous architectural challenges by diving deep across our full stack (Angular, Quill, WebSockets, Yjs, NodeJS, PostgreSQL, AWS)
- Champion operational excellence across the organization by implementing architectural patterns that improve the reliability of all our systems
- Ship complex, multi-quarter initiatives that unify our collaborative surfaces and provide a significant competitive advantage in the enterprise market
- Mentor the next generation of technical leaders and elevate ClickUp's engineering culture through your leadership and influence
- As a rapidly scaling company, we are actively maturing our engineering practices. We are not looking for someone to simply fit into our culture; we are looking for a leader to help us build it
- We build with intention. We believe that moving fast is about being iterative, pragmatic, and focused. You will champion clear engineering roadmaps and thoughtful planning to shield your teams from whiplash and create a stable environment for deep work
- We trust our engineers with deep ownership and the autonomy to manage their work and time. We are looking for leaders who can help us define and measure what truly matters: the impact we deliver to our users. You will champion a culture where quality and long-term value are prized above all else
- You will be a key player in technical and professional growth in our teams. Your leadership will be critical in creating a high-trust environment where engineers can take smart risks, have candid conversations, and learn from failures without fear of blame
Our take
Clickup provides a set of professional tools for collaborative project management, spreadsheets, document processing and workplace communication which are accessed from a single platform. In contrast to most of the austere, pared-back tools you might find in the workplace, it takes a playful approach, with its programs looking more like fun consumer-focused apps while still being fully-featured.
The company isn't alone in the workplace productivity market, counting Asana, Jira, Slack, and Monday among just a few of its competitors. However its advantage comes from its unified platform which encourages users to stay in ClickUp's ecosystem rather than look outside for other tools. Indeed, the vast majority of its users utilise three or more of its products. This has led to strong success in its market, with over 800,000 teams using the platform in enterprises such as IBM, logitech and Spotify.
ClickUp has been the beneficiary of a significant amount of investment, which it has used to develop its product and expand internationally. As it grows its footprint in Asia and Europe, where nearly half of its customers are based, it has also unveiled a new version of its platform which integrates AI writing and advanced search tools. The company is well poised to deliver on its vision of becoming the one app to replace them all.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
10% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Oct 2021
$400m
SERIES C
Dec 2020
$100m
SERIES B
Total funding: $537.2m
Company benefits
- 16" MacBook Pro
- Moving Expenses
- $200/mo commuter benefits
- Team lunches each week
- 401(k) match up to 2%
- Unlimited snacks, kombucha, and cold brew
- Health insurance
- Dental insurance
- ClickUp swag
- Teammate recognition rewards
- Flexible PTO
Company HQ
East Village, San Diego, CA
Leadership
Alex Yurkowski
(CTO)Previously co-founded Mango Technologies. Experience as a Software Engineer for IBM and as an iOS Developer for Notre Dame Research Group.
Zeb Evans
(CEO)Previously co-founded Fast Followerz and spent one year as a Monorail Driver for Walt Disney World.
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