Senior Backend Engineer

WHO ARE YOU? Motivated, self-managing, and think outside the box. You love a new challenge and are excited to help us redefine how people discover experiences all over the world while supporting local businesses. You fancy yourself something of a dining, nightlife, and travel aficionado. (we are Atmosfy after all!) WHO ARE WE? We are Atmosfy - think TikTok for your city, where 10,000 cities have their own dedicated video feeds and local communities. We're powering discovery of over 150 million experiences and the fastest-growing platform for discovery of dining, nightlife, & travel. And simply put, our community loves Atmosfy! We're top #100 on the App Store, have 3M+ businesses on the platform, and are scaling in 10,000 cities. For businesses, we offer a suite of tools to get videos from local creators, add order links, promote them, and see how many customers walked in the door as a result that's being used by brands like Taco Bell, Wendy's, and the Fairmont Hotel & Suites. We partner with top companies in the travel space for in app booking like Expedia, Tock, and Capital One. Our team draws on talented people who have worked at best-in-class companies such as Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. We're backed by world-class investors including Redpoint Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, Village Global, and global superstar, Kygo. Check us out at go.atmosfy.io/supportlocal or to learn more about our mission to share experiences, inspire others, and support local businesses around the world. About the Role We're looking for a senior backend engineer to help build the next generation of Atmosfy's consumer platform. You'll work directly with the founder and engineering team to design, build, and ship the systems powering experiences used by millions of travelers and creators around the world. What you'll own: Design, build, and scale backend services in Node.js and PHP that power our iOS, Android, and web platformsOwn core APIs end-to-end — from schema design and implementation through monitoring, performance, and iteration in productionBuild and operate the data and media pipelines behind the world's largest live video map — ingestion, processing, storage, and delivery at global scaleHelp shape new AI-powered consumer experiences from concept to launch, integrating LLMs and ML services into production systemsInstrument what you ship — define the metrics that prove a system works, watch them, and act when they moveImprove reliability, observability, and performance across our infrastructure as we scaleCollaborate closely with frontend engineering to design clean, stable contracts between client and server Key Responsibilities Develop, test, and maintain robust and scalable applications.Write clean, efficient, and well-documented code.Collaborate with front-end developers to integrate user-facing elements with server-side logic.Design and optimize database structures for performance and scalability.Troubleshoot, debug, and resolve software defects and performance issues.Implement security best practices to protect applications from vulnerabilities.Participate in code reviews to ensure code quality and adherence to company standards.Stay up to date with emerging trends, tools, and technologies in PHP development.Contribute to system architecture discussions and technical decision-making. Requirements Proven Experience: 5+ years of professional backend experience with deep expertise in Node.js and PHP (we run both in production — you should be strong in at least one and comfortable working across the two)Node.js Ecosystem: Expertise building production services with Node.js/TypeScript — Express, NestJS, or similar frameworksPHP Frameworks: Experience with Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, or similarDatabase Knowledge: Strong experience with relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, including schema design and query performance at scaleAPI Development: Proven experience designing, building, and operating RESTful APIs consumed by production mobile and web clientsAI-Native Workflow: You use AI tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as a core part of how you build, not an occasional assistantVersion Control: Proficiency with Git and collaborative development workflowsFront-End Basics: Working understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — enough to design clean contracts with frontend engineersProblem-Solving: Strong analytical skills and a bias toward owning problems end-to-end, including after they shipTeam Collaboration: Ability to work effectively in a small, fast-paced team where scope is broad and direction is sometimes ambiguous We value our differences, and we encourage all to apply. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Atmosfy will consider qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. Atmosfy is an equal opportunity employer.