Lead Back End Developer

Senior Backend Lead Developer | AI Sales Platform | Early-Stage StartupAbout the Opportunity:The startup is an early-stage, high-potential startup building an AI-powered sales co-pilot with an existing product already in market. We're looking for a Lead Backend Developer who thrives in the zero-to-one stage — someone who has proven experience building products from the ground up and can architect, own, and scale backend systems independently.This is not a role for someone looking to join an established team with clear processes. We need a hands-on technical leader with 5+ years of backend development experience, including significant experience in product development and system architecture from scratch. You'll be responsible for designing and implementing core systems, making critical technical decisions, and setting the foundation for our engineering culture.Beyond the Code: As a lead developer in an early-stage startup, you'll need to understand the business side — not just write code. This means:Understanding customer needs and translating them into technical solutionsMaking trade-offs between speed, quality, and business prioritiesCommunicating technical decisions in business termsContributing to product strategy and roadmap discussionsWhat Makes This Role Unique:Early-stage impact: Shape the product and tech stack from day oneFull ownership: Lead entire systems from architecture to deploymentAI-first product: Work with cutting-edge LLM technology and agent orchestrationFast-paced environment: Build fast, iterate faster, and see immediate impactIf you're energized by the challenge of building a product from scratch, making high-impact technical decisions, understanding the business context behind every feature, and working in a lean, high-ownership environment — this is for you.About the Startup: AI-powered sales co-pilot that equips revenue teams with real-time intelligence and coaching before, during, and after every customer interaction. It connects to the sales rep's calendar, CRM, email, and conferencing tools to automatically generate pre-call research briefs, provide live in-call coaching and objection handling, and produce actionable post-call summaries that sync directly back into the CRM.Unlike post-mortem analytics platforms (e.g., Gong or Chorus), Othello acts in the moment — guiding reps during live conversations to improve close rates, shorten deal cycles, and elevate team-wide performance.Mission: To empower every salesperson with an intelligent assistant that thinks faster than they can — helping them show up prepared, stay sharp during calls, and close with confidence.Vision: To redefine sales enablement by merging human intuition with AI intelligence — creating a world where every sales conversation becomes a data-driven, high-performance opportunity.Responsibilities:Design, develop, and maintain backend systems using Python (FastAPI preferred)Architect clean, modular, and maintainable codebases following Clean Architecture and Domain-Driven Design principlesBuild and scale LLM-based services — prompt orchestration, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, and intelligent API interactionsIntegrate with third-party APIs (e.g. Google, Slack, Salesforce, Supabase, Tavus, etc.) and manage auth, data flow, and observabilityDevelop internal SDKs, background jobs, and async task pipelines (GCP Cloud Tasks, Redis, Celery)Write production-grade code with full test coverage and CI/CD readinessCollaborate cross-functionally with product, frontend, and AI research teams to deliver high-impact featuresLead or co-own full systems A→Z — from architecture and data modeling to deployment, monitoring, and iterationRequirements:Must Have:Proven mastery of Clean Code, SOLID principles, and Design Patterns5+ years of professional backend experienceSignificant experience building products and systems from scratchExpert in Python (typing, async, testing, best practices)Experience designing and scaling RESTful APIsSkilled in MongoDB and/or PostgreSQL, schema design, and optimizationStrong background in cloud infrastructure (GCP, Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Cloud Tasks)Ability to build entire systems A–Z independently: architecture → implementation → deployment → monitoringComfortable in a fast-paced, high-ownership environment — where accountability, self-direction, and bias-to-action are expectedBusiness acumen — ability to understand customer needs and make technical decisions in business contextNice to Have:Experience with LangChain, LLM agent orchestration, or multi-model inference flowsDemonstrated experience with LLM systems (OpenAI, Anthropic, LangChain, custom orchestration)Familiar with RAG, embeddings, and vector stores (Weaviate, Pinecone, FAISS)Culture & Mindset FitExtreme ownership: Treats every system as their own — from uptime to UXFast-paced execution: Thrives in environments where priorities evolve and velocity mattersSystem builder mentality: Enjoys architecting complete pipelines, not just endpointsCraftsmanship: Writes clean, modular, and future-proof codeCuriosity: Digs deep into new AI tools, APIs, and patternsAccountability: Proactive communication, end-to-end delivery, no babysitting neededCollaboration: Works closely with product, design, and AI teams — concise, respectful, outcome-oriented