Lead backend systems design and implementation, manage teams of backend engineers, ensure quality and reliability, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to enhance user experiences.
About SmartNews
At SmartNews, we are building the future of news — a future where delivering quality information enriches and informs. We do this while working with partners and supporting a sustainable news ecosystem through mutually beneficial publishing partner relationships. The Technology team is responsible for frontend and backend engineering, design, product, infrastructure, advertising, AI, safety, and observability. We are responsible for delivering experiences that help SmartNews live up to its name. Our product teams deliver our experience to customers on iOS, Android, and the Web.
The Role
As a Technical Lead - Backend at SmartNews, you will play a critical role in designing and implementing our backend systems to support millions of users, incorporating cutting-edge AI/ML experiences, and upholding engineering excellence. You’ll lead a group of passionate and talented backend engineers to improve, transform, and grow the news experience for millions of people around the world in line with our mission.
Responsibilities
- Lead the design, development, and delivery of scalable, high-performance backend services that power core SmartNews user experiences.
- Lead engineers through hands-on implementation, system design decisions and code reviews, ensuring high standards of quality and maintainability.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with AI/ML teams, product managers, designers, and frontend teams to ship features that delight our users and support our internal operations through admin tools.
- Drive best practices in backend development, observability, and reliability, foster a culture of ownership and rapid iteration.
- Work closely with EM to define the technical roadmap and long-term vision for the team in alignment with the company mission.
- 3 days a week in office.
Minimum requirements
- 7+ years of building products, highly experienced in backend.
- Experience working in Typescript and Node.js.
- Strong hands-on experience with AWS, PostgreSQL/MySQL, Redis, and Kafka, or similar technologies. Posses a deep understanding of API and service design as well as software architecture.
- Deep knowledge of distributed systems, performance optimization, and scalability patterns with a proven track record of building reliable backend systems in a large-scale production environment.
- Familiarity with observability tools, CI/CD pipelines and cloud-native deployments(e.g. HoneyComb, Datadog, Prometheus, Kubernetes).
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional stakeholders in a cross-cultural, international team environment.
- Strong sense of ownership, product mindset, and user-centric thinking.
Nice to have experiences/skills
- Experience building products that leverage AI, ML, ranking, and/or LLM-based technologies
- Experience with React or React Native for frontend development
- Demonstrated interests or experience in news or journalism
- Experience working in an international and multilingual environment
Benefits available at the SmartNews US Office
- Compensation range: $200,000 to $270,000 USD base salary, plus bonus and equity
- 401(k) with employer matching
- Up to 100% medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and your family
- Benefit plan with monthly allowances
- Complimentary lunch, snacks, and beverages in the office
Top Skills
AWS
Datadog
Honeycomb
Kafka
Kubernetes
MySQL
Node.js
Postgres
Prometheus
Redis
Typescript
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