Pulley
Staff Backend Engineer, AI
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Staff Backend Engineer, AI
role at
Pulley
About Pulley Pulley's mission is to make it easier for anyone to start a company. We believe that more startups should exist and that founder‑led companies are more successful in the long term. With Pulley's cap‑table management tools, companies can better understand and optimize their equity for the long term. Starting a company is hard enough. Managing equity shouldn't be. We're a high‑performing team redefining how early‑stage leaders build and manage their companies in an AI‑native world. Pulley is growing quickly with over 4,000 customers, including Linear, Runway, Fathom, and Roam, fueled by top investors such as Founders Fund, Stripe, and General Catalyst. We’re expanding the team to meet growing demand and are looking for passionate, execution‑focused self‑starters to help us build the next generation of tools for founders.
About the role We're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer who will architect and build the foundational systems powering our AI‑native product. You'll own the design and implementation of scalable backend services that enable intelligent agents to automate complex equity workflows. This is a 0‑1 opportunity where you'll define service boundaries, design APIs, and build the distributed systems that make AI capabilities production‑ready and reliable at scale. In this high‑impact role, you'll work directly with leadership to shape our technical strategy and establish architectural patterns that will guide our engineering organization as we scale.
What You'll Do
Architect distributed systems
that power AI agent orchestration, handling complex multi‑step workflows with reliability and observability
Design and implement core backend services
in Golang for high‑performance, concurrent operations and Python for AI/ML integrations and data pipelines
Build robust APIs and service interfaces
that abstract AI capabilities for consumption by multiple clients and internal systems
Own the technical roadmap
for backend infrastructure supporting LLM integrations, vector search, and real‑time data processing
Establish architectural patterns and standards
for service design, data modeling, and inter‑service communication
Drive system scalability and reliability , implementing caching strategies, database optimization, and async processing patterns
Build data pipelines
that process equity data, embeddings, and user interactions to continuously improve AI model performance
Collaborate cross‑functionally
to translate business requirements into technical architecture and make pragmatic build vs. buy decisions
Mentor engineers
on backend best practices, system design, and technical decision‑making
What You Bring Technical Foundation
7+ years
of backend engineering experience building production systems at scale
Expert‑level proficiency
in Python for AI/ML integrations, data processing, and scripting
Strong Python skills with deep understanding of concurrency patterns, performance optimization, and production Go services
Proven experience designing and building distributed systems, including microservices architecture, event‑driven systems, and async workflows
Deep knowledge of API design (REST) and service‑to‑service communication patterns
AI Infrastructure Experience
Demonstrated experience building backend systems that integrate LLMs and AI capabilities into production applications
Hands‑on work with agent frameworks, LLM orchestration, and AI service reliability
Familiarity with RAG architectures, vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant), and embeddings pipelines
Experience building evaluation frameworks and observability for AI systems
Understanding of prompt engineering and LLM API optimization (latency, costs, rate limits)
System Design & Leadership
Track record of architecting greenfield services
from concept to production with scalability and maintainability in mind
Experience with database design and optimization (PostgreSQL, Redis, time‑series databases)
Strong foundation in system observability, monitoring, and debugging distributed systems in production
Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and establish engineering best practices
Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team technical capabilities
Bonus Points
Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
Background in FinTech or regulated industries
Contributions to open‑source projects or technical writing
Familiarity with AI‑powered developer tools like Cursor or Copilot
✨ Why work at Pulley
We've moved beyond early‑stage uncertainty
— Our product has traction and we’re building on a solid foundation, yet we’re still early enough to shape the company’s trajectory as we scale.
Make it easier for anyone to start a company
— Founders turn bold ideas into reality; starting a company is hard enough. Managing equity shouldn't be.
Work with a high‑performing and passionate team
— We value thoughtful, ambitious collaboration with traits like First Principles Thinking, Shipping It & Iterating, Boldly Honest & Aggressively Considerate, and Ego‑less Learner.
Benefits
Competitive salary and equity
Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
Unlimited PTO + Winter holiday break
Parental leave
Generous stipends for WFH, learning, wellness, and AI tools
401(k) match (US) / Pension match (Canada)
Annual Salary Range: $200,000—$240,000 USD — The range above reflects the typical salary range for this role. The final offer will depend on factors such as your experience, interview performance, level, and other considerations assessed during the hiring process.
Seniority level
Mid‑Senior level
Employment type
Full‑time
Job function
Engineering and Information Technology
Industries
Software Development
#J-18808-Ljbffr
Staff Backend Engineer, AI
role at
Pulley
About Pulley Pulley's mission is to make it easier for anyone to start a company. We believe that more startups should exist and that founder‑led companies are more successful in the long term. With Pulley's cap‑table management tools, companies can better understand and optimize their equity for the long term. Starting a company is hard enough. Managing equity shouldn't be. We're a high‑performing team redefining how early‑stage leaders build and manage their companies in an AI‑native world. Pulley is growing quickly with over 4,000 customers, including Linear, Runway, Fathom, and Roam, fueled by top investors such as Founders Fund, Stripe, and General Catalyst. We’re expanding the team to meet growing demand and are looking for passionate, execution‑focused self‑starters to help us build the next generation of tools for founders.
About the role We're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer who will architect and build the foundational systems powering our AI‑native product. You'll own the design and implementation of scalable backend services that enable intelligent agents to automate complex equity workflows. This is a 0‑1 opportunity where you'll define service boundaries, design APIs, and build the distributed systems that make AI capabilities production‑ready and reliable at scale. In this high‑impact role, you'll work directly with leadership to shape our technical strategy and establish architectural patterns that will guide our engineering organization as we scale.
What You'll Do
Architect distributed systems
that power AI agent orchestration, handling complex multi‑step workflows with reliability and observability
Design and implement core backend services
in Golang for high‑performance, concurrent operations and Python for AI/ML integrations and data pipelines
Build robust APIs and service interfaces
that abstract AI capabilities for consumption by multiple clients and internal systems
Own the technical roadmap
for backend infrastructure supporting LLM integrations, vector search, and real‑time data processing
Establish architectural patterns and standards
for service design, data modeling, and inter‑service communication
Drive system scalability and reliability , implementing caching strategies, database optimization, and async processing patterns
Build data pipelines
that process equity data, embeddings, and user interactions to continuously improve AI model performance
Collaborate cross‑functionally
to translate business requirements into technical architecture and make pragmatic build vs. buy decisions
Mentor engineers
on backend best practices, system design, and technical decision‑making
What You Bring Technical Foundation
7+ years
of backend engineering experience building production systems at scale
Expert‑level proficiency
in Python for AI/ML integrations, data processing, and scripting
Strong Python skills with deep understanding of concurrency patterns, performance optimization, and production Go services
Proven experience designing and building distributed systems, including microservices architecture, event‑driven systems, and async workflows
Deep knowledge of API design (REST) and service‑to‑service communication patterns
AI Infrastructure Experience
Demonstrated experience building backend systems that integrate LLMs and AI capabilities into production applications
Hands‑on work with agent frameworks, LLM orchestration, and AI service reliability
Familiarity with RAG architectures, vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant), and embeddings pipelines
Experience building evaluation frameworks and observability for AI systems
Understanding of prompt engineering and LLM API optimization (latency, costs, rate limits)
System Design & Leadership
Track record of architecting greenfield services
from concept to production with scalability and maintainability in mind
Experience with database design and optimization (PostgreSQL, Redis, time‑series databases)
Strong foundation in system observability, monitoring, and debugging distributed systems in production
Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and establish engineering best practices
Experience mentoring engineers and elevating team technical capabilities
Bonus Points
Experience with Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
Background in FinTech or regulated industries
Contributions to open‑source projects or technical writing
Familiarity with AI‑powered developer tools like Cursor or Copilot
✨ Why work at Pulley
We've moved beyond early‑stage uncertainty
— Our product has traction and we’re building on a solid foundation, yet we’re still early enough to shape the company’s trajectory as we scale.
Make it easier for anyone to start a company
— Founders turn bold ideas into reality; starting a company is hard enough. Managing equity shouldn't be.
Work with a high‑performing and passionate team
— We value thoughtful, ambitious collaboration with traits like First Principles Thinking, Shipping It & Iterating, Boldly Honest & Aggressively Considerate, and Ego‑less Learner.
Benefits
Competitive salary and equity
Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
Unlimited PTO + Winter holiday break
Parental leave
Generous stipends for WFH, learning, wellness, and AI tools
401(k) match (US) / Pension match (Canada)
Annual Salary Range: $200,000—$240,000 USD — The range above reflects the typical salary range for this role. The final offer will depend on factors such as your experience, interview performance, level, and other considerations assessed during the hiring process.
Seniority level
Mid‑Senior level
Employment type
Full‑time
Job function
Engineering and Information Technology
Industries
Software Development
#J-18808-Ljbffr