Senior Backend Engineer

Job Description

As a Senior Backend Engineer at SpringWater, you'll be instrumental in building and maintaining backend features like APIs, background processes, and integrations. Our primary stack is Ruby on Rails, but we welcome individuals with strong Python or TypeScript skills who are eager to learn. Key responsibilities include enhancing and overseeing our data pipeline, crafting reports and queries in PostgreSQL and BigQuery to ensure the accuracy of affiliate data (clicks, conversions, commissions, and payouts). You'll also develop internal dashboards and reports, pinpoint and resolve performance bottlenecks, and leverage AI tools daily for increased efficiency. This role offers a high degree of ownership within a small, collaborative team, emphasizing asynchronous communication and independent decision-making. Additionally, you will participate in technical support rotations to address complex client issues and data discrepancies.

Qualifications

1. A minimum of 5 years of backend engineering experience, with a strong command of Ruby on Rails, or equivalent proficiency in Python/TypeScript coupled with a willingness to learn our stack. 2. Demonstrated SQL expertise, including the ability to write and optimize intricate queries, with hands-on experience in PostgreSQL and BigQuery within production environments. 3. Proven experience in developing and maintaining REST APIs and background job systems (e.g., Sidekiq, Celery, or similar), with a deep understanding of reliability, retry mechanisms, and failure management. 4. Experience in building internal tools and dashboards, such as revenue reports, payout summaries, cohort analyses, or similar data products tailored to business needs, ideally with a focus on financial or affiliate data. 5. An asynchronous-first, high-ownership work ethic, characterized by clear written communication, independent decision-making, and complete accountability for features from inception to monitoring. 6. Practical experience using AI-assisted development tools (such as Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar) as a standard component of the development process to enhance output quality and speed. **Nice to have:** - A background in data or analytics engineering, with prior experience in data pipelines, event tracking, affiliate/conversion data, or analytics engineering. - Familiarity with dbt (data build tool) for building and maintaining data transformation models, or a strong desire to learn it quickly for analytics and reporting purposes.

Benefits

- Real impact: You'll have significant ownership in a small team, working closely with leadership, with your contributions directly impacting the company's growth. Influence decisions and priorities, going beyond mere task execution. - Growth ownership: Enjoy high autonomy over your domain, coupled with the trust and resources needed for effective execution. - Flexibility: Benefit from a remote-first setup, enabling you to work where and how you're most productive. - Growth support: Access real opportunities for growth, supported by a learning budget to enhance your skills. - Flat structure: Direct access to decision-makers, allowing you to influence direction without navigating layers of approval.