Backend Engineer

You’ll build and scale the systems that power Pocket’s AI experience, from real-time transcription pipelines to cloud sync and intelligent APIs.

You’ll work closely with our mobile and AI teams to make Pocket faster, more reliable, and infinitely scalable. This isn’t a founding role, but it’s core to the product. You’ll join a small, high-output team that ships at the level of world-class consumer tech companies.

What you'll own

• Backend Development

• Design and build RESTful APIs in Node.js and TypeScript (Express.js or Nest.js).

• Architect and maintain PostgreSQL databases; optimize schema design and queries.

• Implement background jobs and queues using Redis for ingestion, summarization, and notifications.

• Build and maintain caching layers (Redis, CDN, HTTP cache) for low-latency responses.

• Implement authentication, authorization, and data privacy best practices.

• Add real-time capabilities (WebSockets, Server-Sent Events) for live sync and streaming.

• Build observability into every service: logging, metrics, and tracing by default.

• Deploy and manage backend services on AWS (EC2, ECS, RDS, S3, Lambda).

• Systems & Architecture

• Design clean, maintainable service architectures with clear ownership boundaries.

• Plan and execute safe database migrations and schema evolutions.

• Ensure consistency and reliability across distributed systems.

• Optimize performance across I/O, CPU, and memory bottlenecks.

• Implement CI/CD pipelines and release automation (GitHub Actions, Docker).

• Contribute to infrastructure reliability: scaling, monitoring, and cost efficiency.

• Quality & Security

• Write unit, integration, and contract tests with clear coverage thresholds.

• Enforce linting, type safety, and static analysis as part of CI.

• Conduct security reviews and dependency audits; follow least-privilege design.

• Document services, endpoints, and decision trade-offs clearly.

What we're looking for

• Technical Requirements

• 2+ years of backend experience with Node.js and TypeScript.

• Strong understanding of PostgreSQL (schema design, indexing, query optimization).

• Experience with Redis (caching, queues).

• Hands-on AWS experience (EC2, RDS, Lambda, ECS, S3).

• API design fluency: REST, real-time (WebSockets/SSE).

• Strong fundamentals in scalability, concurrency, and distributed systems.

• Comfort with Docker, Git workflows, and CI/CD automation.

• Familiarity with security and performance best practices.

• Nice to Have

• Experience with GraphQL or gRPC.

• Exposure to event-driven architectures or microservices.

• Familiarity with observability tools (OpenTelemetry, CloudWatch, Sentry).

• Experience building for high-traffic consumer apps.

• Technologies We Use

• Backend: Node.js, TypeScript (Express/Nest.js), PostgreSQL, Redis

• Cloud: AWS (EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, ECS, CloudWatch)

• Infra: Docker, GitHub Actions, CI/CD

What we offer

• Work directly with us and learn fast

• Direct impact on how the company operates day to day

• High-trust, high-responsibility environment

• Competitive compensation