Senior Backend Engineer (Full-Stack Capable)
At a glance
Senior Backend Engineering role at Orkes. Santa Clara · $180,000–$240,000 base.
techroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Shape the multi-cloud control plane, including the safeguards and orchestration layers that make agent workflows production-ready
- Set engineering patterns across a large codebase and lead reviews of the work
- Take unclear, cross-team efforts from initial problem through to a measured result
- Own operational design across on-call, observability, service targets and limiting incident impact
- Build complete React and TypeScript features when backend work calls for it
What you bring
- At least seven years of professional experience
- Deep experience with an object-oriented language such as Java, Go or C++
- Strong knowledge of at least one major cloud platform: AWS, Azure or GCP
- A track record designing distributed systems around real consistency and availability tradeoffs at scale
- Experience directing AI coding tools with explicit instructions rather than delegating their decisions
Who this fits
This is a senior, full-time role based in the Santa Clara office, so it suits someone able to work in person in the San Francisco Bay Area. You’ll lead technical direction and cross-team initiatives while remaining hands-on, including delivering frontend slices when needed. The role reports to the Head of Engineering.
From the employer
*Position is IN OFFICE at our Santa Clara, CA (San Francisco Bay Area) office
About Us
Orkes is the operating system for AI agents and workflows, providing the battle-tested infrastructure required to move AI from simple conversation to real-world action. Built on the open-source Conductor engine, our platform empowers developers to orchestrate complex business processes at scale, handling billions of workflows without worrying about failure or visibility. We enable enterprises to seamlessly bridge the gap between LLM-driven reasoning and deterministic execution, creating reliable pathways for AI to drive actual business value.
The Opportunity
As a Senior Backend Engineer at Orkes, you will work at the frontier of agentic workflow development, building the platform that defines how enterprises scale AI agent interactions. You will own the architecture of our multi-cloud control plane, designing critical guardrails and orchestration layers that make complex agentic workflows production-ready. This is a unique opportunity to build mission-critical infrastructure that transforms experimental AI prototypes into scalable business engines.
Must-haves
- 7+ years of experience
- Deep Object Oriented language experience (at least one; eg Java, Go, C++)
- Sets patterns and leads reviews in a large codebase
- Depth in one of AWS/Azure/GCP Cloud Platforms
- Drives ambiguous, cross-team initiatives from problem to measured outcome
- Owns operational architecture — on-call, observability, SLOs, blast-radius containment
- Ships full-stack vertical slices in React/TS when needed
- Distributed-systems architect — has designed systems with real consistency/availability tradeoffs at scale
- AI-coding experience - look for those who prescribe/tell AI exactly what to do vs those who ask AI to make judgment calls and decisions
Nice-to-haves: all-three-clouds hands-on; Java/Spring Boot preferred; Netflix Conductor/Temporal; Go; multi-tenant control-plane at scale; chaos/perf engineering. Experience with building for portability vs. cloud-native calls
More Details
We offer a competitive total compensation package, featuring a base salary starting at $180,000–$240,000 depending on experience and leveling, plus generous equity. When determining compensation, a number of factors will be considered: skills, experience, job scope, location, and competitive compensation market data.
- Status: Full-Time
- Type: In-Office
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area (Santa Clara, CA)
- Department: Cloud & Platform Engineering
- Reports to: Head of Engineering
Benefits
- Comprehensive health coverage including medical, dental, and vision
- Flexible PTO
- Support for personal development
At Orkes, we are committed to building a team that reflects a rich tapestry of perspectives, identities, and professional experiences. We believe that diversity is not just a checkbox, but a driving force behind innovation, creativity, and success. By embracing a variety of backgrounds, we cultivate an inclusive environment where every team member feels valued and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work.
Join us at Orkes and be a part of a team where your unique perspectives are not only welcomed but celebrated. Together we are shaping the future technology by leveraging the strength that comes from embracing diversity in all its forms. Your Journey with us is an opportunity to contribute to something greater and make a lasting impact.
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