Senior Backend Engineer

About Slang AI Slang AI is redefining customer engagement through conversational AI, making every interaction seamless and efficient. Our mission is to transform the restaurant industry by providing the ultimate voice AI solution for consistently outstanding customer experiences. At Slang AI, we believe how we build matters just as much as what we build. We foster a culture rooted in hospitality, ownership, and clarity, where every “Slangsta” feels valued, supported, and connected to the broader impact of our work in the AI-powered future of restaurants. What Your Experience Will Be You'll join Slang's Engineering team as a Senior Software Engineer, contributing across our core product areas including telephony infrastructure, real-time voice AI, and application functionality. Your work will help restaurants automate customer interactions and improve service through natural conversation. You'll spend roughly 90% of your time developing backend services. Our backend is written in Kotlin, but prior Kotlin experience is not required; strong fundamentals in any object-oriented language will set you up to ramp quickly. You'll make occasional contributions to React/TypeScript frontend features as needed. Your work will directly impact thousands of restaurant interactions daily, helping businesses streamline operations and deliver better customer experiences. You'll report to the Direct or Engineering & Data, collaborating closely with product managers, conversation designers, and fellow engineers. As a senior engineer, you'll own features end to end and help shape technical direction for your pod, not just execute against a spec. The role includes key ceremonies: daily standups at 1:00 PM ET, bi-weekly cycle planning, and weekly Show & Tell sessions. You'll use modern collaboration tools like Slack, GitHub, and video conferencing to stay connected with the team. You'll mentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and pair programming, and set the quality bar others build on. Why You Belong Here And How You Will Grow Our engineering culture emphasizes pragmatic solutions, continuous learning, and collaborative problem-solving. We believe in domain-driven design, comprehensive testing, and building systems that gracefully handle the complexities of real-world restaurant operations. You'll work alongside engineers who care about reliable, scalable conversational experiences and who regularly share knowledge through Show & Tell sessions and detailed technical documentation. As a senior engineer, you'll go deep on conversational AI, telephony at scale, and modern cloud-native architectures while taking ownership of architectural decisions and technical standards. You'll pick up Kotlin and functional programming patterns on the job while working on production systems that handle real-time voice interactions. The cross-functional nature of the role, and the scope you'll own, sets you up to grow toward staff-level and technical leadership work: driving design across services, influencing the roadmap, and raising the bar for the engineers around you. What Success Looks Like Design and implement scalable backend services following domain-driven design principles, with comprehensive error handling and testingDrive technical design for features you own, and help shape architecture across the services your pod touchesDevelop and maintain GraphQL APIs that efficiently serve both internal and external clientsCreate robust integrations with our telephony (Twilio/Telnyx) and voice AI stack, handling edge cases and failure scenarios gracefullyDesign efficient Firestore data models that balance performance, cost, and maintainabilityImplement comprehensive observability including logging, metrics, tracing, and actionable alertingDeliver production-ready code with appropriate test coverage (unit, integration, and end-to-end)Lead code reviews, providing constructive feedback and raising the quality bar for the teamDocument technical decisions, API contracts, and system architecture clearlyDeploy containerized applications to Google Cloud Platform following cloud-native best practicesOccasionally build or update React/TypeScript frontend components for restaurant staff and customersShape coding standards and best practices, and mentor junior and mid-level engineers as they grow Required Qualifications What You Will Bring 5+ years of professional software development experience, primarily in backend systemsStrong proficiency in at least one object-oriented language (e.g., Java, Kotlin, C#, Python, TypeScript, Ruby, C++, Go), with a solid grasp of OO design principles and willingness to work day-to-day in KotlinA track record of owning features end to end and mentoring less-experienced engineersExperience building and consuming RESTful or GraphQL APIsFamiliarity with NoSQL databases and data modeling conceptsExperience with containerization (Docker) and cloud platforms (GCP, AWS, or Azure)Strong understanding of software testing practices and test-driven developmentExcellent debugging and troubleshooting skillsAI fluency: you actively use AI tools in your daily engineering work, not just awareness of them. We're AI native, and we expect the same of our engineersBasic familiarity with React and TypeScript (occasional frontend adjustments may be needed)Ability to work independently and manage your time effectively in a remote/hybrid environmentStrong written and verbal communication for remote/hybrid collaborationWilling and able to take a week-long on-call shift roughly every two months Preferred Qualifications Experience with Kotlin, Java, or another JVM language, and familiarity with functional programming conceptsFamiliarity with GraphQL schema design and implementationExperience with Google Cloud Platform services (Firestore, Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub)Knowledge of telephony systems (Twilio, Telnyx, or similar) and webhook integrationsExperience with real-time voice or conversational AI (speech-to-text, LLM orchestration, text-to-speech)Infrastructure-as-code experience with TerraformUnderstanding of event-driven architectures and distributed systems patternsExperience with observability tools and practices (structured logging, distributed tracing)Previous experience in a fully remote or hybrid companyInterest in the restaurant/hospitality technology domain How Work Affects My Life This software engineering position offers the flexibility of remote/hybrid work with competitive hourly compensation commensurate with mid-level engineering market rates. You'll have the autonomy to structure your 40-hour work week while maintaining core collaboration hours with the team. The role provides an opportunity to work on meaningful technology that directly impacts small business owners and their customers, helping restaurants thrive through innovative conversational AI solutions. Through this role, you'll deepen your work with production telephony, real-time voice AI, and scalable cloud architectures, and take on the kind of technical ownership that sets up growth toward staff-level and technical leadership. You'll help build solutions that make restaurant operations more efficient and guest experiences more delightful, contributing to the digital transformation of the hospitality industry.. Scope of Work This scope defines the responsibilities for a senior software engineer supporting Slang's development. You'll focus primarily on implementing robust, scalable backend services (our backend is Kotlin; engineers ramp into the language on the job) while occasionally contributing to frontend features in TypeScript/React, all powering conversational solutions for full-service restaurants. Software Development Design and implement backend services in Slang's backend stack (primary focus)Develop GraphQL queries and mutations for client-server communicationContribute to React frontend components and features as neededCreate modular, testable code following domain-driven design principlesImplement proper error handling, logging, and graceful degradation patternsWrite comprehensive unit and integration tests across the stack Data Modeling and Storage Design and implement Firestore data models that optimize for performance and maintainabilityCreate efficient data access patterns and queriesImplement data migration scripts and schema evolution strategiesEnsure data consistency and integrity across distributed systemsDesign GraphQL schemas that effectively represent domain models Telephony and AI Integrations Develop and maintain integrations with our telephony providers (Twilio/Telnyx) for voice and messagingImplement webhook handlers and conversation flows across our speech-to-text, LLM, and text-to-speech pipelineCreate fault-tolerant communication between telephony providers and internal servicesHandle edge cases and error scenarios in real-time voice workflowsImplement retry logic and circuit breaker patterns for external service calls Frontend Development (as needed) Implement React components using TypeScriptIntegrate frontend with GraphQL APIsEnsure responsive and accessible UI implementationsWrite unit tests for React componentsCollaborate with the product team on user experience improvements Cloud Services Integration Develop containerized applications using DockerDeploy and manage services on Google Cloud PlatformEnsure services follow cloud-native best practices for scalability and resilienceIntegrate with GCP services (Cloud Run, Cloud Functions, Pub/Sub) as requiredProvision new infrastructure using Terraform in partnership with platform engineering Observability and Monitoring Implement comprehensive logging, metrics, and tracingCreate dashboards and alerts for service health monitoringDevelop diagnostic tools to aid in troubleshooting production issuesEnsure all services provide actionable insight into their behavior and performance Deliverables Code and Documentation Production-ready backend code following established coding standardsTypeScript/React frontend code when assigned frontend tasksGraphQL schema documentation and query examplesTechnical design documents for new features and architectural changesLead and contribute to code reviews for teammates' pull requests, and submit your own code for review Testing and Quality Assurance Automated test suites with adequate coverage for backend servicesFrontend component tests for any UI work deliveredIntegration tests for all external service dependenciesBug fixes and issue resolution within agreed SLAs Collaboration and Communication Team Integration Participate in daily standups and bi-weekly cycle planningCollaborate with Platform and Data pods on shared initiativesProvide technical input during architecture discussions, and drive design for work you ownShare knowledge and progress during weekly Show & Tell sessionsMentor junior and mid-level engineers through code reviews and pair programming Stakeholder Communication Provide regular status updates on assigned workCommunicate technical trade-offs and implementation optionsDocument technical decisions and their rationaleParticipate in cross-functional meetings as needed Technical Standards Code Quality Follow the team's established idioms and best practices for backend development (Kotlin idioms once ramped)Use TypeScript effectively with proper type safety for frontend workUse dependency injection and maintain loose couplingWrite self-documenting code with meaningful variable and function namesMaintain consistent code formatting using agreed-upon linters Our Engineering Values How we work matters as much as what we build. Four values guide the engineering team at Slang: Start Less, Finish More — Focus is a choice. We ruthlessly prioritize, ask "why" before committing, and say no early so we ship meaningful work instead of accumulating half-finished efforts.Teamwork & Collaboration — Great engineering doesn't happen in isolation. We share knowledge and load, assume best intentions, and work with each other, not just alongside each other.Alignment & Communication — We move fast because we're aligned. We give feedback directly, speak up early, commit fully once a decision is made, and operate with low ego — caring more about the right outcome than being right.Quality & Craft — Shortcuts compound. We test before we ship, manage tech debt deliberately, and right-size solutions — not out of perfectionism, but out of respect for the people who'll build on our work next. Compensation & Location Compensation for this role is location-based and benchmarked against local market data aligned to the employee’s primary work location. Total compensation includes a mix of cash and equity and may vary by location, role level, and experience. Our range is therefore wide and not meant as a negotiation range. Base Compensation: $185,000–$215,000 Equity: Included in offer package Our Vision Calling a business shouldn’t feel like a robot-hostage situation, where you’re forced to listen to horrible music and can't reach a human, while enduring a soulless voice uttering "I'm sorry I didn't quite get that" on repeat for eternity. (shudder) That’s why we started Slang AI We use the latest AI and audio wizardry to make transacting via voice so enjoyable it’s more human than human. By 2030, we will save businesses and consumers 1 billion minutes of precious time while transforming voice channels into the preferred mode of communication (it's faster and easier than text). We have backgrounds building product at companies like Spotify, Buzzfeed, the New York Times, and OpenTable —shipping experiences that have reached hundreds of millions of users. Now, we’re using our backgrounds to start a new culture, one that puts product and human-centered design above all else while fostering constant learning and growth. Sound like something you’d like to be part of? Get on board. Our Values Overachiever Fever. We’re overachievers (we don’t know any other way) AI Native. We don't just sell AI. We are Al. Humility Ability. We approach each other with curiosity and openness (know-it-alls not welcome!) Be A Good Host. We build for hospitality. We should embody it.