Senior Backend Software Engineer

Kensho is S&P Global's hub for AI innovation and transformation. With expertise in machine learning, natural language processing, and data discovery, we develop and deploy novel solutions to innovate and drive progress at S&P Global and its customers worldwide. Kensho's solutions and research focus on business and financial generative AI applications, agents, data retrieval APIs, data extraction, and much more.
At Kensho, we hire talented people and give them the autonomy and support needed to build amazing technology and products. We collaborate using our teammates' diverse perspectives to solve hard problems. Our communication with one another is open, honest, and efficient. We dedicate time and resources to explore new ideas, but always rooted in engineering best practices. As a result, we can innovate rapidly to produce technology that is scalable, robust, and useful.
Kensho is S&P Global's hub for AI innovation and transformation. With expertise in Machine Learning and data discovery, we develop and deploy novel solutions for S&P Global and its customers worldwide. Our solutions help businesses harness the power of data and Artificial Intelligence to innovate and drive progress. Kensho's solutions and research focus on speech recognition, document extraction, unstructured data retrieval, agentic workflow specialization and more.
Kensho's Applications group develops the web apps and APIs that deliver Kensho's AI capabilities to our customers. Our teams are small, product-focused, and intent on shipping high-quality code that best leverages our efforts. We're collegial, humble, and inquisitive, and we delight in learning from teammates with backgrounds, skills, and interests different from our own.
Emergence, our team within Applications, develops systems enabling the use of cutting-edge ML technology in our customer's workflows. Our focus is on building solutions that seamlessly connect S&P's proprietary data with LLM-based systems, empowering customers with reliable, innovative, and trustworthy experiences. This specific role is for a Senior Backend Engineer working on our PDF document processing platform, Extract.
As a Senior Backend Engineer on Emergence, you will develop reliable, secure, and performant APIs that apply Kensho's AI capabilities to specific customer workflows. You will collaborate with colleagues from Product, Machine Learning, Infrastructure, and Design, as well as with other engineers within Applications. You have a demonstrated capacity for depth, and are comfortable working with a broad range of technologies. Your verbal and written communication is proactive, efficient, and inclusive of your geographically-distributed colleagues. You are a thoughtful, deliberate technologist and share your knowledge generously.
At Kensho, we believe in flexibility-first, and give our employees the opportunity to work from where they feel most productive and engaged (must be in the United States). We also value in-person collaboration, so there may be times when travel to one of our Kensho hubs (e.g., Cambridge, MA or NYC) will be required for team meetings or company events.
Kensho states that the anticipated base salary range for the position is 150k-225k. In addition, this role is eligible for an annual incentive bonus and equity plans. At Kensho, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their role and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.
What You'll Do:

• Design, develop, test, document, deploy, maintain, and improve software
• Manage individual project priorities, deadlines, and deliverables
• Work with key stakeholders to develop system architectures, API specifications, implementation requirements, and complexity estimates
• Test assumptions through instrumentation and prototyping
• Promote ongoing technical development through code reviews, knowledge sharing, and mentorship

What You'll Need:

• At least five years of direct experience developing customer-facing APIs within a team
• Thoughtful and efficient communication skills (both verbal and written)
• Experience developing RESTful APIs using a variety of tools
• Experience turning abstract business requirements into concrete technical plans
• Experience working across many stages of the software development lifecycle
• Sound reasoning about the behavior and performance of loosely-coupled systems
• Proficiency with algorithms (including time and space complexity analysis), data structures, and software architecture
• At least one domain of demonstrable technical depth

Technologies & Tools We Use:

• Python, FastAPI, Django, mypy, OpenAPI, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL
• Git, Jsonnet, Jenkins, Docker, Kubernetes

At Kensho, we pride ourselves on providing top-of-market benefits, including:

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance
• 100% company paid premiums
• Unlimited Paid Time Off
• 26 weeks of 100% paid Parental Leave (paternity and maternity)
• 401(k) plan with 6% employer matching
• Generous company matching on donations to non-profit charities
• Up to $20,000 tuition assistance toward degree programs, plus up to $4,000/year for ongoing professional education such as industry conferences
• Plentiful snacks, drinks, and regularly catered lunches
• Dog-friendly office (CAM office)
• Bike sharing program memberships
• Compassion leave and elder care leave
• Mentoring and additional learning opportunities
• Opportunity to expand professional network and participate in conferences and events

Recruitment Fraud Alert:
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We are an equal opportunity employer that welcomes future Kenshins with all experiences and perspectives. Kensho is headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with an additional office location in New York City. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
Job ID: 322758
Posted On: 2025-11-19
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States