Senior Backend Engineer
DuckDuckGo6 months ago
Remote, United States +26 moreSenior
Base Salary
$179k - $179k/yr
Responsibilities
- Lead complex backend projects across company-wide objectives.
- Write pragmatic, performant, and testable code using Perl, Go, and Node.js.
- Build and improve consumer-facing backend systems for Search, Duck.ai, and DuckDuckGo’s privacy products.
- Implement AI-assisted answers while maintaining a privacy-first approach.
- Develop sophisticated data-processing pipelines that maintain search relevancy.
- Solve product issues and make technical decisions based on user impact and data.
- Collaborate remotely with peers and eventually mentor experienced engineers.
- Support the career growth of engineers and the development of the Backend Team.
Requirements
- At least 7 years of professional experience primarily focused on backend systems for consumer-facing products.
- Product acumen and the ability to reason about technical tradeoffs in terms of user impact.
- Familiarity with AI agent tooling, evaluation frameworks, RAG pipelines, and prompt engineering.
- Fundamental understanding of complex data structures and algorithms.
- Ability to develop new solutions and improve existing code.
- Data-driven analytical skills for decision-making, stakeholder alignment, and experiment-oriented delivery.
- Solid project management abilities.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
- Previous experience leading and mentoring experienced engineers and supporting their career goals.
Benefits
- Remote-first work environment with a flexible arrangement and no core hours.
- Annual compensation of $178,500 USD plus stock options.
- Company-sponsored health benefits for eligible team members based in the United States.
- Paid parental leave, office setup support, and co-working allowances.
- Company all-hands meetup and team retreat travel, expected at least twice per year.
- Full-time commitment averaging 40 hours per week.
- Background check required as a condition of joining.
About DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo builds a privacy-focused web search engine and cross-platform browser that blocks trackers for consumers who want less data collection. It makes money primarily from non-tracking search advertising and offers a paid subscription for additional protections. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Paoli, Pennsylvania, the company has been profitable since 2014 and distributes apps for Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.