Hybrid Staff Backend Software Engineer

at Winston Artory Group

• Job title: Staff Backend Software Engineer
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: Not specified
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: AWS, Azure, Distributed Systems, Docker, ETL, Google Cloud Platform, Kafka, Kubernetes, Postgres, Python, Terraform
• Location requirements: Hybrid, New York City, United States

About the role

• Technical leader and architect managing backend systems in AI-driven art fintech startup. Collaborates closely with engineering and product teams to deliver scalable solutions.

Responsibilities

• Own the entire backend architecture from day one—make the critical decisions on frameworks, databases, infrastructure, and patterns
• Define technical standards and best practices for code quality, testing, documentation, and deployment
• Lead system design for complex problems involving data ingestion, LLM orchestration, and real-time analytics
• Mentor and guide future backend engineers as the team grows (you'll likely hire and lead 2-3 backend engineers in your first year)
• Evaluate and adopt new technologies that improve velocity, reliability, or capabilities
• Build and scale core backend systems to ingest, clean, and serve structured data at scale
• Design clean, performant APIs to power our client portal, data tools, and internal services
• Integrate and orchestrate LLM APIs (e.g. OpenAI, Claude, open-source models) for use in appraisal automation, data extraction, and insight generation
• Architect event-driven systems and asynchronous pipelines (queues, pub/sub) for reliability and scale
• Own our infrastructure including CI/CD, observability, monitoring, and IaC (Terraform, AWS)
• Co-own technical vision with Head of Engineering: collaborate daily on architecture, technical roadmap, and engineering standards
• Partner closely with CPO and product team to shape roadmap based on technical feasibility and effort
• Collaborate with data and frontend engineers to define APIs, contracts, and integration patterns
• Work with company leadership (Head of Engineering, CPO, President) on technical strategy, hiring, and long-term platform vision
• Communicate technical decisions clearly to non-technical stakeholders

Requirements

• 7+ years of backend engineering experience with at least 2+ years in a technical lead, staff, or principal role at a high-growth startup or product company
• B.S. in Computer Science or equivalent
• Proven track record of mentoring engineers, leading technical initiatives, and making architectural decisions that scale
• Expert in Python with deep understanding of performance, concurrency, and design patterns
• Strong database expertise (PostgreSQL or similar) including query optimization, schema design, and data modeling
• Hands-on experience with LLM/AI integration in production systems—you've shipped features using OpenAI, Anthropic, or open-source models
• Deep knowledge of distributed systems including event-driven architectures, message queues, and async patterns (Celery, Kafka, SQS, etc.)
• Production experience with AWS (or GCP/Azure) including compute, storage, networking, and managed services
• Strong DevOps fundamentals: Docker, Kubernetes/ECS, Terraform, CI/CD, monitoring/observability
• Data engineering fluency: ETL/ELT patterns, data lakes vs. warehouses, pipeline orchestration
• Mindset: You balance pragmatism with technical excellence —you know when to move fast and when to invest in infrastructure
• You have a bias toward simplicity and can articulate tradeoffs clearly

Benefits

• A Welcoming Team
• Generous paid time off, including vacation, sick days, and holidays
• Paid parental leave (maternity, paternity, adoption, leave)
• Paid volunteer days to encourage community involvement
• Collaborative, innovative, and inclusive company culture
• Employee recognition and appreciation programs
• Team-building activities and social events
• Health, Wellness, and Benefits
• Comprehensive health insurance (medical, dental, and vision) with employees covered 100%
• On-site in our NY HQ fitness center and sauna
• Generous leave policies, including bereavement and reproductive loss leave
• Opportunities for continuous learning and training
• Mentorship programs and leadership development initiatives
• 401(k)
• Life insurance and disability coverage
• Snacks in the office