Staff Software Engineer, Backend

About the role

Cresta Insights positions you as a Staff full-stack engineer with a backend focus, placing you at the forefront of shaping the future of customer engagement from day one. You will be instrumental in delivering timely, actionable insights that drive business growth and inform strategic decisions immediately upon joining. We are building a state-of-the-art Customer Data Platform that visualizes relevant insights for businesses post-onboarding and guides customer engagement across all touch-points. In this role, you will own the design and evolution of the backend systems that power these insights, ensuring they meet the needs of our global enterprise customers. You will be part of the team that is redefining how businesses connect with their customers and optimize their operations. Your work will directly influence how leading companies like United Airlines, Cox Communications, and Marriott understand and improve their customer experiences.

What you'll do

Design, implement, and maintain robust backend services and scalable APIs to support high-availability applications and complex business requirements. Build and optimize data storage solutions using Postgres, ClickHouse, and Elasticsearch to ensure exceptional performance, scalability, and data integrity for mission-critical workloads. Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including frontend engineers, data scientists, and machine learning engineers, to deliver seamless end-to-end solutions that drive customer value. Monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize performance issues within distributed systems and databases to ensure reliability and a consistent user experience. Write clean, maintainable, and efficient code that adheres to backend development best practices, security standards, and architectural principles. Participate actively in code reviews, testing initiatives, and continuous integration efforts to uphold code quality and streamline development workflows. Ensure the security, scalability, and reliability of backend services through rigorous testing, monitoring, and iterative improvements. Analyze and refine system architecture to address performance bottlenecks, improve scalability, and strengthen security across the technology stack.

Requirements

You must possess a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or have equivalent practical experience. You have proven experience as a Backend Engineer with a strong focus on database design, system architecture, and server-side development. You demonstrate strong expertise in programming languages commonly used for backend development, including proficiency in writing efficient and maintainable code. You have hands-on experience with relational databases, specifically designing, optimizing, and querying complex schemas in Postgres. You are familiar with big data technologies and have practical experience working with columnar databases like ClickHouse for analytical workloads. You understand search technologies and have used Elasticsearch to implement efficient querying, indexing, and data retrieval strategies. You have experience building and consuming RESTful APIs and asynchronous communication protocols to integrate systems effectively. You are comfortable working in a distributed systems environment, understanding the trade-offs of consistency, availability, and partition tolerance.

Qualifications We Value

Proven experience as a Backend Engineer with a focus on database design, system architecture, and server-side development. Strong expertise in backend programming languages and technologies relevant to building scalable, high-performance systems. Demonstrated ability to design and optimize complex database schemas and queries in Postgres, ClickHouse, and Elasticsearch. Experience with monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimizing distributed systems and databases in production environments. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.

Nice to have

Experience contributing to open-source projects or demonstrating technical leadership through mentorship and knowledge sharing. Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks and the ability to collaborate effectively with frontend teams on integration challenges. Experience with cloud platforms and infrastructure as code practices to support scalable and resilient deployments.

Practical notes

This role is based in Bucharest, Romania, within a hybrid work model that combines remote and in-office work. The position is full-time, and candidates must be eligible to work in Romania without sponsorship. Cresta is a remote-first company, and over time we aim to create a co-working space in Romania to move toward a hybrid environment. Travel requirements or visa sponsorship are not applicable for this position.