Backend Platform Engineer

Backend Platform Engineer — AI / Defense Location: San Francisco, CA preferred; Washington, DC considered Compensation: $180K–$260K base + $50K–$500K equity over 4 years Experience: 2–8 years Work authorization: U.S. citizenship required Work model: In-person, 5 days/week About Our Client Our client is a rapidly growing, early-stage AI company building critical software for the U.S. government, defense organizations, and companies supporting the Western world. The company is applying modern AI and software infrastructure to one of the biggest bottlenecks in national security: helping government organizations discover, acquire, and deploy technology dramatically faster. Despite being an approximately 11-person team, the company has already worked with major defense contractors, government organizations, and international defense partners. It is well-funded, valued at nine figures, and backed by leading Silicon Valley and defense-focused investors. The engineering team is small, highly technical, and moves at startup speed, with engineers shipping code daily and working directly with end users — including government operators and elite military units. The Role Our client is hiring Backend Platform Engineers to build and own the core architecture powering its AI platform. This is a backend-heavy full-stack role for engineers who want significant technical ownership. You'll work across backend services, APIs, data infrastructure, cloud architecture, AI agents, and production deployments rather than owning a narrow piece of a large system. You'll work alongside a small engineering team, product leaders, and forward-deployed engineers to turn complex government and defense workflows into reliable production software. What You'll Do Design and build the core backend architecture powering a production AI platformOwn backend systems end-to-end, from initial system design through deployment and scalingBuild APIs, data pipelines, distributed services, and cloud infrastructureDevelop and integrate AI agents and LLM-powered workflowsArchitect reliable systems capable of supporting mission-critical use casesPartner closely with product and forward-deployed engineersWork directly with government operators and defense customers to understand requirements and iterate on solutionsContribute across the stack when necessary, including customer-facing product functionalityShip quickly within a small, high-output engineering teamOccasionally travel to customer and government sites What We're Looking For 2–8 years of software engineering experienceStrong backend engineering and systems-design fundamentalsExperience building and owning production services or infrastructureStrong proficiency with PythonExperience with technologies such as AWS/GCP, Linux, Kubernetes, Terraform, Bash, DevOps, REST APIs, and distributed systemsFull-stack ability, ideally including TypeScript, React, and/or Next.jsExperience building with LLMs, AI agents, or modern AI APIsAbility to independently take projects from ambiguous requirements through production deploymentHigh energy, strong communication skills, and a highly proactive operating styleGenuine excitement about national security, government, and mission-critical technology Experience with high-growth startups, top-tier technology companies, founding engineering teams, or forward-deployed engineering environments is particularly relevant. Experience with large-scale data pipelines, web scraping, AI infrastructure, or government/defense projects is also valuable. Bonus Points Active Secret or Top Secret security clearancePrior founding engineer or technical founder experienceForward Deployed Engineer experienceExperience building AI agent infrastructureExperience working directly with government customers or operatorsStrong CS or engineering academic background Why Join? Massive technical ownership: You'll help architect the core backend platform rather than maintaining a small piece of an established system. Build, don't maintain: Engineers own projects from early development through production and iterate extremely quickly. Work directly with end users: You'll have opportunities to build alongside government and military operators rather than being several layers removed from the customer. Mission-driven engineering: The company's goal is to put cutting-edge technology into the hands of warfighters, scientists, doctors, and organizations supporting U.S. and allied interests. Small, ambitious team: You'll join a highly technical early-stage organization where individual engineers have an outsized impact on the product and company. Important Requirements Because of the nature of the company's government and defense work, U.S. citizenship is a strict requirement. Green card holders and candidates requiring visa sponsorship cannot be considered. Candidates should also be comfortable working in person five days per week in San Francisco, with Washington, DC considered for particularly strong candidates, and with periodic travel to government or customer sites.