Head of Backend
About the Role
A fast-growing productivity SaaS startup is looking for a Head of Backend to lead and scale its backend engineering function. You'll join a small, highly capable development team and play a pivotal role in consolidating a microservices architecture, driving performance and reliability improvements, and powering new product growth through well-crafted APIs and integrations.
This is a hands-on leadership role — you'll both shape engineering direction and write production code every day.
What You'll Do
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Expand, consolidate, and scale a microservices backend architecture for a high-growth product.
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Improve overall backend performance, reliability, and security posture.
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Design and develop new REST APIs for both internal and external consumers.
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Build and maintain integrations with third-party services and external APIs.
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Create internal tooling to streamline development and operations workflows.
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Define and contribute to software lifecycle processes and engineering best practices.
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Proactively propose innovative features and backend solutions aligned with product goals.
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Occasionally engage directly with customers to triage and reproduce bugs.
What We're Looking For
Required skills & experience:
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11+ years of professional backend development experience (minimum 6 years considered for exceptional profiles).
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Strong hands-on proficiency in Go and Node.js ; PHP familiarity is a bonus.
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Proven experience building and consuming REST APIs with OAuth2 authentication.
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Deep experience with distributed systems and microservices architecture.
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Solid knowledge of PostgreSQL or other relational databases and caching systems.
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Proficiency with Unix-based systems , Docker , and Kubernetes .
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Hands-on experience with cloud platforms ( GCP , AWS , or equivalent).
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Experience scaling infrastructure and implementing monitoring and logging solutions.
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Strong fundamentals in algorithms, data structures, and software design.
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Proficient with Git version control.
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Strong spoken and written English communication skills.
Nice to have:
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Experience with third-party and external API integrations.
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Security hardening background for backend services.
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Experience building developer-facing internal tools.
The ideal candidate is: a collaborative, security-conscious engineer-leader who sweats the details, cares about user experience at the API level, and brings a flexible, can-do mindset to a small team environment.
Compensation & Benefits
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Salary: $80,000 – $120,000 USD annually, depending on experience.
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Opportunity to shape backend architecture at a critical growth stage (Series A/B equivalent).
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Small team with high ownership and direct product impact.
Visa sponsorship is not available for this role.
Location
This is an on-site position based in Canada . Candidates must be eligible to work in Canada without visa sponsorship.
Originally posted on Himalayas