Staff Backend Engineer
At a glance
Senior Backend Engineering role at Giga. San Francisco · full-time · $290,000–$400,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Shape backend architecture as the agent infrastructure grows, balancing delivery speed, reliability and system complexity
- Take ownership of uncertain, high-impact engineering projects and carry them through implementation
- Spot weaknesses in current systems early, then make the case for technical improvements
- Set expectations for code review, system design and operational practice through your own engineering work
- Mentor engineers through shared projects and contribute to technical decisions beyond your own team
What you bring
- At least seven years of backend engineering experience, including leadership on complex projects
- A record of building systems that scale and understanding where they encounter strain
- Strong coding skills and the judgment to explain technical tradeoffs and turn open-ended problems into plans
Who this fits
This is a senior, hands-on staff role for an engineer who wants to build and ship code while influencing technical direction across teams. You’ll mentor colleagues through collaboration rather than formal people management. The role is onsite in the United States.
From the employer
About Giga
Giga has recently raised a $61M Series A and is working with Fortune 500 customers to deploy the next generation of customer experience - real-time AI agents that can understand emotion, resolve issues instantly, and scale across the world's largest enterprises.
Industry leaders like DoorDash trust Giga with their most complex support and operations workflows across voice, chat, and email, in high-stakes regulated environments where accuracy and compliance matter. We're at an exciting inflection point.
While we've found real commercial success, our ambitions are larger: to become the go-to AI platform for all enterprise automation, powered by our voice superintelligence. The work affects millions of people every day, and our team has the autonomy to make true impact - with brilliant founders, a clear path forward, and the kind of momentum that defines generational companies.
If being part of that resonates with you, we'd love to hear from you!
The Role
We're looking for a staff engineer to help shape the technical direction of our backend systems. You'll lead complex projects, make architectural decisions that affect the whole platform, and raise the bar for engineering quality across the team.
This is a role for someone who wants to build, not just advise. You'll write code, own systems, and ship, but you'll also be expected to think beyond your immediate work to identify what the team should be building next and how we should build it.
What You'll Work On
You'll drive technical initiatives across the company. Some examples:
System architecture: Designing how our agent infrastructure should evolve as we scale, making tradeoffs between speed, reliability, and complexity
Hard technical problems: Owning the most ambiguous, highest-stakes projects where getting it wrong would hurt the business
Technical strategy: Identifying gaps in our systems before they become problems and building the case for addressing them
Engineering quality: Setting standards for code review, system design, and operational excellence through your own work
At the staff level, you'll work across team boundaries and be responsible for outcomes beyond your individual output. You'll mentor other engineers and help them grow, but through collaboration on real work rather than formal management.
Tech Stack
Backend: Python (Django/FastAPI), TypeScript (Node.js)
Infrastructure: AWS, Modal, Kubernetes, Postgres
Frontend: TypeScript, Next.js (you'll interact with this when needed)
You Might Be a Fit If You
Have 7+ years of backend engineering experience, with a track record of leading complex projects
Have opinions about how systems should be built, and can articulate the tradeoffs behind those opinions
Can take a vague problem and turn it into a clear technical approach without much guidance
Write excellent code and hold others to a high standard without being a bottleneck
Are energized by hard problems and comfortable with uncertainty
Want to be hands-on at a company where staff engineers ship code, not just review it
Have built systems that scaled and understand what breaks at each order of magnitude
Perks & Benefits
Competitive base + bonus + equity
Catered lunch daily
Dinner stipend
$500/month wellness & commuter benefit (gym, fitness classes, mental health)
401(k) plan
Medical, dental, and vision coverage
Giga is an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to providing equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
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