Software Engineer - Backend

Responsibilities

• Design and build backend systems and services that power Sesame’s product
• Own data models, APIs, and distributed systems that other teams depend on
• Build reliable, scalable software with a focus on correctness, latency, and cost
• Own the full lifecycle of services, including schema design, deployment, tuning, and on-call
• Work across relational databases, NoSQL, queues, caches, and search indexes
• Improve real-time audio pipelines, agentic workflows, and stateful conversation systems
• Identify bottlenecks and improve performance, throughput, and developer efficiency

Requirements

• Expert-level programming ability in at least one language
• Strong distributed systems fundamentals and failure-mode thinking
• Experience building large-scale production systems
• Strong database engineering and schema design skills
• Proficiency with REST, WebSockets, gRPC, or HTTP
• Experience deploying and operating services on Kubernetes
• Reliability engineering mindset and on-call experience
• Deep interest in a technical area you actively explore beyond the basics

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with real-time media, streaming, or low-latency communication systems
• Background in payments, billing, ledgers, or financial data integrity
• Experience with search infrastructure, ranking, or indexing pipelines
• Deep Python expertise
• Experience building on GCP

Benefits

• 100% employer-paid health, vision, and dental coverage for you and your dependents
• 401(k) employer match up to 3.5% of compensation
• Unlimited PTO and sick time
• Medical FSA with employer matching up to $1,650 per year
• Employee Assistance Program
• Competitive stock options