Senior Software Engineer, Back-End (San Francisco)
Short Story6 months ago
Base Salary
$150k - $200k/yr
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and maintain backend services supporting core business workflows.
- Own projects end-to-end from early design through production and iteration.
- Design stable, scalable, and well-documented APIs and data models.
- Work across orders, inventory, logistics, and data systems to solve interconnected problems.
- Balance speed, scalability, and maintainability in technical decisions.
- Improve system reliability through monitoring, testing, and debugging.
- Contribute to engineering standards, code reviews, and documentation.
- Collaborate with product, frontend, and operations teams.
Requirements
- 5+ years of software development experience.
- 2+ years of Python experience.
- 5+ years of experience with data structures and algorithms.
- Familiarity with infrastructure, monitoring, and CI/CD practices.
- Experience with a Python web framework and testing frameworks.
- Experience with containerized workloads, including Docker.
- Experience with relational databases, preferably Postgres, and SQL.
- Experience designing stable, scalable, and well-documented APIs.
- Strong focus on communication and documentation.
- Preferred: test-driven development experience.
- Preferred: experience serving as Tech Lead for an engineering team of 3+ people.
- Preferred: experience running large-scale distributed systems.
- Preferred: experience working in sprint-based environments.
Benefits
- Generous paid time off.
- Comprehensive health, vision, and dental care.
- 401k with company match in the US.
- In-person work in San Francisco or remote work in the US or Canada.
- Employee discount on merchandise.
- Opportunity to work at a Y-Combinator-backed startup with an experienced founding team.
Tech Stack
Categories
About Short Story
Short Story is the premiere personal styling service for petite women 5’4” and under. The industry forgot about petites. We didn’t. We’re an award-winning, tech-powered retailer on a mission to deliver standout style, perfect fits, and magical moments of discovery without endless try-ons or hemming drama. Powered by data and rapid feedback loops, built with heart, and curated by humans, we’re flipping retail on its head. We move fast, test relentlessly, and build with empathy—obsessing over fit, quality, and what customers actually want. We’re not just selling clothes—we’re engineering a better retail model. At Short Story, fit isn’t an afterthought. It’s the whole story.